BEER!!!

Let's take a moment to talk about beer. Now the French, from my experience so far, like a good amber beer, such as La Goudale, or La Chouffe, or Grimbergen, and compared to the English whose bars always seem to stock the same four or five Lagers (Fosters, Carling, Heiniken and Stella), it is so much tastier. I like a good,strong taste in a beer and the French deliver with beers that have a 5% alcohol or higher and actually have flavour. Gone are the lagers that all seem to taste exactly the same as the tap next to it (once, whilst working, I accidentally linked the Carling keg to the Cobra tap for an hour and no one noticed) and in their place is a much nicer selection. Sure, they still have the generic piss that any pub has, like 1664, or (shudder) Kronenbourg, but you can rest easy knowing that you will only get these if you actually order them. What is missing from the menu, however, and constanly lets me down whenever I want to wet my chops, is that there is almost a complete lack of ale. I'd grown quite fond of the original English cask ale during my time in London and here you're lucky to find a pub that serves at least one. They're malty, and flat, and practically room temperature but go down a real treat on a cold day. Quite often I'd look for a good cask IPA in order to fill the void left by my beloved Coopers Pale Ale which I'd left back home, but they simply just don't serve them much here. Luckily I'd done some exploring and actually found some places where I could get a beer from home (check out ¨Where to find a Coopers Pale Ale under Misc).

France's close proximity to Belgium is what is mainly responsible for their selection of tasty beer and you'll quickly notice that sales of Hoegaarden and other weissbeer is much higher than in England and, being a foreigner, I am naturally still  getting dazzled by the beers which are considered common here but are regularly sold as "top-shelf" imports back in Aus (whod've thunk that Stella is called "wife-beater" in England?). No matter where you are, though, you can set your mind at ease knowing that my favourite "safe option" is bound to be on tap. I am yet to run into a pub that doesn't sell Guinness and the best part is that it mops the floor with the Nigerian slop that is sold back in Australia. Wrapping up, France has a nice selection of beers that actually have flavour thanks to their neighbour, Belgium (I recommend trying a Grimbergen Weiss). But if you're looking for a good ale, hop back across the English channel to the land that does it best. Now it is time for me to stop typing and get myself a nice frothy. All this talk is making me thirsty. Wherever you are, cheers!