The whole family were in Paris visiting Disneyland. I thought it would be rude not to call in to La Cave à Bulles, a small but perfect beer shop near the Georges Pompidou Centre. I first stumbled upon this gem back in 2009 when it was only open a year. There are twenty beer shops in Paris and La Cave à Bulles is the second oldest!
I think I picked a good day to stop by as I met with brewer Anthony Baraff who was able to recommend some beers to me including a couple of his own. Ale Chemist Michael Gilmore was also in the shop and we all had a great chat, comparing notes on the Irish and French Beer Scenes. They said to me that it wouldn’t matter when you called as you’d almost always be guaranteed to meet somebody interesting passing through.
Simon Thillou, the proprietor is an important part of the French beer scene spreading the word about artisan brewing. He is speaking at this weekend’s Planète Bière festival. I’m not sure what he’ll be talking about as my French is terrible, but if yours isn’t and you enjoy beer the festival is on the 29th and 30th of March.
While in the shop I got to try one of Anthony’s Pale Ales. It had a lovely citrussy aroma and the flavours were crisp and nicely hoppy. It’s a great shop with a very friendly vibe. Apparently if you bring Simon beer he can’t get, eg: some great Irish Craft Beer he’ll love you forever, so I missed a trick there! I’ll write a bit more about the beers I picked up over the coming week. So for now slàinte from Paris!
