We got back from our hols yesterday and have a few beer-related bits and pieces to report. For starters, though, we’ll mention the very first halfway decent beer of the break — Wendelinus Biere d’Abbaye, from the French brewery Meteor. They’re based in the not-very-French sounding Alsation town of Hochfelden. It’s done up to look like a cheap knock-off of Leffe.
Our bottles came from the train’s buffet car, and were served in plastic tumblers. It actually tasted pretty pleasant — some honey flavours and spiciness — but that might be partly because we were bored stiff stuck on a train in the south of France waiting for a smashed up lorry to be removed from a level crossing up ahead. We thought it as good as the blond beers from Leffe or Grimbergen, at any rate.
As good as Leffe or Grimbergen? That sounds like damning with faint praise to me.
Well, neither are terrible beers — just not great ones, either, and boringly ubiquitous. Certainly better than 1664 or Heineken which seem to be the default in France.
I once spent three weekks in a very remote bit of France with nothing to do but drink through a barnful of Grimbergen. It was bliss.