Sat July 31, 2010
|
The Beers of French
Flanders
Bieres de Gardes
The Flemish are earthy
lovers of life; the French have great style. The Flemish French have both
qualities. People will tell you that Lille (the center of French Flanders)
is an industrial city, an old textile town, but it also has fine Flemish
architecture, beer of a matching flavor, local gins and its own hearty
style of French food. The surrounding countryside varies from a former
coal field to hop gardens to the poppy strewn Flanders’ field and sandduned
beaches of wartime memory as it fans out to Dunkirk and Calais in the west.”
Michael Jackson
All About Beer
Despite different languages,
the people of greater Flanders share a great deal
of common heritage—cultural,
geographic, and political. Among the French provinces,
French Flanders is the one that possesses the longest
and richest history of beer making.
The first breweries here date from the time of Charlemagne.
Five mills and four breweries were found at Lille
which was then part of the royal
domain of Annappes. As early as 967, the Abbey of
Saint Bavas-les-Esquerines at Lilles ran two breweries.
Among the styles that
evolved over time perhaps the most idiosyncratic, and enduring are the
Bieres de Gardes. These are hybrid beers—being top fermented (like ales)
and cool aged (like lagers). By maturing at cold temperatures for a month
or more, Bieres de Gardes have a wonderfully refreshing quality that is
unusual for beers with their depth of flavor. These beers were originally
all made at farmhouse breweries in the winter months when work on the farm
slowed. They were then stored (garder means to store) until the summer
season. They were thirst quenchers for the farm hands after long hours
in the fields.
Companion Foods And Recipe
Ideas
All of Castelain’s beers
are gastronomic beers. Menu suggestions include carbonnades of beef; spicy
vegetable stews; mussels with sauce of Jade and onions with cream; lamb
chops; and cheese with fruit. Chef Pierre Cauvin created a dish with warm
goat cheese, wilted spinach and a sauce infused with (and inspired by)
Castelain. The dish appears in Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion. Castelain
is amazingly good with spicy Asian and Fusion cooking. St. Amand is especially
suitable with bistro food and steaks. Jade is very delicate with veal.
Great with flamiche (flemish onion and cheese)
|
