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Finding British Beer in France

say42

By say42
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say42 Newbie

say42

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For a project I have in mind, I am looking for information on places where you can get British beers in France, either shops or bars. Does anyone out there have any near to them ? Does your local "Grand Surface" have anything other than Boddies ?  Thanks in advance.

Steve

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LEO Newbie

LEO

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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Yet to see a British beer being sold in France. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single world famous brand beer from Britain. I'm sure there would be one. Ireland has Guiness, Australia Fosters and the US, Bud.


[/quote]

Guiness is stout

Fosters is lager

Bud is lager

The op was asking about British beer ie, ale not lager.

Does a beer have to be "world famous" to be excellent?

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raindog Newbie

raindog

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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Yet to see a British beer being sold in France. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single world famous brand beer from Britain. I'm sure there would be one. Ireland has Guiness, Australia Fosters and the US, Bud.

[/quote]

Bass or Marston's Pedigree - the best beer in the world. What do you drink? Heineken?

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brianagain Newbie

brianagain

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There is, of course no shortage of British beers on sale in the various outlets in Calais which cater to the cross channel trade. Good selection in Oddbins and Sainsburys from the major UK brewers such as Greene King, Shepherd Neame, Black Sheep, Adnams (my favourite beer is their Broadside), etc. You can also buy things like Bud though why anyone would want to remains a mystery to me.

Surely Bass is famous in France, featuring as it does in Manet's painting "Bar at the Folies-Bergère"

British style real ales are also brewed in Brittany by Brasserie Coreff - served on handpump in pint glasses. This brewery dates back about 20 years from its beginnings in Morlaix by two local rugby players who were inspired by the beers  (Double Dragon?) they drank when playing against teams when touring in South Wales. Same again with the various British style brewpubs in Paris, Toulouse, Bordeaux i(Frog and Rosbif, etc)

Brian (again)

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Weedon Newbie

Weedon

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Apologies for coming in late to this thread,  but having dropped in I remembered that I had a cutting from way back (2002) about a farmer who had started to brew beer in Normandy.

Now having done a search to see if it is still in operation I find there is more information here.

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cooperlola Newbie

cooperlola

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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Yet to see a British beer being sold in France. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single world famous brand beer from Britain. I'm sure there would be one. Ireland has Guiness, Australia Fosters and the US, Bud.


[/quote]A proper pint of decent British beer (or ale, if you like) is naturally fermented and transported in barrels.  It should still contain the "gunk"  - if you will - which  is a result of its unique brewing process. Hence it does not travel well over long distances, nor keep for a long time, like the bland bottled top-fermented lagers you mention, and the filtered Guiness which is exported around the world, do.  Hence, it is virtually impossible to export great distances in large quantities, so it does not have the "world brand" status that the chemically mass-produced brands you mention.  But it's a heck of a sight better, and has a good deal more character and individuality as a result, imo.[B]
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Pierre ZFP Newbie

Pierre ZFP

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Couldn't agree with you more Coops.  Just last Saturday I was trying to explain to a Belgium that the Guiness in Dublin is a totally different drink from that sold elsewhere, I forgot about the filtering bit though.

I see that Carlsberg and Heineken have just bought up (and split up) Scottish and Newcastle http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7322668.stm

No doubt we will soon see Newcastle Brown marketed as a 'World Brand' but changed out of all recognition to yet another bland Euro Fizz.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Jill<br><br>Jill (99) Newbie

Jill<br><br>Jill (99)

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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Yet to see a British beer being sold in France. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single world famous brand beer from Britain. I'm sure there would be one. Ireland has Guiness, Australia Fosters and the US, Bud.


[/quote]

This is because all the best beer in Britain comes from the smaller breweries, or the larger breweries selling beer which had been made at the smaller breweries, so that there are more varieties and therefore none monopolise the market.  I feel this is better, as variety and quality is worth having.  I expect that the beers in mass circulation are those which keep better and travel better.  Years ago, I think you used to see Watney's Red and Double Diamond advertised outside the "British" pubs in France and it was everywhere in England too (awful stuff).  Most foreign countries are used to lager type beers or are faithful to their own beers.  The better known British beers in circulation abroad are the mass produced ones, which may be OK for many people, but not for those of us who are into Ale.  British beer is considered by foreigners to be warm and flat - I drink it because it is less fizzy and if beer is too cold you can't taste it.  I expect this is why you don't see much of it in France.

Over the last 30 years, I've noticed a big change in beer in France.  The changes have been more in the last 20 years.  20 years ago, we used to buy Pelforth Brune and 1664 Brune (the latter seems to have disappeared).  It was the best we could do to find a beer with flavour.  Then we discovered Jenlain Ambree which was a big improvement.  For those who want something a little more like British Beer - not really the same, but good beers come in many varieties - the Ambrees are not a bad substitute - although I love La Goudale which says it is blonde, but tastes nothing like a blonde. Unfortunately, the better beers are not easy to find in some regions of France (the further away from Nord/Pas de Calais you are) and even from the better breweries, there tends to be more of the blondes than ambrees in other regions.  I did get a bit fed up of Jenlain last time I was in France as I was feeling the need for something more refreshing such as Speckled Hen, or Marston's Old Empire which I'm drinking at this moment.  But if you can't find British beer, I would recommend the French bottled beers - Grain d'Orge, Lutece, Cht'i, La Choulette - other bieres de garde.  I'm not so keen on the Cerveze - old style beers though - it's pot luck.  Some can be a bit like dodgy home brew!  Cheers!

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Jazzer Newbie

Jazzer

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Cheers to you all!! I am enjoying my favourite tipple- a  bottle of Fullers ESB(bottle conditioned), bought in Leclerc in St Jean D'Angely at the weekend. I've also got a bottle of Bombardier for tomorrow! Some Intermarche shops have a small range of British Beers including Newcastle Brown. There is an Irish shop in La Rochelle which has a reasonable range of English, Welsh and Scottish beers- may bottle conditioned.. Also In La Rochelle an Asian Minmarket sells Guiness export small bottles-stronger than those available in UK - served chilled  an excellent thirst quencher.
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Mr Coeur de Lion Newbie

Mr Coeur de Lion

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[quote user="LEO"]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Yet to see a British beer being sold in France. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single world famous brand beer from Britain. I'm sure there would be one. Ireland has Guiness, Australia Fosters and the US, Bud.

[/quote]

Guiness is stout

Fosters is lager

Bud is lager

The op was asking about British beer ie, ale not lager.

Does a beer have to be "world famous" to be excellent?

[/quote]

Don't think excellent came into it. Just pointing out that I'd not seen any British beer in France. Certainly not in the centre region. Used see a fair bit in Australia, mainly Bodintons which was reasonably nice.

And as I'd been living in Australia for 8 years prior to France, I've just remained in the same mindset as the Aussies and kept calling lager beer, just like the French do. Don't think the word lager exists over there. You'd get some strange looks if you asked for lager anyway.

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Pommier Newbie

Pommier

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I wanted to do a recipe last week which included pale ale. I looked and looked in the supermarket and in the end bought a bottle of Belgian beer labelled 'bier blonde'. When my husband looked at it he laughed and said I'd bought super lager!

Is there such a thing as pale ale in France? If so, what's it called?

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brianagain Newbie

brianagain

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There is an artisanale brewery at Arcambal (Brasserie Ratz) near Cahors which brews a top-fermented (ale) blonde (pale) beer "Bière d'Olt". Their beers were on sale in Cahors a couple of years ago when I was last there. La Lutine brewery at Limeuil also produces a similar beer but I have not yet tried this so hesitate to recommend it. Not sure how far either of these are distributed into 47.

Top fermented French beers can usually be distinguished by the words haute fermentation somewhere on the label.

One of the best examples is also my favourite "3 Monts" which I am pleased to see is now quite widely distributed in France; it's sold in 75cl bottles and at 8.5abv so has to be treated with care.

Brian (again)

http://www.lalutine.com/

http://www.bieredolt.fr/

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