One of the world's more obscure traditional beer styles is the indigenous French "biere de garde,"…read morewhich translates roughly to "beer of keeping" or "beer of lagering." It is a rustic farmhouse ale of sustenance, mostly showing a strong toasty malt presence and a touch of earthy "cellar" character. Brewers of biere de garde can be found in the Nord region of France, along its northern border with Belgium. One of its older adherents rests in the tiny town of Hordain - the Brasserie La Choulette, dating back to the 1880s.
There are few reviews for La Choulette on Yelp, and one of the reasons for that is that it's very out of the way, in a town that doesn't have much else to do or see. There's a quaint little church, and an interesting-looking library that would have been nice to visit while waiting for La Choulette to open, except that it was closed. Hordain isn't exactly a hotbed of tourist activity - walking up and down its quiet streets, we stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.
Finally, the gates opened and we went inside, not knowing quite what to do. The small cadre of brewery workers we noticed seemed somewhat bewildered. Somehow, the idea that anyone would want to come visit their brewery seemed foreign to them. That these odd Americans wearing sunglasses on their heads would want to come visit their brewery likely seemed even more absurd to them.
Once they got the idea that yes, we were interested in their beer, and yes, we would like to taste some, we were ushered into their "tasting room" (really, an ancient, chilly room that felt and smelled like an old wine cellar), told a little bit about the beers, and were invited to sample the Blonde, their flagship biere de garde.
I don't know what it is - I'd had this beer before, but never before had it tasted so good, so pure, as it did right there at the source, at perfect cellar temperature, in that cold, musty room. The nice woman helping us seemed very happy that we were so thrilled - I don't think this place gets that many visitors outside of a tiny population of locals coming to buy beer.
Then, it was beer-buying time. The room doubled as a shop, with stacks of beer and even some wine available for purchase, along with various and sundry local foodstuffs. For cheap, incredibly cheap. Even 750ml bottles that normally go for 10 dollars in America were no more than 3-4 Euros. So, we bought a fair assortment. Some bottles made it back home, while others were destined to be consumed in various hotel rooms in other European cities.
Hordain will never be hot on the tourist trail, but if you're passing by the area as a beer lover or one remotely curious about biere de garde, stop in and taste some, and buy a bottle or two.
