France    

must admit that I don't know an awful lot about French beer; obviously there are the famous Biere du Garde of Brittany and the North of which I have tried very few but there are also other pockets of beer brewing in this land famed for it's love of the vine not the grape; Alsace for example brews a range of what I suppose would be called "fusion" beers if they were being described by restaurant critics - elements of Belgian, German and Breton can be found in the beers from that area. 

The "chain" concept seems to have extended to France with the advent of the "Trois Brasseurs" brewpubs to be found around the country and the famous "Frog and Rosbif" chain which has branches in various large cities which may or may not all brew although I've recently received an email from the boss there stating categorically that "Each pub brews its own beers on-site.  Every so often we move a bit of beer around in kegs, but this is only generally a last resort.  99,999% of FrogPubs beer is sold less than 20 metres from where it was made".

What follows here are my discoveries about French beer - please feel free to correct or add to my pitifully basic knowledge of these beers... please.

Some decent websites (French beer must be the most poorly and sparsely reported in the world!) are here... a general (out-of-date) list here, Brittany gen here, and probably the best site here.

A smidgeon of gen for Marseille is here, although don't get too excited...

Some gen from the amazing Cathar city of Carcassonne is here, but there's not a lot in the way of beers there - although the local wine is excellent.

My article about our trip to Nice and Genoa is here.

The Paris report is here.