On Sunday after leaving Le Temple sur Lot, we’ve made a very short hop for us, a mere 90kms, and pitched up at Cahors, also sur Lot. (I asked the nice young man on reception, which we just made in time for the lunchtime closure, and the “t” at the end of “Lot” is pronounced. I wasn’t sure. Now we know) We picked a slow cross-country route but it was more interesting than a main road.
Having arrived on Sunday Cahors was closed. Monday being another public holiday [Whitsun, apparently], Cahors was again closed, other than a Carrefour City, which we took advantage of to buy a bottle of Cahors wine, and, oddly, a hat shop [chapellerie]. Fortunately, Cahors itself didn’t have to be open for us to go oo-ah at its famous 14th century Valentré bridge. Trust the French to surround the bridge not with grass but with vines.
Now we can get into the beers, which have been waiting for nothing much to happen.
The Super-U at Castelmoron had some beers that I just couldn’t resist, with a damselfly on one can and a butterfly on the other. How could I not buy them? These were from the Mira brasserie in France.
I tried the weaker one first. When I say weaker, all things are relative; this was stronger than most of our draught beers at 5.2% ABV. My first taste was a bit of a surprise and pretty much knocked my socks off. This was one of the bitterest bitters that I’ve tasted, very well hopped indeed, apparently with a mix of three different hops. I now know that NEIPA stands for New England India Pale Ale, the India Pale Ale part I am very familiar with but slapping New England in front of it was a surprising development. India Pale Ale has its roots in shipping beer from England to India. At least this was strong enough to qualify, though, which is more than I can say for many of Britain’s current crop of IPAs. As you can see, it’s one of the modern “Hazy IPAs” which I began enjoying in Australia last year.
Next up was the butterfly-adorned “Passion IPA”. How intriguing is that, brewer’s droop notwithstanding at 6.8% ABV. I took a sip. Odd, My taste buds began to suspect that the passion aspect was based upon passion fruit. Indeed it was. The French had taken a leaf out of the Belgians’ book in developing a fruit beer. It wasn’t sweet (unlike an attrocious American attempt that I had tasted many years ago in Californa where blueberry syrup had been added). This was subtle.
Interesting though they both were, I can’t say I’d be rushing back for a repeat taste.
My current beer of choice on this trip, being widely available, is Leffe Blonde. This gets us on to one of my bug bears. Leffe Blonde is available in the UK BUT, and it’s a big BUT, the stuff in England is brewed under license in England. The real Belgian stuff is 6.6% ABV whereas the British imitation is only 6.0% ABV.
Most of the European beers available in the UK are brewed in the UK and spoiled. Kronenbourg 1664 is weaker then the genuine French stuff, St. Miguel is weaker than the real Spanish stuff. Given that we in the UK are crap at brewing lager, it’s a travesty that this happens. One of my alternative beers this trip in France is La Goudale at a respectable 7.2% ABV. Goudale IS available in small bottles at Morrisons supermarket but I confess that I haven’t checked the provenance or strength of that offering.
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