French craft beer
Craft Beer in France
Althought widely known as a wine country, France has a long brewing tradition, and around year 1000 they introduced hops into brewing as a way to preserve beer. This innovation was later introduced in the British Islands, giving birth to the diferentiation between beer (hopped) and ale (originally unhopped). From the 9th to the 14th century, monasteries had the monopoly over beer production. Over that time it evolved the most typical French style, the bière de garde a top fermented beer brewed during the winter in order to be drunk during the summer—like the Belgian saison. While at the beginning of the 20th century there were more than 2.300 breweries in France, industralization and mass lagers steadily decreased, and most small breweries dissapeared after WWII, and just saw a comeback of farmhouse brewing after the 1970's. In last five years, France has seen again an increase in small breweries due to the craft beer movement, with new brewers as La Dèbauche.
French beer brands
Hoppy Road
Hoppy Road is a French brewery founded in Nancy in 2017 by Julien Pecheur, Lucas Del Biondo and Charles Sanner. Julien and Lucas started as homebrewer, and after winning the first prize in 2015 at the Paris Beer Week, they decided to start brewing studies at the Institut de la Brasserie et de la Malterie. In 2017 they joined with Charles and started with the brewery. They have a brewery in Nancy with a capacity of 2.000 Hl per year.
Go to Hoppy Road
La Goutte d’Or
La Brasserie de la Goutte d'Or is a brewery founded in 2012 in Paris, in the Goutte d'Or neighbourhood by Thierry Roche and Antoine Gautier. They are considered the pioneers of the craft beer movement in Paris, and the names of their beers are dedicated to emblematic places in the neighbourhood.
Go to La Goutte d’Or
La Superbe
La Superbe is a French brewery founded in 2017 by Baptiste Cartereau and his friend Vincent in Biarritz (French Basque Country). They were both friends since 20 years, and they were also homebrewers. La Superbe especially focus in hoppy beers without additives. They purposely chose a French name to make an statement about the prevalence of anglicisms in the craft beer scene.
Go to La Superbe
La Malpolon
La Malpolon is a French brewery founded in Montpellier. Its name comes from a species of snake endemic to the area, also called the Montpellier snake. Its hallmark is brewing with local and proximity products, from water to fruit or spices, including French malts and Alsatian or Catalan hops.
Go to La Malpolon