Since none of you wanted to play with me last week and didn't name any beers for me to try (see my week 200 post), I headed over to the market this morning to see the beer guy and pick something for myself. Only this time I wasn't going for just any beer; I was going for a very specific beer that I will write all about in a second.
But first - can you think of any popular French beers or what you think is a typical Fench beer? If any of you though perhaps Stella Artois or a trappist beer then you were wrong, they are both Belgian. Well, the trappist beers are brewed also in other counties but France isn't one of them! (They claim they have one called Monte Des Cats, which is an Abbey where monks make cheese and sell trappist beer but the beer is actually made by Chimey because the abbey does not have a brewery on their grounds. Therefore it's not officially approved as trappist beer, and, in my opinion, neither is it French).
The only one I could think of as the most popular French beer is 1664. But surely there must be more to their beers than 1664. The most popular beer type in France is a pilsner type beer but if you start looking into what's traditional, it becomes a bit more interesting.
So there are 3 main traditional beer types: the Spring beer (see my post from week 199), Christmas beer and Biere de Garde.
The latter is interesting. It translates as "beer that's been kept". It's brewed early winter, conditioned through spring, all in low temperatures and kept for consumption until later in the year. Hence beer that's been kept. The low temperatures made it less likely to spoil the yeast with some infection and kept bugs away.
This farmhouse brewing tradition comes from the North of France Nord-Pas de Calais (near the Belgium border). Typically top fermented, ranging in ABV between 6 and 8.5%, the beer is usually characterised as malty, spicy, full bodied and fruity. It is considered the sister or brother to the Belgian saison.
So this is the beer I went to see my beer guy about. The beer bottle I ended up with is this one. At €13 for the 750ml bottle it is the most I've paid for a beer. Heck, I've not even paid that for a decent bottle of wine before! (in a shop) But it's a sacrifice I was prepared to take for this review. Plus I was dying to try it.
So this is a locally produced beer, but it's brewed in the tradition of. He told me that after being fermented in the tanks it is then steeped with apricots and kept and aged in oak barrels for 1 year. The result being fruity, slightly spicy and oaky taste with noticeable alcohol. He said if I wanted to try something really special, this would be it. It's 8.5%. I might have to share this with my other half as I'm still part breastfeeding my baby. On the other hand, she would sleep really well... KIDDING!
Before you point your finger and shout something rude about beer in a wine glass, apparently, this is how it's meant to be drunk.
COLOUR: orangy-blond
SMELL: dried apricots and prunes, yeast
TASTE: flat, initially acidic, oaky, subtle notes of apricots, finish spicy but with a very prominent apple cider vinegar aftertaste. Verdict - it's much more like a cider than a beer to me and my partner agreed. We had 3 or 4 sips each and both decided it wasn't our cup of tea. So what do we do with the rest of the 750ml bottle of the most expensive beer I ever bought?? Well, don't judge me, but I had bought some belly pork from the market and I marinated it.... in the beer 😅.
End of part 1. Part 2 coming next week.
My sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi%C3%A8re_de_Garde
http://www.guide-biere.fr/encyclo/garde.php
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer
https://www.saveur-biere.com/en/bottled-beer/2491-mont-des-cats-biere-trappiste.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_France
https://thepurebrewer.com/french-beer-brands-and-styles-what-you-need-to-know
https://learn.kegerator.com/biere-de-garde/!
