Lausanne, Switzerland, beer gen

Last Updated : 31/01/10

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...

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?

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...

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...

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...


Brewer at Bière Buse Crissier Lausanne - sorry, forgot his name!	Jorat Blanche in Cafe du Paudex Lausanne	Inside Pibar Lausanne	Pibar from the steep Rue outside!	Bar Tabac Lausanne, some decent Belgian beers here.


La Bossette bar Lausanne, Trois Dames on tap!	The hard-to-find Brasserie du Foudre Paudex Lausanne whose beer I never saw...