Move over Brigitte, there’s a new blonde in town.
Saint-Tropez, the once docile Côte d’Azur fishing village that sprang to prominence on the back of Brigitte Bardot’s rise to international stardom in the 1956 film And God Created Woman, is creating beer. And it has to be said it’s pretty good.
The Blonde of Saint-Tropez has been quenching sun seekers’ and Tropéziens’ thirst since 2014. It’s an engagingly drinkable 5.6% lightly carbonated bottled blonde, a product of a collaboration between Blonde De Saint-Tropez and the Belgian Brasserie des Légendes.
It’s available in all discerning outlets, as they say. The most discerning would be Le Senequier, the renowned people-watching waterfront spot which will deprive you of €14 for the privilege.
It was one of the better beers I encountered on a sojourn to the south of France. Craft bars in the region are a rare bird and unfortunately the Colgans Brewery brew pub in Mouans-Sartoux, a few kilometres from where I was staying in Mougins, had not reopened post lockdown.
A stopover in Aix-en-Provence allowed time to visit Le Bière Paul Jack, a well-stocked bottle shop and taproom. From draft I sampled Tiboulen, a likeable dry hopped pale from Marseille brewery Zoumai.
I discovered Zoumai laid claim to being Marseille’s first brewpub, having been set up in 2018. I also learned that their beers are named after the islands dotted off the port city’s coast, of which Tiboulen is one.
Paul Jack’s house rules demanded the purchase of a snack; a platter of charcuterie and regional cheese was hardly an imposition.
The shop had a heathly selection of UK, German and Spanish beers. It presented opportunity to stock up on supplies of Cierzo, the Zaragoza brewer whom I have praised previously.
After a return visit to the Craft Beer Pub in Dijon I scheduled a pitstop in Reims around L’Escale, a Belgian-beer-focused bar not far from the cathedral.
I’d never tasted anything from the island of Guam before (hands up, who has?), but L’Escale stocked Cherry Blossom IPA, a 5.8% Belgian-style beer from Ishii Brewing. I never got to learn how and why, and though the beer itself was unremarkable, it was worth it for the experience.
Better options were found in the fridges.
I reconnected with an old favourite, Kramah, from Brauhaus Bevog. It’s a 6.5% American IPA that’s all big hops, mellow mouth and a lovely lingering finish. It is a bloody good beer.
Led by the knowledgeable barman’s advice I landed upon Slovenia’s Libok: Tank Top was a punchy West Coast style 7% IPA with Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial hops, while Dankesaurus Rex was a piney 7.2% American IPA.
I bookended my session in L’Escale; with benefit of hindsight I should have stayed put for the night.
I’d searched Google for other craft bars. The first option, L’Antirouille, beguiled with its 20 taps and low-lit industrial decor. It was only on closer inspection that it dawned they were serving up Camden Hells and Pale, plus Budweiser and St Austell. These were not the beers I was looking for.
I settled on a couple of French beers. Neither La Française, a 5% pale from L’Instant, nor the 6.5% La Rémoise Blonde, stirred the blood but they were domestic, and craft.
And they were considerably better than what was on offer at the second proposition.
As I ventured into this bar on the main boulevard replete with buzzing restaurants I was greeted by Kronenbourg and Grimbergen fonts standing proud.
My polite inquiry (in French) of “do you serve craft beer?” was greeted with a grunted “non” and a wonderfully insouciant Gallic shrug.
C’est la vie.
Beer and Far 