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Lausanne
Last Updated : 31/01/10 |
My Google map is here...
week's exploration of Lausanne courtesy of work showed me that there is a fair
bit of craft beer around if you know where to look, although it took me a lot of
searching to find some of it;
Bov's site
is incredibly useful in this respect! So, if you're in the "Olympic city"
and fancy some micro-brewed beer, follow this guide and you won't go thirsty,
believe me...
Brewpubs.
Brasserie au Château, Place du
Tunnel 1, Lausanne. (
)
Bus 5 or 8 to Tunnel
then follow the confusing square around heading south-east (towards the
castley thing) and it's the low white building on your left. Easy once you
know where it is.
Excellent English-inspired brewpub which brews 6 beers and seems to be trumping
the safe, restrictive beers made by most Swiss brewers. Recommended food
and beer; the pizzas are superb and the other stuff looks pretty good too.
The only cask beer in the country?
Les Brasseurs, Rue Central 4,
Lausanne. (
)
Metro M2 to Flon then
follow Rue Centrale east, or take almost any bus to St François and head
downhill into the old town; the brewpub is very prominent on a corner close to
the Grand Pont.
Identikit Firkin-like brewpub with large copper plant at the front – so that’s where
all those blackboards went when the Firkins were trashed! The beer was
better than the sister pub in Geneva and I recomment the Horse and chips very
highly...
Beers :
Blanche (),
Blonde (
),
Ambrée (
),
seasonal (Keriche - 0 points!)
Bars.
Bar Tabac, Rue
Beau-Séjour 7. Opens from 07:00 until late daily. (
)
Close to the station in a maze of lanes. Take any bus to St François,
opposite the church (other side of the road) you'll see some steps heading down.
Take these which turns into Rue de la Grotte and you'll soon find Rue
Beau-Séjour on your left with the bar on the next corner along. It's also
a short walk from the Georgette trolleybus stop.
Arty corner bar with a solid Belgian beer range including a few surprises.
Well worth a look, check out the "new beers" blackboards for anything... well,
new...
Couronne d'Or,
Rue des Deux-Marchés 13. (
)
Leave the Chateau brewpub and you'll see a lane dipping away in front of
you. Follow this around the corner and this bar is a very short distance
on your right.
Busy cafe with some good local beer on the menu too such as BFM and
Dr Gabs.
La Bossette, Place du
Nord 4. (
)
it's quite difficult to describe where this is! Best way is to leave
the Chateau brewpub, turn left, up the steps alongside then left again to follow
Avenue de l'Universite uphil. When you reach the junction at the summit
turn left then immediately right down the winding hill and the bar is on your
left 100 metres downhill.
Roadside bar on a quiet side street hidden away behind busy Tunnel and
offering several micro beers from Trois Dames, Dr Gabs and others with,
occasionally, one on tap. Make it known you want "artisanale" beer and
you'll be offered extra bottles not on the menu! A relaxed and far more
beery place than it looks from the outside.
Pi-Bar (π bar), Rue du
Valentin 62. Open from 17:30, closed Sun and Mon. (
)
Take trolleybus 1 (northbound, direction Blancherette)
to Druey College, 50 metres up the hill, although be aware the southbound
stop is a little distance further north along Av. Druey. To be honest, the
hill is so steep it's easy enough to walk back to Riponne in five minutes!
Tiny little bar with the best beer range in town including local
micros (Dr Gabs, Faiseurs de Bière, 3 Dames, Jorat and BFM) and some decent
Belgian brews. Food is limited to tapas but these are very impressive too.
Sociable and enthusiastic staff make this a great place to sample some local
micro-brewed beers; I loved it!
Beer shops.
Au Grain d'Orge,
Chemin de l'Esparcette 5, Crissier.
Take bus 18 to Crissier centre from Flon (under the grand pont).
Carry on in the same direction for a few metres then turn left down Chemin de
Prez which leads downhill. At the bottom, cross the road bearing right
then first left into what looks like an industrial estate. After 100
metres you'll see a Nestlé shop (yummy) whereupon turn right up towards what
looks like a loading bay. The shop is on your left inside here! It's
well worth the effort, believe me...
Superb beer shop with a huge range of Swiss (3 Dames, Jorat, BFM, Dr Gabs)
and Belgian beer (including Cantillon and other gems). It's cheap too, but
you pay for this as it's a long way from the centre of Lausanne, although it's
well worth the effort...
Globus, Rue du Pont. Open until 19:00. Entrance to food hall
(downstairs) from Rue Centrale.
Take any bus to St François and head downhill into the old town and Rue
Centrale and you can't miss it. No, honestly, you can't.
Department store with posh wine department downstairs (plus lots of lovely
stinky cheese and suchlike) which condescends to have a hidden-away shelf of
beer. The small range includes micros such as BFM and Trois Dames so if
you've not time to make it out to Au Grain d'Orge (which you should) then
at least you can get some decent beer in here.
Breweries.
Bière Buse, Croix-du-Péage 1,
Villars-Ste-Croix.
Take bus 17 to Croix-du-Péage (bus leaves from Georgette and runs fairly
fast and every 20 minutes) Cross the roundabout in front of the bus and
the brewery is in the centre of the building on your left. Only a
ten-minute walk to Timonet bus stop, go down Route de Cossonay for 750 metres.
Brand-new brewery which first brewed at the end of December 2009, run by a
brewer who has worked at Fyne ales previously and wants to make some UK-style
beers. Only brewed for the first
time at the very end of 2009 but sounds like one to watch... it's actually
very close to Au Grain d'Orge so a trip out to both
is worthwhile.
Brasserie du Foudre,
Rue du Simplon 10, Paudex.
Trolleybus 9 goes from the centre of Lausanne to Paudex regularly. As
you alight, go back 25 metres and you'll see an alleyway going down to your
left. The brewery is in the basement of the house on this corner, visible
through a door.
I visited 3 times and never saw any life, but local beer expert Bov says
that it's still brewing and the owner runs a Japanese restaurant nearby and will
get you some bottles from the brewery if you ask him or phone him up (021 791
5843). I didn't see the beers anywhere else in Lausanne so this may be the
only option to scratch 'em...
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La Bossette bar Lausanne, Trois Dames on tap! | The hard-to-find Brasserie du Foudre Paudex Lausanne whose beer I never saw... |