Beer for the 4th of July Weekend

At first glance, this might seem like an unpatriotic suggestion: this July 3rd why not try some beer from France? Well, while we're celebrating our Independence this weekend, why not give a tip of the chapeau to nos amis across the ocean who helped us during the Revolution. Merci, Général Lafayette! I'm sure that the Marquis enjoyed some of George Washington's Porter while he was at Mount Vernon so let's return the favor and drink a few beers from his home country. Then, on the 4th, go ahead and celebrate with an American brew!

Martha Washington Pours Tea Whilst Generals Lafayette and Washington Debate Which Fine Ale to Drink

When:  Sunday, 3 July, 3pm onwards
Where:  Blind Tiger Ale House, 281 Bleecker St.
What:  pay-as-you-go

Blind Tiger will be holding one of their Sunday afternoon Beer Exhibitions, featuring the following 4 drafts from France:

Brasserie St-Germain Page 24 Réserve Hildegarde Ambrée - an amber bière de garde, the traditional farmhouse style from the north of France. The young brewers at St-Germain find many modern bières de garde to be too sweet so, inspired by the hop fields that surround the brewery, they brewed a hoppier version, generously hopped with the local Brewers Gold and Strisselspalt varieties and brewed with locally-sourced malt.

Brasserie de Bretagne Sant Erwann - Brittany's St. Yves (Sant Erwann in Breton) was a 13th century ecclesiastical judge who was a champion of the poor. He was glorified in the saying, "A lawyer and not a thief, a wonderful thing for the people" and the brewery decided to honor their local boy, the patron saint of Brittany's lawyers, with this 7-grain, 7% abv blonde ale brewed with barley, wheat, buckwheat, oats, rye, spelt, and millet.

Pietra Colomba - moving south, the Pietra brewery is located on the Mediterranean island of Corsica (birthplace of Napoleon). Colomba is a Belgian-style wheat beer, hazy and refreshing, but brewed with the local wild herbes du maquis which give the beer a more herbal note, rather than the typical citrus and spice.

Thiriez Extra - Daniel Thiriez brews farmhouse ales in the tiny town of Esquelbecq, close to the Belgian border, and his beers tend to blur the lines between French bières de garde and Belgian saisons. The Extra is a very hoppy, effervescent saison-like beer that is extremely refreshing and easy to drink at only 4.5% abv.

Blind Tiger will also be serving brunch and lunch and I've been told that they've just gotten in a killer maple syrup from Vermont that's been aged in bourbon barrels. Go ahead and pour some of that all-American sweetener on your French crêpes! And if you just can't bear to drink foreign beer on a patriotic holiday weekend, there will also be a rare keg of our friend Sean Hill's Hill Farmstead beer from Vermont.