French beer between two borders: bière de garde in Flanders, lager in Alsace

The trade body Brasseurs de France counts about 2,500 breweries in France, more than in any other European country. Two of its oldest beer traditions grew up on its borders: the bière de garde of French Flanders, next to Belgium, and the lager of Alsace, next to Germany.

Flanders: beer for keeping

Bière de garde means beer for keeping. Farmers around Lille brewed it in early spring and stored it in cold cellars to drink in the warm months. It comes blond, amber or brown, malty and dry, and the BJCP names Jenlain as its modern prototype. The Duyck family first brewed on their farm at Zegerscappel and settled at Jenlain in 1922; their amber went into bottles in the 1940s.

The other classic names are family breweries too. Castelain at Bénifontaine dates from 1926, and its Ch’ti, launched in 1979, made the business. The Ricour family has run 3 Monts at Saint-Sylvestre-Cappel since 1920, and La Choulette at Hordain has brewed since 1885.

The border runs through the families as well. The Bailleux family brewed at the Cavenaile brewery in Dour, on the Belgian side, before founding Au Baron at Gussignies in 1989. Saisons have joined the bières de garde: Thiriez at Esquelbecq has brewed since 1996, and its Étoile du Nord is a hoppy saison.

Alsace: lager on a moving frontier

Alsatian beer is traditionally a pale, bottom-fermented lager. Louis Schutzenberger brought the lager method to Alsace in 1847. The Treaty of Frankfurt, signed on 10 May 1871, gave Alsace and the Moselle to the German Empire until 1918, and in 1882 France doubled its duties on foreign beer, which now included the beer of Alsace.

Kronenbourg traces itself to a brewery Jérôme Hatt founded in Alsace on 9 June 1664; the Hatt family ran the company until 1977, and it has belonged to Carlsberg since 2008. Meteor, at Hochfelden, says it is the oldest brewing site in France still at work, founded in 1640. It took the name Meteor in 1925, launched Meteor Pils in 1927, and calls itself the last big independent brewery in Alsace, run by the Haag family. When Heineken closed the Fischer brewery at Schiltigheim in 2009, the brand lived on elsewhere, and in 2025 Meteor agreed to brew it at Hochfelden from 2026.

Beyond the borders

The newer breweries spread across the rest of the country. In 1985 former bank employees in Morlaix founded the brewery that made Coreff, a real ale in the British way. In Corsica, Armelle and Dominique Sialelli founded Pietra at Furiani in 1996 and brewed the island’s first beer, a lager made with chestnut flour. In Brittany, Lancelot moved in 1999 into the ruins of France’s first gold and tin mine.

The big groups take part too. Heineken owns Pelforth and Fischer, Carlsberg owns Kronenbourg, and in 2023 the Belgian family brewer Duvel Moortgat bought a majority of the Brasserie du Mont-Blanc in Savoie, which Sylvain Chiron had revived in 1999.

Sources

Checked October 30, 2026.

1. Le marché de la bière — Brasseurs de France
2. 24C. Bière de Garde, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
3. Notre histoire — Brasserie Duyck
4. Histoire — Brasserie Castelain
5. Brasserie Au Baron — Wikipédia
6. Bière d'Alsace — Wikipédia
7. Histoire de l'Alsace-Moselle — Mémorial de l'Alsace-Moselle
8. France — Carlsberg Group
9. Brasserie Meteor — Wikipédia
10. Brasserie Fischer — Wikipédia
11. Fischer reste dans la région : la bière sera brassée par Meteor à Hochfelden — Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace
12. La grande épopée — Brasserie Coreff
13. Brasserie Pietra — Wikipédia
14. Pietra, la bière à la châtaigne — Brasserie Pietra
15. Duvel Moortgat brewery acquires French brewery Brasserie du Mont Blanc — Duvel Moortgat