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The Secretive Charm of the Bière de Garde - Sept 1999"Originally brewed to quench the thirst of farmers and fieldworkers, bières de garde marry the Northern European love of beer with the unique French finesse and style. Bière Castelain proudly maintains this tradition, enabling you to enjoy one of France's best kept secrets." So professes the rear label of the Castelain Blond Bière de Garde, and where French beers are concerned, truer words have perhaps never been expressed. In fact, the individual who wrote the bold claim that the ales of France are among the nation's "best kept secrets" might actually have sold her subject matter short. Because the invigorating and frequently intense brews of northern France are not only among that country's well-kept treasures, they are also one of the beer world's true undiscovered gems. As underappreciated as they may be, however, the quality of the beers which emanate from the northern region of France known as Nord-Pas de Calais comes as no great surprise. For this district is, after all, but a border's width away from one of the world's great brewing nations, Belgium. And if you think that brewing ability and tradition stop at national boundaries, then you had better think again. The area in question is one of two main brewing regions in France, the other being the western district of Alsace, nearby Germany. Where the Alsatians share brewing traditions and beer styles with their German neighbours, however, brewers in Nord-Pas de Calais, also known as French Flanders, have much more in common with their Flemish cousins across the border in Belgium. As many brewers there will tell you, although they are an unquestioningly French people in Nord-Pas de Calais, the Flemish influence is never far from the surface. This common ground has produced what is certainly France's best and perhaps the world's least appreciated beer style, the bière de garde. Literally translated, it means "beer for storage," and as the rear label of the Castelain bottle indicates, the bière de garde was very likely produced first as an ale to last through the summer when hot weather conditions and an overabundance of microflora in the air would inhibit the production of good beer. As such, it shares its pedigree with many other now-famous beer styles, including German märzen and Belgian saison. But the bière de garde has not experienced nearly the world-wide appreciation and acclaim that has greeted the globalization of those two styles in recent years, and the reason for this is largely one of perception. With so many great wines coming out of France, it is perhaps understandable that the country's beer is given the short shrift by North American gastronomes. Even among those who believe the grain to be more important than the grape, however, the proximity of Belgium to French Flanders has tended to place the bières de garde fully in the shadow of their Belgian cousins. It is, in a sense, almost as if the gastronomic greatness that surrounds French Flanders on all sides is the main obstacle preventing the region's beer from receiving its rightful acclaim. And if all that were not enough, there remains the tradition issue. The common misperception of French bière de garde producers is that they are relatively new operations. Because the beers of French Flanders only began appearing in North America at about the same time as the craft brewing renaissance was taking off, beer connoisseurs on this side of the Atlantic often assume that they arrived as a part of some parallel movement in France, when in fact, the truth is quite the opposite. If you don't believe me, ask Serge Ricour. Ricour, whose family has owned the Brasserie St. Sylvestre since 1923, says that they don't really know when their brewery was originally founded, but that they are pretty sure it existed during the French Revolution of the 1790's. Which means that the lineage of their most famous beer and arguably the finest example of the bière de garde style brewed today, 3 Monts, dates back at least two centuries. Hardly a brewery-come-lately. According to Ricour, about 75% of the brewery's total production consists of 3 Monts, with the remainder being made up of such other assorted brands as their 2% alcohol table beer, Blonde, Bière de Mars (March beer, a French specialty) and recently introduced Gavroche. Reinforcing the lack of recognition French beers receive outside of their native country, Ricour also says that only about 6% of their 28,000 hectolitres (24,000 barrels) of annual production is exported, while the remainder of sales is split more-or-less evenly between Nord-Pas de Calais and the rest of France. A similar story is told by Fabrice Gaude, the communications director for Brasserie Castelain. Out of the 30,000 hectolitres of the dozen different brands of beer they brewed in 1996, says Gaude, only about 10% was exported to eight different countries. What's more, he says that it is frequently as difficult to garner respect for French beer within France as it is outside of the country. "The attitude in France is that beer is a common drink," says Gaude, "That makes it very hard to develop cachet for premium French beers within the country." It is particularly difficult, Gaude adds, to get their beers into the hypermarchés, or supermarkets. Which is not to say that the news for the great beers of French Flanders is all bad. Even with the difficulties of which Gaude spoke, the brewery still projects that production will rise to 50,000 hectolitres by the year 2000. And perhaps more importantly, Alain Dhaussy of Brasserie la Choulette believes that the most vital element for a strong French beer future is already in place: beer culture. According to Dhaussy, whose brewery dates back to 1845, beer and beer traditions still have a strong hold in the north of France. Citing the regional importance of cuisine à la bière as but one example, Dhaussy says that beer culture in French Flanders remains a force, although he does admit that the force is somewhat weaker than it once was. "People used to drink la bière de table with their meals," says Dhaussy, "Now they drink water and wine. Ironically, beer consumption today is increasing in the south of France while it drops off in the north." Nonetheless, Dhaussy is optimistic about the future of his brewery and his beers, including his flagship bières de garde, La Choulette Blonde and La Choulette Ambrée. And with similar optimism being expressed by brewers across the landscape of Nord-Pas de Calais, from Brasserie Duyck (brewers of Jenlain) in the southeast to Brasserie de Saint Omer (Epi de Facon, Reserve de Brasseur) in the north to Brasseurs de Gayant (Bière du Desert, Bière du Demon) in between, it seems less and less likely that these great beers will remain for long a well-kept secret. (For a terrific overview of the French beer market in Nord-Pas de Calais and beyond, I recommend The Beers of France, a brilliant guidebook by John Woods and Keith Rigley. For more information, please see my review of the book at http://www.worldofbeer.com/critic/boffran.html or visit the authors' web site at www.artisanpress.com.)
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