Vive la biere – really

By Vic Crossland

Published in The West Australian July 13 2006

Bastille Day is to the French what St Patrick’s Day is to the Irish. Beer drinkers worldwide down a few pints of black stuff to toast St Pat, so let’s look at what’s available for celebrating the Revolution’s birthday. Never mind dismissing France as a beer desert – there are some surprising Tricolor treats available.

All right, in the past century the French have seen their breweries plummet from 3000 or so to fewer than 50. All right, the staple beer style is basic pasteurised lager starved of hops and mainly described as “crisp and refreshing”, churned out mainly by corporate producers based in Alsace.

Nevertheless I aim to demonstrate that the French still know a thing or two about quality brewing ... not yet, though.

Mention France in a beer context, and most people respond with just one word: Kronenbourg. The big brewery’s Kronenbourg 1664 bears no resemblance to its historical beginnings: it’s a 5.9 per cent highly carbonated lager once most notable for being sold in barrel-shaped cans, now widely available in WA in 330ml bottles.

A recent French arrival making a big impact with younger lager lovers is 5.9 per cent Desperadoes. It is a beer to which Brasserie Fischer unashamedly adds something extra.

But there is hope for real beer fans. A few old-style independent French breweries still present discerning drinkers with something to taste – mainly biere de garde, or farmhouse ale. This long-stored beer style has been around for yonks, mashed and fermented in wooden barrels, using locally grown ingredients, by Flemish farmers. They let it mature through winter, spring and summer to quench the thirst of their harvest workers come autumn.

The reddish coloured Jenlain is a biere de garde to be recommended , from the Flemish Duyck family brewery and named after the village where the brewery stands. It has a lively, bubbly head, the nose is chiefly malty., malt is also dominant in the mouth, with a pleasant burnt treacle taste lingering in the back of the throat. The palate is rich, warming, lively, tasting a little of apple and with faint brandy notes. The sweet brown ale character of malt carries through to the finish. Though 6.5 per cent alcohol, Jenlain is deceptively easy to drink.

The International Beer Shop in West Leederville has the choicest French connection.

Grain D’Orge Blonde de Flanders, bright, straw-coloured 8 per cent ale, has similarities to Belgian triples, though not as complex. The aroma is cinnamon and coriander with lemon zest and caramelised malt. The rather grainy palate carries sweetness tinged with burnt honey, and there’s ice-cream licks and spiciness from Brewers' Gold and Challenger hops. It has a warm alcohol kick, similar to but lacking the vinous quality of, biere de garde.

The range of Ch’Ti beers – no tittering, please – bolsters France’s beer profile.

Ch’Ti Blonde 6.4 per cent pale ale is designed as a 6C refresher. Its delicate flavours earned it “Specialty Beer of 2005” in a consumer vote in France, and gold at the 2003 Le Monde Selection in Brussels. Darker styles, to be drunk around 8C, are led by 5.9 per cent, coppery Ch’Ti Ambrée, which has toffee notes from crystal malt. It’s another Le Monde gold medallist and winner of many other awards. Brown Chi’Ti is a heavier bodied 6.4 per cent brew. Its almost black colour comes from roasted malts which impart the dark chocolate and treacle flavours of porter.

Ch' Ti Triple is a powerful 7.5 per cent beer whose rich flavours were rewarded by a gold medal at Le Monde 2004 awards and by the main medal at the General Agricultural Contest of Paris that year.

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