Okay, technically the run isn’t part of the Paris Beer Festival… However, the Paris hashers made it a tradition to end the run in the festival week at the beer festival. Obviously, I joined them for this run!
After enjoying a coffee and some cake at Café Tranquille, I dropped off my bag at a Nannybag location near the Gare du Nord. That way, I wouldn’t have to go back to the hotel on my way home, yet still spend the day running and drinking unencumbered by a backpack.
Once that was taken care of, I went to metro station Michel Bizot, the start location of today’s hash.
I was a bit early, but soon the members of Sans Clue H3 started to arrive. As it turned out, there were only two runners, including me! In order to get to the beer festival in time—Sundays can be busy there, apparently—it would be a rather short run, and an even shorter circle.
Up until that point it had been quite a drizzly day, which probably helped to keep the queues short so far. It also meant that by the time we got in, most of the outside tables were still empty, so we managed to secure a spot for ourselves for the remainder of the festival.
Eventually it was time to go home though, so back to the Gare du Nord I went. The Eurostar left perfectly on time, and I was home again before dark…
While the Paris Beer Festival actually is a whole week of activities, it culminates in a more classic beer festival—brewery stands in a big hall, where you get your tasting glass filled—in the weekend at the end of that week.
But first… Coffee! I found a tiny roaster in the Marché Beauvau, not far from the festival venue. When I got to Early Bird, I was unexpectedly welcomed by a barista / coffee roaster with a thick Irish accent, and some really nice coffee and cake.
The Paris Beer Festival closing event was at Ground Control, a venue that is both an event space and a food market, set in a giant warehouse once used by the French National Railway Service (SNCF). That means it was also open for people not interested in the festival, leading to a very mixed public. Since no beer list was published in advance, I spent the first hour checking out all the brewery stands, adding beers to try later to my list… That list quite quickly grew out of control, since a lot of the—mostly French—breweries, I hadn’t seen at any other festivals or in beer bars before!
Keeping well fed is essential when drinking that many beers, so after finishing my list, I had a butter chicken naan wrap from Burning Naan.
It was actually a Paris/Brussels hasher who brought this festival to my attention, and he was there as well, of course. He introduced me to some other Paris hashers, whom I’ll see more of tomorrow.
Before diving into the imperial stouts, I definitely needed another meal, it was time for some more sustenance, so I got myself a nice truffle carbonara pasta from Solina.
When there was only fifty cents left on my cashless card, I decided it was time to call it a day, and headed back to the hotel. More beers tomorrow!
I’m back in Paris! This time the reason for my visit is a beer festival—my first French one—and a run—also my first French one!
I didn’t try any of the newer—cheaper—train options available, but took the comfortably quick Eurostar again. After arrival, I whipped out my Navigo card—which surprisingly still had a lot of rides on it—to take the métropolitain to my hotel for the weekend, the ibis Paris la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. After check-in, some coffee and banana bread at Kaffeebar 19, I was ready for an afternoon and evening of beer bars and breweries!
With some places only opening at four or five, it was a bit of a puzzle. However, in the end I had a schedule that enabled me to visit all the bars and breweries I picked out for this trip! First up was Paname Brewing Company, near my hotel.
After that I had to take the metro again to get to Le BaB OPERA. While they didn’t actually have a Paris Beer Festival event on Friday, they still had most beers from a Nuka Brewing tap takeover the day before.
So today’s trip was to Lille, called Rijsel in Dutch, or in this case more correctly, in Flemish. Because although technically Lille is not in Belgium—hence the “+” in the title of this post—it’s in Flanders nevertheless. Lille is in French Flanders to be exactly, which used to be a part of the historical County of Flanders. While it has been a part of the Southern Netherlands for a while, it eventually ended up as a part of France in 1659. However, to some extent, apparently Flemish is still spoken here, although I haven’t seen or heard any proof of that on this trip…
The County of Flanders
My Off-Peak Unlimited train ticket was of course not valid for the border crossing, but the international add-on was only a couple of euros extra. With a fifteen minute delay—vandals messed up the signalling system—my train arrived in Lille-Flandres, a train station that was way bigger than I expected!
My first stop was of course at a coffee bar, Coffee Makers in this case, for an espresso macchiato and some banana bread.
Since my Museum Pass isn’t valid here, and I hadn’t been in Lille as an adult yet, for as far as I can remember, I just played tourist for a while. Of course, I had to visit the citadel of Lille as well. This fortress was built between 1667 and 1670, designed by Vauban, a French military engineer, apparently considered the greatest engineer of his time. Unfortunately, it’s closed to the public, because it is still in military use: it’s home to the Rapid Reaction Corps-France. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much, but just check out what it looks like from above!
From there I strolled past the future location of BBP Lille. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s a really nice building!
My first actual beer stop was at Beer Square, right next to the quite peculiar Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille: modern in the front, old everywhere else.
Even though it was still quite early, the high ABV beers I consumed necessitated a food stop at Friterie Meunier. Their specialty is all kinds of croquettes, and they were tasty indeed!
The next beery stop was then the hôp[i] microbrewery. I loved their beers, the selection of guest beers, and the art on the walls!
After a short stop at La Ressourcerie, I then went to the highlight of the evening, La Capsule. I could easily have spent the rest of my evening here!
I didn’t want to risk missing my train home though, so I went back to Lille-Flanders train station, only to find my planned train had been cancelled… There was a train to Mouscron however, and from there, it was a direct train to Brussels!
That’s another adventure in the bag, next up: the Hopz beer festival in Hamont-Achel! (Although I doubt that warrants a blog post, since I won’t see much apart from the beer festival itself. The next post will probably be about Bruges!)
Reached this post by just scrolling through my blog?
If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!
I had my first beer of the day at Bon Esprit. To keep the drinking at a moderate pace, this was then followed by another coffee at KB CaféShop. Then some more beers followed at beer shops À la bière comme à la Bière and La Binouze. I also had a beer at the Mikkeller Bar, mainly to get a stamp for my Mikkeller Passport.
The staff at Bon Esprit recommended me Carburant as one of the newest craft beer hot spots of Paris, so I added that as the final beer destination to my itinerary.
The last stop before getting in my comfy Thalys seat again, was at Fric-Frac, to enjoy another French classic—croque monsieur—but with a twist, chicken and avocado this time.
Well, that’s all for this trip, but there will be another one, just as short as this one, very soon!
