Sologne Blonde

We just returned from a week’s holiday in and around the Loire Valley in France, where the evenings were all about wine, not beer. And cheese... I love French wines, as difficult as it is for me to remember all the details and complexities, but French cheese... especially the goaty ones... oh my... I think I should start a new blog on French cheeses.

With cheese and wine, the French have little to learn, but what about beer?

At the château in La Ferté St Aubin -- a grand pile that kids are allowed to rummage through with few restrictions -- we picked up two 75cl bottles of Sologne, one blond and one ambrée, both local brews.

Sologne Blonde is quite thick, slightly syrupy, with strong grain and yeast flavours. It’s a hearty, dried grass taste that predominates. This bière artisanale is unfiltered and bottle fermented, so it would sit well in a Belgian collection. Particularly as the sun has now come out here on a fantastic spring evening in Brussels...

In short, it’s tasty and worth looking for again. It would also go well with a mimolette (AOC).