a
M
Session strength ales

French session ales

"France has for the last twenty years been building a formidable beer culture.  With more breweries than any other country in Europe and the same focus on creating local beers as applies to the creation…"
France has for the last twenty years been building a formidable beer culture.  With more breweries than any other country in Europe and the same focus on creating local beers as applies to the creation of local dishes, several candidates are emerging for style or sub-style status, such as Hopped Saison (saison houblonée), Black Buckwheat Beer (bière de blé noir) and a variety of spelt beers.

For now we are including only one but more are bound to come.

Bière brune

Regular French Bière Brune (4.0-6.5% ABV) differs from its English counterpart by being less sweet and a lot more estery, with bigger roasted, coffee, chocolate and liquorice flavours.  Traditionally a specialty of northern and eastern France, the best-known brand is Pelforth, from Alsace, which although considered in France to be an everyday drinking beer comes in at the top of the range strength-wise.

About the Author

Tim Webb

The lead author and curator of The Beer Styles of Europe and beyond is Tim Webb, co-author of The World Atlas of Beer.

Related Posts

Belgian session ales
Belgian session ales

Belgium is famed for its stronger ales, but also has a smaller heritage of lighter ones.  Given its brewers’ reputation for inventiveness, the current vogue for lighter but tastier styles seems guaranteed to lead to more varieties emerging in the coming years.

English session ales
English session ales

The classic form of draught ale in the UK is termed cask-conditioned.  It is not a style as such but instead a unique and particular way of keeping beer, which rose to prominence between 1860 and 1885, and went on to become a passion for a sizeable number of British beer drinkers. 

Scottish session ales
Scottish session ales

Many Scottish beers follow style rules found in the rest of the UK.  However, a distinctive but elusive thread has always run through Scottish brewing, which is unique to Scotland.  These older traditions have been preserved and revived as much by brewers in continental Europe and the Americas as local producers, leasing to the creation of style classifications using words like ‘Scottish’ and ‘Scotch’, which many Scots find alien.