French Beer!

Due to the preponderance of wine, France is not a hotbed of good, interesting beers.  That's not to say they never drink beer... I would guess that a good percentage of people getting early evening drinks as they sit and chat in cafes have beers.  But it is really just a choice of Budweiser-types (Heineken, Kronenberg, etc).  Not really my type, so I haven't tried much beer here.

Yesterday afternoon, however, we went to Cave à Bulles, a beer store in the middle of Paris.  We found it on some of the American craft beer websites, where it was highly recommended as the best (only?) source for good beer in Paris.  It certainly lived up to that reputation.  It's actually a very small shop: maybe a 15 ft. x 15 ft. room with shelves on all four walls.  Far smaller than I was expecting, but it still looked like an oasis.  They sold bombers or single bottles of only French beer.  Honestly, France doesn't have any distinct unique styles of beers, just variations of standard European styles.  But apparently there are a few small craft breweries pumping out those styles, and the guy who owns the store seemed very enthusiastic about them.

We bought four bottles and tried the first one last night.  It was called Biere de Brie Ambree (an amber ale), and it was excellent.  I would describe it as a brown ale, with a very delicate fruity flavor.  None of the nutty, toasty flavors I associate with most American-style ambers or browns.  Instead, it had a light, but good, aroma that was sweet without being tart (maybe apples or really ripe berries?).  The taste was very smooth with a sweet flavor well balanced by some earthy hops.  It was 7.5% but didn't feel like it- not thick and heavy at all.  We really enjoyed it.  It kind of reminded me of a darker oktoberfest (a little more malty than the Spaten oktoberfest, or a lighter version of Avery's The Kaiser).

So we definitely enjoyed that experience and look forward to trying the other three bottles, and going back to the store.