Parisian style

Adrian Tierney-Jones scouts out the best beers and the best bars in the French capital

At the start of the 1990s I was a guest in the house of a well-known French writer, an octogenarian intellectual who reputedly drank two bottles of wine a day.

Neither of us could speak each other’s language so communication was a bit limited. However, when I asked for a beer his response was perfectly clear even if I wasn’t too sure of the exact sequence or words: ‘‘bière, le nord; vin, le sud,” he growled at me, sounding like something out of a Jean-Paul Belmundo new wave movie.

His response was perfectly understandable given that we were in the south west of France, but it was also symbolic of the divide that remains in that country whenever we turn to drink. Brewing has a hold in the bière de garde region of the north, the far west outpost of Brittany and the eastern side of Alsace and Lorraine. In the warmer climes of the south, the vines run wild (though the odd micro comes and goes).

So where does that leave Paris? The city has always lived up to its reputation as a crossroads where all the people of Europe and beyond meet and mingle, and the same goes for its beer.

Belgian, British, German and French beers are available but there is nothing specifically Parisian. Any brewing traditions that one of the world’s greatest cities once had are long gone.

You might come across a bottle of Lutèce Bière De Paris, apparently based on an old Parisian style, but it is brewed by Gayant in the north, so that gives you an idea of its lack of provenance.

And sadly I have never .....

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By Adrian Tierney-Jones

Section : Beer journeys

Page number : 50