Beer in France

Most beer sold in France is pilsner lager, mass-produced by major breweries which control over 90% of the market, although there are also traditional beer styles, such as top-fermented Bière de Garde, and a number of microbreweries.
Before industrialisation, most beer was brewed in small rural breweries, which catered to the needs of the local residents. In the early 20th century there were over a thousand breweries in France. As rural population declined, these breweries almost disappeared and along with them the tradition and diversity of the regional beers, which started to be replaced by larger urban ones. Among the things that caused most impact are:
In the last decades the interest in beer was renewed and many new breweries, particularly microbreweries, have appeared.
The Alsace-Lorraine region has had a turbulent history, changing hands several times between Germany and France. Currently, the French part is the main beer-producing région of France, thanks primarily to breweries in and near Strasbourg. These include those of Licorne (Karlsbräu), Kronenbourg, l'Espérance (Heineken International), Meteor, Schutzenberger and Champigneulles (near Nancy).
Hops are grown in Kochersberg and in northern Alsace.
There are also a number of microbreweries in the area.
The Nord-Pas-de-Calais area, also known as French Flanders, has longstanding cultural ties to Belgium, and a common brewing heritage.
Pelforth is a French brewery founded in 1914 in Mons-en-Barœul by three Lillois brewers. Among connoisseurs, it is "famous for its strong speciality beers". It was originally called Pelican, after a dance popular at the time. Production was stopped during World War II, restarting in 1950. The brewery name was changed in 1972 to Pelforth. It was bought by Française de Brasserie in 1986, which was acquired by Heineken International in 1988. The brewery produces the Pelforth brand of beers: Pelforth, an ale, was first brewed in 1935 using two different types of malt and English yeast. The name came from "Pel" for pelican, "forte" for strong, because it contains a lot of malt (43 kg/hL), and the h added to give it an English feel. In addition to the Blonde (5.8% abv) and Brune (6.5% abv), Pelforth Amber (6% abv) was introduced in 2003.
There are a number of small breweries in the area, mostly brewing Bière de Garde. La Choulotte and Les Brasseurs de Gayant brew Abbey beers among other styles. Brasserie de Saint-Sylvestre brews seasonal beers as well as Bière de Garde; the Terken brewery does likewise.
The original Trois Brasseurs ("Three Brewers") brewpub is in Lille.
Brittany has a long beer brewing tradition, tracing its roots back to the seventeenth century; Young artisanal brewers are keeping a variety of beer types alive, such as Coreff de Morlaix. Brasserie Lancelot produces a number of specialities, including Telenn Du, a beer made, like Breton pancakes, from buckwheat
Bière de Garde ("beer for keeping") is a strong pale ale or keeping beer traditionally brewed in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. These beers were originally brewed in farmhouses during the winter and spring, to avoid unpredictable problems with the yeast during the summertime. Farmhouse production is now supplemented by commercial production, although most Bière de Garde brewers are small businesses.
Typically, beers of this tradition are of a copper colour or golden colour, and as the name suggests the origins of this style lie in the tradition that it was matured/cellared for a period of time once bottled (and most sealed with a cork), to be consumed later in the year, akin to a Belgian Saison. Most varieties are top-fermented and unfiltered, although bottom-fermented or filtered versions exist. Particularly authentic products, using only regional ingredients, are entitled to use the Appellation d'origine contrôlée, Pas de Calais/Region du Nord.
Some of the better known brands include Brasserie de Saint-Sylvestre, Trois Monts (8.5%abv), Brasseurs Duyck, Jenlain (7.5%abv), Brasserie Castelain, Ch'Ti Blonde/Ambrée and Brasserie La Choulette, Ambrée (7.5%abv).
A number of beers with monastic connections are made in Northern France.
There are a number of organic beers, such as Castelain's Jade.
Seasonal beers are chiefly represented by March beers and Christmas beers.
French brewers market bière de mars ("March beer"), or bière de printemps ("Spring beer") over the month of March. It is produced in limited quantity starting from a variety of barley sown in the previous spring, harvested the previous summer and brewed at the beginning of the winter. It is in general a top-fermented ale of moderate strength (4.5% to 5.5%). In contrast to German Märzen beers, it is less hopped (less bitter) and weaker, although it can be darker (often by addition of caramel or other colourants), and slightly spiced. German Märzen is also fermented with lager, not ale yeast.
There is a long-standing tradition of brewing strong ales in October for consumption in December. French Bières de Noël are rich and strong winter warmers as in other European countries. They are usually top fermented ales.
French wheat beers are made by a number of large and small brewers, and not seen as belonging to any particular tradition. Examples include: Blanc (5% ABV) from the giant Kronenbourg brewery, Brasserie Castelain, Ch'Ti Blanche, and Pietra Colomba Biere Blanche, with Corsican herbs.
Whisky beer is one of more popular speciality styles, made with peat-smoked malt. The original was Adelscott Bière au Malt á Whisky, a 6.5% ABV lager from the Adelschoffen brewery in Alsace, which was launched in the 1980s. A darker Adelscott Noir is also brewed. Kronenbourg likewise brew Wel Scotch (6.2% ABV) with whisky malt. The Meteor Brewery's 8% ABV Mortimer is packaged like whisky, but actually classed as a Vienna lager. The foregoing are all Alsace-based, top-fermented brews; Amberley (7.3% ABV) is Pelforth's top-fermented whisky beer, from the Lille area.
There is a chain of about 7 brewpubs called FrogPubs, which blend British and French traditions. ('Frog' is the English nickname for the French; two pubs are named The Frog & Rosbif – Rosbif or "roast beef" is the French nickname for the English). The pubs are decorated in a broadly British style, and serve a selection of ales, stouts and wheat beer.
There is also a chain of about 20 American style brewpub-restaurants operating under the name Les 3 Brasseurs (The Three Brewers), which extends outside the country.
Establishments selling a wide selection of bottled and draught beers can be found in urban areas. An example is the Pub St Germain in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Some beer cafés are Belgian-themed with cuisine to match.
Beer festivals are held in Schiltigheim (August) and Felletin (July).
France is the largest producer of barley in Europe (3.5 million tons in 2010) and has been the world's largest malt exporter in the last 30 years, having exported 78% of the national production (1.6 million tons) in 2011, which represents 23% of the world market. Hop production is modest, at 800 tons in 2010.
According to the French Brewers Association () beer market in France represents EUR 12.8 billion and employs 71,500 people.
In 2010 France produced 16.3 million hl (9th in Europe) and consumption reached 19.7 million hl, representing a 1.7% decrease from 2009. This represents 30l per capita, one of the lowest in Europe.
According to the List of countries by alcohol consumption, which uses data from the WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011, France ranks 64th in terms of beer consumption per capita (compared to 16th for alcohol overall). In absolute terms, at 1.7 million liters, France ranks 16th in beer production ().
Overall alcohol consumption is down 25% since 1960 (17.9 L alcohol/inhabitant in 1961 compared to 10.5 L in 2008) and beer currently represents 16% of the total.
Similar data is shown by the World Health Organization Global Status Report on Alcohol 2004, which indicates a huge decline in total alcohol consumption by adults (15+) in France between 1961 and 2005 but beer consumption was relatively stable, wine being impacted the most. In 2005 beer represented 17% of the total alcohol consumption (compared to 62% for wine and 20% for spirits).
Although the market as a whole saw a decline, the consumption of special beers was up 5.6% in 2010 and they represent 70% of the market value.
Overall beer consumption was down 14% between 1991 and 2010 but sales outside home were the most impacted, going down 53%, while supermarket sales increased 6.5% in the same period. In 2010 supermarkets (GMS - magasins de détail) sales went down 1.1% (in terms of volume) and cafés, hotels and restaurants (CHR - cafés, hôtels et restaurants) sales dropped 3.5%.