BEER TOUR
PHOTOGRAPHS: 123RF, ©MR DOOMITS/GETTY IMAGES, NICOLAS JACQUEMINHOW TO ASK FOR A BEER IN LOCAL LANGUAGE?
Une bière, s’il vous plaît.
HOW TO SAY CHEERS? Santé, tchin tchin or just tchin!
SIGNATURE BEER STYLE? Saison
LOCAL BAR SNACK? Une planche or assiette – fromage,
charcuterie or mixte (a plate/board with cheese, cold
meat or both)
DO: Specify ‘une pinte’ (50 cL) or ‘un demi’ (25 cL);
some places will also offer ‘un galopin’ (12.5 cL).Notwithstanding its reputation for all things
wine, France is a country with a proud history
of la bonne bière – good beer. At the end of the 19th
century, there were more than 2,800 breweries here.
By the end of the 1970s, that number had plunged
into the double digits, victim of two world wars
and mass industrialisation. A strong beer tradition
held in the northeast, near the Belgian border, but
elsewhere, and for obvious reasons, the tipple of
choice was wine.
But the craft beer movement has started to make
itself felt: small and slow, but insistent and growing.
There are now around 1,000 microbrasseries in
France, and the rate of growth keeps quickening as
the French start to discover that if they want a drink
with character, wine is not the only choice.
Really, craft beer is made for the French – a people
who support 400-odd different varieties of cheese,
who invented matching food with drink, take
two-hour lunches, and where regional provenance
and artisanal production are already like a religion.France
Brasserie des sources de Vanoise
124 montée Château Feuillet, Villarodin-Bourget;
brasserievanoise.com; 00 33 6 70 46 52 94
OTour OTakeoutThis tiny Alpine brewery makes a staple range of four
organic beers – an amber, a brown, a blonde and a white
ale – all of which are infused with saffron that is native to
the high mountains nearby. The brewery space is located
in a thoughtfully converted stone house in the village of
Villarodin-Bourget at the foot of the French Alps. The
brewery is open throughout the year, offering tours that
take in how the beer is made and, crucially, how the
house was ingeniously altered to make room for the
brewing kit. Tastings and take-away bottles are available
in a teeny tasting room. If you can time your visit for
spring, try the spring blonde ale infused with wild thyme
and yellow gentian flowers.Col du Galibier
One of the notoriously
steep Alpine ascents on
the Tour de France; mere
mortals can zip up on
e-bikes hired in Valloire.Val d’Isère & Valloire
Nearby resorts, including
Val d’Isère and Valloire,
cater to winter sports
enthusiasts, offering
skiing, snowboarding, ice
climbing, and ice driving.
valdisere.com;
valloire.netTHINGS TO DO
NEARBYBière artisanale (craft beer) is still
a small scene in this wine-centric
country – but it’s proving a worthy
match for France’s rich cuisine