One of my friends from my French immersion course in Montpellier told me that a group of students from the EasyFrench School in Montpellier wanted to do a bar crawl this coming weekend and asked if I wanted to come along. I have been here longer than most students now and he asked if I had any suggestions. I have been quite lucky in this respect; my old host brother, Pierre, was partial to a bit of craft beer and one of his friends, Guillaume, is a big fan and since I have been learning French in Montpellier he has taken us to many of the best spots for a drop of interesting beer. I would like to share one of those great places.
‘Couleurs de Bieres’ Just Up the Road from the EasyFrench School Residence
This little place will be particularly interesting to those of you who are staying near the historic centre and even more so if you opted to stay at the student residence during your French language stay in France. It’s right behind the botanical gardens and up the road from the university so it attracts some of the more discerning students. It is a small place and probably more suited to summer time because they have a bigger terrace so you will have a bit more space but for the beer any time is a good time. The terrace is a lovely place to have a cold drink on a warm southern French evening, you will be able to see that they have quite a diverse customer base which gives rise to a very pleasant ambience.
They have 4 pumps on site which change very frequently. Unless you are going in every day you’re likely to see something different each time. They normally do a nice cross-section of stuff with some tasty, hoppy IPAs or deep ruby beers and often a bit of a stronger one for those of you who don’t like to mess about.
The selection of bottled beer is the real champion here though. When you walk in you will be struck by the neat wooden shelving that lines the walls of this little bar and the seemingly never-ending stacks of beer that fill them. They have stuff from loads of different European countries including my own which was good to see. I noticed some by brewers that I know but in editions I had never seen on the UK market, maybe I just hadn’t seen them or perhaps they are producing special lines for the French market but whichever, they were very interesting to me. This little bar also doubles as a shop and they have got the appropriate licensing so that you can either drink the bottles on site or take them away with you. The staff were telling us that many of their clients on particularly nice days grab a couple of their favourite beers and head up to Parc Peyrou where you can enjoy a spectacular view of the sunset and you are likely to see some other students from the Easy French School making the most of the Mediterranean weather.
This leads me on to the lovely staff. One thing that immediately comes across is their passion for their work. They will talk about all the beers knowledgably and professionally and discern your taste pretty quickly. If you get them talking about their favourites you will see how really into their beers they are and it will leave you with a new appreciation of beer making.
It’s a really interesting and fun way to spend an evening whilst you are doing an intensive French course for adults in Montpellier and it’s becoming more and more popular with the students at my French language immersion school in France.