Beer in Paris

Sadly, the French aren't known for their beers; they aren't bad, but they aren't 'good', either - when's the last time you saw a book titled "Great French Breweries"?!? Now books on German and Belgian beers - oh, yeah!!! I can personally vouch for two of the 'Frog' brewpubs - The Frog and the Princess and The Frog at Bercy Village. I've been there a few times (purely for quality control purposes...). Their website (included below) says they still brew at each site. They make good British-style beers, and always have several on tap at a time plus a seasonal or two. And the staff speaks english...The food is great, too! Not out of line, pricewise, esp. for Paris. And they're thoughtfully scattered all over Paris; mark their locations on your map! You never know when you'll need a little respite... There are many 'beer fiend' sites online; a good one is 'Beer Advocate'. They aren't all-inclusive, and the reviews can be a little old, but it's a start. Just Google for other sites...One they list is "Au Trappiste'; it's definitely on my short list for my next visit. It's also located in a very good location, just north of the river across from the Conciergerie! Play a little with Google Street View. H'o'ppy Beer Hunting ;-) Let us know if you discover any spectacular finds...!!! http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/city/50 http://www.frogpubs.com/

I am not saying that you can't get a beer in Paris or that there are no great places to go for a beer. However, I have been to Paris several times and on the RS France tour and the French are not known for beer. They are known for their wine. The wine and the food is outstanding. I was in France for two weeks and did not have one bad meal. Not to say that you can't have a bad meal there, but I was very lucky and found the food to be amazing. There are other countries that are known for their beer that you will find to be excellent. France I do not think as much. Do try the wine. Have a great time.

Beer lovers love Germany/Belgium. Wine lovers love France.

German & Belgian beers are widely available in Paris.

Oh, give the poor guy a break! Sure, wine rules in France, but Paris is close enough to Belgium to have a couple of decent beer joints :-) Try the pub L'Académie de la Bière, on boul. Port Royal. There's also a great cave à bières (same concept as a cave à vin) in the marché Saint-Quentin (10th). They carry both Belgian and French artisan beers. (BTW - I really like this market!) There used to be another good beer pub right on Place de la République (boul. Voltaire end), where we bumped into both Madonna's and Elton John's road crews at different times... It was called something like "Captain Tenninck".

Out of curiosity, I tried to look up that pub on Place de la République, but it's been replaced by another taverne. However, I found 3 brew-pubs listed: The Frog & Rosbif, on rue St-Denis The Frog & Princess, on Rue Princesse Brasserie O'Neil, on rue des Cannettes And another two highly rated cave à bières: La Cave à Bulles, on rue Quincampoix
Bières Cultes, on rue des Halles Enjoy!

You'll be able to find good beer when you know where to look as already mentioned, but Heineken and Kronenbourg 1664 are ubiquitous. These brands are everywhere and are terrible IMO (apologies to anyone with a stake in these).

Guesses, guesses, guesses. Go to Horse's Tavern, carrefour de l'Odéon and be done with it. It's a couple hundred feet south of the Odeon metro station. They've got easily a hundred kinds in bottles and a slew on tap. It's also a good stop for late night grub. If you can't sit outside, go upstairs rather than using the ground floor.

Brian, In Paris you'll see a lot of Belgian beers served especially on draft. The area of Paris I definitely recommend to go for the beer is Gare de l'Est... for the alsacian beer, the best beer in France. A particular restaurant I recommend for the beer as well as the food is Chez Jenny Brasserie Alsacienne, 39, Bd. du Temple, 75003 Paris. I went there last summer... great alsacian food and draft beer (Alsace beer) served in a liter mug.

You might try this place: http://www.academie-biere.com/
Evidently they stock many kinds of beer. They also have a happy hour, I see.

Per capita beer consumption in France is only 38.6 litres, compared to 110 in Germany, 81.6 in the USA and 81 in Belgium. That is still a lot of beer, 2/3 of which is lager. Personally, I would rather drink a mediocre beer than a fine wine. I had an excellent pizza at Falstaff Café, 10 Place de la Bastille, 75011 Paris, France with more than 100 beers on their menu. The beers I chose were unremarkable.

Try the Highlander Pub, 8 Rue de Nevers (right at the Pont Neuf) for a pint of Caledonian. It's AMAZING, and I haven't seen it in the US. It's from Scotland, not France, but it's delightful. The nose is a little like tea and a little like chocolate, and it's very refreshing and drinkable. We also like la Pinte, 13 Carrefour de l'Odéon. The beer selection isn't amazing, but the bar is tiny and cute, and if you strike up a conversation with the bartender (we think he's also the owner) he may give you a nice tasting of awesome sauccison, for free. Funnily enough, we haunt Irish and Scots pubs when in Paris, b/c my husband drinks Guinness and b/c the French are not world famous for their beer... but I will be interested to see what others post here. I enjoy a cold glass of Leffe, but I am sure that is old hat to you if you are a beer afficiando!

This has been a highly educational thread. Thank you for your tips. As 5/7 wine drinkers who dry out 2/7 of the week with a good brew, this is the reason one scours the list--Caledonian brew and Chez Jenny among the many tasty tips here. Glad to see the Academie de la Biere is still giving out diplomas. Spent many evenings there in my youth, lived in the neighborhood. First child born in the hospital across the street...digressing. BTW, new mothers are given beer while in the hospital in France to stimulate the milk. French beer, but that's what I call health care.