I'm heading to France, what should I drink?

So I'm heading off to Normandy and Brittany next week. The last time I went to France I was drinking primarily Leffe because it was widely available, but these days I'm sometimes finding it too sweet for my tastes. I'm also a huge fan of Chimay, which I find to be awesome no matter what my mood is.

I know the French are more into wine than beer, but I also know they have a lot of Belgian ales available since they're so close. Anyone have any suggestions or some holy grail of a beer I should seek out?

Thanks.

Pastis if you want to make friends. It is universally understood, and makes you look like you actually WANT to drink the same crap as the locals.

French beer sucks. You think the Germans would have taught them a thing or two during the occupation. Stick with the wine.

Water.

Go to Belgium for good beer.

Each and every Biere de Garde you can find.

That is all.

I was there for the first time last April. I'm a wine geek also, so I searched out the domaines everywhere I went, but when you go into a cafe, you will usually find 3 beers on tap. Usually it's K-bourg (France's budweiser), K-bourg 1664 (no difference), and some kind of light belgian abbey ale like Grimbergen or Leffe. Good luck finding much else.

HOWEVER, the closer you get to Germany, the better chance you have of finding a gold mine. We were in Alsace one day, in an awesome little town called 'Ribeauville', and we climbed up the mountains behind the town to some old ruins, had lunch, and when we climbed back down, the very first little shop we encountered was this incredibly awesome beer and whiskey bar. That's all they had, fine beer and fine whiskey...



a delicious sour lindemans fruit blend lambic...



and the view...



Anyway, if you can somehow stumble upon a place like this, you're good. Otherwise...prepare for Grimbergen!

Don't drink the water, otherwise you will become like the french. I say drink the coffee and alcohols. Calvados is a good one, brandy, pastis as mentioned and absinthe (though I think the swiss make a better version). Drink the house wine wherever you go, it is good and cheap. Eat the cheese, it is fantastic. Try foix grois if you don't mind an expensive slice of liver that you will love or hate. Eat the Charcutterie. Essentially, eat while you are there and drink the house stuff.

I would enjoy the wine in France and go somewhere else to drink good beer.

In addition to what Evan! and FlyAngler18 said, drink Norman Ciders.

If you happen to be in Paris, check out this place:

La Gueuze, Paris, restaurant quartier latin, la gueuze bar à bières quartier latin à Paris.

OK, just to affirm my credibility in this matter, here is a pic of a house I owned and lived in for 3 years (I was there longer, but in other houses) This is Pouance, in the province of Maine-et-Loire (I was able to google it because of the castle next door)





I stand by what I said earlier. Go to a bar, and order a pastis. They will cive you a glass of Ricard or Pernod and a small jug of water. By doing that, you are "in" Then you get talking, and you can ask what the wine of choice is for the area (If it was not already obvious by what everyone else is drinking) In the case of Maine-et-Loire, it was Muscadet. That was just about the only wine anyone drank there because it was **** hot for a basic white wine. Other regions are the same experience, just different wines.


Just don't drink the beer if you want to have a good drinking experience.

I spent a couple of days in Normandy and Brittany last year, and the big thing seemed to be stuff made from apples. Brandy or cider, basically. I tried some cider, and it was ok, but I'm not really into cider. I basically just drank the wine.

viking999 said:

I spent a couple of days in Normandy and Brittany last year, and the big thing seemed to be stuff made from apples. Brandy or cider, basically. I tried some cider, and it was ok, but I'm not really into cider. I basically just drank the wine.

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Interesting point. Brittany is big on cider as are their kinfolk in the South West of England (They are all basically celts)

Stay away from the cider. it will eat your brain and do the naughty with your daughter while you are unconcious.

Edit: Oh yeah, I lived in the South west of England too....You gotta move around a lot when you is axe murderer.

olllllo said:

[...] drink Norman Ciders.

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I'll try to be more interesting next time.

olllllo said:

I like cider because it makes me look like Robert Redford

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A neighbour (English teacher) Gave me some local Loire cider once. Honestly, it was hard to tell the difference between his dirt-buried-aged cider and Champagne.....He was way too sophisticated to hang out with a ******* like me, so I had to kill him.

Several good suggestions so far. The "cidres" and the "cidre brut" are well known in that area, but I've only tried a few and honestly can't recommend any. But to be honest, I have not tried any hard cider that I liked.

The beers have been covered. 1664 or "seize" as some call it is okay. Better than BMC. Leffe is okay. Hoegarden is an interesting "blanche" or white beer that has an interesting flavor. I find myself drinking a lot of Heineken over here as it is available almost everywhere is is decent. Look for "pression" beers to see what they have on tap as they don't seem to be fond of tap handles here. The taps here often dispense water, beer, wine and whatever else you can drink.

As others have suggested, the wine is the way to go. Although, you're not in a region well know for good french wines (my apologies to the vintners there). They tend to be a lot of Muscadine wines and the like--sweeter varieties. You can't go wrong with about any Bordeaux, red or white or a Cote-du-Rhone or something like that. If you're looking on the menu, stick with the house wines (usually served in a "pot") or something in the lower 1/3 of the price range. Good French wines need not be expensive.

If you don't like licorice, don't order the Pastis. Regardless of what you order, the locals will know you're not from around there. Even if you speak French, they'll know unless you've lived here 10-years or married a native speaker and practice a lot. Hell, they can tell if you're from Paris by the way you speak and my French is terrible. I've only been here 8-months.

Sounds like Laughing Gnome has some good advice too since he has live here. The only reason I followed up is that his signature stated if he is giving advice, he is probably drunk and not to be trusted. : ) Enjoy your visit and keep and open mind--France and the French are very different than American and Americans.

2-0turbo said:

If you don't like licorice, don't order the Pastis. Regardless of what you order, the locals will know you're not from around there.

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Oh yeah! I'm in total agreement! The idea of pastis for the first drink is not to pretend you are local though. Hell, nobody could get away with that in the area where I lived. I meant that more as an ice breaker. "Look, I'm prepared to drink this crap if you will cut me some slack for being a foreigner" Pastis is the universal drinky in France

In general, I found that the French are very big on gestures of comraderie, no matter how fake that gesture is.

As long as you acknowledge their language and don't mention that it might die out over time and know who De Gaulle and Michel Platini was, you will be golden.

Oh yes....The easiest solution is to just enter a bar and say "Ang demi" or "Ang Pressy ong"......You will get some kind of beer that way.

When I was there last year, drank a lot of Grimbergen (I really liked it). Also quite enjoy the Leffe too!

Would anyone really go into a bar in a foreign country and say something LGI suggested?

I mean between, 'I'd like a bottle of your finest ale.' and 'I'd love to tongue your daughter.' which one do you think?

beerkrump said:

Would anyone really go into a bar in a foreign country and say something LGI suggested?

I mean between, 'I'd like a bottle of your finest ale.' and 'I'd love to tongue your daughter.' which one do you think?

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Admit it.....You are just reading between the lines. Had you understood me properly, you would have said "I would like to toungue your YOUNGEST daughter"


It's OK...people make mistakes like that all the time

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Oh yeah! I'm in total agreement! The idea of pastis for the first drink is not to pretend you are local though. Hell, nobody could get away with that in the area where I lived. I meant that more as an ice breaker. "Look, I'm prepared to drink this crap if you will cut me some slack for being a foreigner" Pastis is the universal drinky in France

In general, I found that the French are very big on gestures of comraderie, no matter how fake that gesture is.

As long as you acknowledge their language and don't mention that it might die out over time and know who De Gaulle and Michel Platini was, you will be golden.

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True! I can't stand the Pastis though. Blah! Oh crap, I've got de Gaulle covered, but I have no idea who Platini was! Off to Wikipedia!

2-0turbo said:

I have no idea who Platini was! Off to Wikipedia!

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I'll give you a clue. I was there when they accidentally won the world cup on account of the fact that Brazil threw the game.....Man, that was hard for me. The French are not accustomed to winning, and they do not do it gracefully.

The "house wine" is always a good bet...the French aren't going to drink bad wine.

The Calvados is exceptional. Look for some of the ones aged ten+ years. It's worth lugging a bottle home.

Without a doubt one of the best books to get before you go is the this:

Amazon.com: When in France, Do as the French Do: Ross Steele: Books

Don't get me started on the cheese. The Camembert is unlike anything you've probably had before.

Drink the wine for sure. Although I did drink a lot of 1664 when I was there. Not absolutely horrible. There is a local bar here that serves it, and I still drink one every once in a while for nostalgia.