August 11, 1999 -- The Beers of France

by John Woods and Keith Rigley

The Artisan Press, Bristol, UK

1998

Sitting in the heart of Provence, with a glass of pastis at one elbow and an awaiting bottle of Cotes du Rhone red at the other, it can be quite tempting to buy into the mythology that there is no craft brewed beer in France. Even the local Leclerc "hypermarket," as the French refer to their all-inclusive supermarkets, does little to dispel such misconceptions, with its modest supply of specialty brews favouring by far Belgians such as Kwak and Becasse over the French Jenlain (one six-pack buried at the bottom of the shelf) and Adelscott (available, one must believe, only because Heineken owns the brand).

Thank goodness, then, for The Beers of France, a remarkable guide written by the British authors of The Beers of Wallonia. Employing the same format as the pair debuted with their equally useful southern Belgian guide, the 268 pages of this handy pocketbook not only put to rest thoughts of France being a beer wasteland, they mercilessly destroy them!

There are 83 breweries profiled in The Beers of France, hardly a number to be associated with a backward beer country, and another couple of dozen added to the mix in the authors' summer 1999 supplement, available through the Artisan Press website at www.artisanpress.com. Within each profile, you get not only beer reviews, but also brewery histories, addresses and phone numbers, hours of operation, availability of product, brewery-recommended cafes and shops, and in many cases, roadway directions. The only way Woods and Rigley could be more helpful would be if they paid your way and held your hand en route to the brewery! (Which, come to think of it, would be nice...)

What I really like about both the France and Wallonia books, however, is the way that the authors review beers. These are not fellows who pull punches, so when they write that a beer "gives the impression of being very much a forced amber character which fails to impress" (Kronenbourg Biere de Mars) or "has many layers of taste with a superb balance" (Brasserie Bailleux Cuvee des Jonquilles), then you can bet that they devoutly believe what they write.

France is a country about which I am very fond and in which I am constantly searching for new and interesting beers, so my enthusiasm for this book may be slightly out of proportion with its utility for the average English-speaking beer aficionado. But that notwithstanding, the style and content of The Beers of France are both beyond reproach, as is the research ethic of the authors, and that makes this guide one that will surely become dog-eared very quickly in my hands.

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