My reader, and you know who you are, pointed out that the last French beer tasting included only those beers available at the convenience store. He was right, of course. What I failed to mention was that those stores also had a pretty good selection of Belgian beers, as do the bars around town. But my focus was on French beer and to be honest I had hoped that they would be as bad as they turned out to be.
However, as I was taking the poodles for their apres-midi merde I stumbled upon the neighborhood 99 Bottles. This place was so tiny that it's quite possible they only had 99 bottles on the shelves. The French beer section was a shelf. Even better, the English section was a bottle.
I bought one of everything French they had and this is how they tasted:
Demi de Melee
Demi de Melee
Blonde ABV 7%
Clouded honey color, lots of tiny champagne-like bubbles. Floral, apricot nose. Bready and honey up front with delicious apple pie spiciness. Slight metallic at first quickly dissipates. Noticable alcohol burn but helps balance the sweetness. Oh, and a very pretty label.
3 out of 5
La Salamandre
Blonde de Touraine ABV 6.5%
Very lively out of the bottle, big fat bubbles, foamy head. Looks like apple cider from Target. Cardomom and ancient monk toe jam nose. Soapy mouthfeel and slight soap flavor, too. Savory and salty like chicken soup. Big on the spice up front but washes away at the finish with a slight hoppiness. Complex, but too chickeny to slug down a six pack. The label would make a cool tattoo, for a French guy.
2 out of 5
Brasserie de la Pigeonelle
Loirette ABV 7.5%
Cloudy again. Brown, grey, green, orange. Raspberry and cherry blossom nose. Very slight carbonation. Earthy and kelpy. Slight spice up front like oolong tea, dirt and sandalwood. Not much middle but explodes in the finish with a pronounced dry lingering finish. Dank! Now that's a word.
2 out of 5
La Rouge Flamande ABV 5.8%
Burnt umber color with tiny bubbles. Not much head. Rich carmelized chocolate cherry nose with no monk's toes. Chocolate sweetness devolves to big alfalfa and wet barnyard flavors. The finish is majorly gleeky. We are juicing up all over. If you only ever drink one French beer, and that might seem unlikely, drink this.
4 out of 5
3 comments:
Much better.
I have had Brasserie Thiriez here in the states and I thought it was good although it was not the one you had. The one I had has a big green hop on the label and had good hop character. Yep…it was a “hoppy” French beer and F’n’ good too.
Had a good sandwich from a sidewalk cart yet? You know the ones they heat up for you.
Hey O'Gara,
Try a bottle of Desperados while you're there.
-Tif
Thiriez Xxtra that Mr Murphy refers to is definitely F'n' good. Certainly the best French biere I have come across.
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