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French Beer


Lehaut
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After years of drinking dry cider with my Saturday curry, I suddenly switched to beer. I have developed a taste for IPA (my father used to work for John Smiths, and I have a childhood memory of shuddering at the hoppy taste after draining the last few drops of IPA from one of their bottles) Here in Nantes we have the Little Atlantic Brewery, lunched there in July when things began to open up (no this is not an advert!). Their excellent Exocet IPA had an IBU rating next to it (50), which I had never seen before ( international bitterness unit). The highest I have enjoyed so far is 54 from a Corsican IPA. A voyage of discovery in local French Beers I am much enjoying.
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[quote user="Lehaut"]After years of drinking dry cider with my Saturday curry, I suddenly switched to beer. I have developed a taste for IPA (my father used to work for John Smiths, and I have a childhood memory of shuddering at the hoppy taste after draining the last few drops of IPA from one of their bottles) Here in Nantes we have the Little Atlantic Brewery, lunched there in July when things began to open up (no this is not an advert!). Their excellent Exocet IPA had an IBU rating next to it (50), which I had never seen before ( international bitterness unit). The highest I have enjoyed so far is 54 from a Corsican IPA. A voyage of discovery in local French Beers I am much enjoying.[/quote]

That brings back a few memories.  My first job was with the then Allied Breweries .. the brewery which "created" IPA .. and later I lived in Tadcaster .. with Sam's next door to John's [Smiths] for the unknowing .. and often followed Sam's horses on the road to work .. if we timed it wrongly.  I didn't go for bitters, I always preferred the heavier beers, towards the stout end .. Old Peculier being a particular favourite. 

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[quote user="NormanH"]
There seems to have been an explosion of places making 'bière artisanale' in the last ten years.

[/quote]

Yes, a new one opened in our village quite recently .. though with a name like "Fox's Hat" if I remember correctly, I think they are English or from some other anglohone nation. 

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As for most, we haven’t been able to visit the UK for 20 months now, but we have got by over ‘essential provisions’ by mail order etc.

Just two things that I’ve really missed though. Fish & chips and (separately I hasten to add) a couple of pints of decent bitter. Many of the beers are really nice and I look forward to being able to return at Christmas and enjoy some real ale.

Our younger son (he’s not that young at 42!) lives and works in the Czech Republic. It’s not Prague, it’s a small city close to the border with Slovakia.

Beer is ‘the drink’ over there, although there’s also the rocket fuel called Slivovitz, which is often homemade and for which there ought to be a government health warning.

Anyway, we’ve seen the retail outlet where he buys his beer. Probably 30 different brands, at prices ranging from 8 - 30 crowns for a 50 cl bottle. £1 = 28 crowns (roughly). His regular buy is 14Csk. You can do the maths - it’s about £1 / litre. I just bought some Heineken, which was twice the price / litre for tapwater really.

You pay a deposit on the bottles and the crate, which is then offset on their return. All quite ‘old fashioned really, but actually very eco-friendly.

Another thing - when Mrs G and I were touring the countryside, we saw these very tall ‘crops’. Took us a while to realise what they were. Hops, of course.

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[quote user="Théière"]Its widely accepted that IPA was created by George Hodgson's Bow Brewery way before larger breweries. Being located close to the East India Company in London.[/quote]
Agreed, Allied were not the "creator" of IPA, it was the nearest word  I could think of when it was they who were producing it in the 70's. It was of course created for the Indian  market, but by whom, I did not know.  The histroy of who bought ot which brewery to arrive at the scenario of the 70's, never mind the 90's onwards, is another matter altogether.

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