La France Part 2: Je n'aime pas...

151: Biere Artisanale Triple sur Lie Silviacus, Brassee a Samer, 7.5%
Still got that bananaish tinge but a little less artificial than other ones we have bought of the region. Not my thing, again, but palatable.

152: Biere Artisanale Ambree sur Lie Dilvacus, Brassee a Samer, 7.3%
Mr Ticker and Mr Ticker Snr finished their previous beer before me, and moved onto this beer. Their faces said it all. With intrepidation, I took a sip. It was pretty minging to be honest. And not in a way that is just because it isn't to my tastes, it just tasted wrong, like the sugars hadn't fermented out properly. Just bluergh.

153: Leffe Royale, Abbaye de Leffe, 7.5%
A posh Leffe. Not as posh as might have hoped for, but a nice easy drinking beer. Good with some dins too... a bit of a veg stew, with all veggies from the field just across the way... delish.


Bier de Garde is the beer style of the region and over the course of the holiday I sampled quite a few, although I'm not ticking any more than these as I only had sips here and there. Really not my thing, the over sweet, almost artificially banana flavours. Instead, I opted for the odd glass of vin rouge... something I've missed having since beerticking started, and I really enjoyed! Not very conducive to writing a beer blog though...

La France Part 1

Tea on the first day of family hols, a warm, but not too hot day, filled with a little fraughtness and lots of excitement, ferry rides, sea dips and new village finding.

Tea, pasta, French saussison, tomato sauce and Gouda along with some crusty baguette and that awesome salt crystal butter. A pretty rare treat for the house of dietism, as ours has been latley. With it, the first beer of the trip. A pretty cheap and cheerful supermarket mass produced:


149: "33" export, Mare et Terre, 4.5%,
A light refreshing lager-y small stubby. A perfect refreshing drink.



150: La Goudale, Biere de Garde, Gebrouwen door, 7.2% (€4 approx for 3 75cl bottles) was a farmhouse style beer, and a much more local offering. Not really to my tastes to be perfectly honest. I've found wheat beery/banana-y type beers growing on me, but this one was too sweet I think. Maybe would have been better colder...

La France: Beer Advice!

Later this year, Mr Ticker and myself are going to France with some family to stay in a cottage. We are going to be based in Pas de Calais, in the north of France fairly near Amiens. We've already planned a jaunt to Bruges, but would like some advice about anywhere particularly beery worth visiting nearby, or any good beers that are readily available in France. Previous holidays have been all about the wine... for obvious reasons... but this year, of course, beer is going to preside.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated- merci beaucoup!