Real ale in Brittany

***News***

Micro Brasserie Les Fous is one of seven brewers in Brittany making their beers available to trade customers all over France. For more details visit the les-bieres-bretonnes-partout-en-france.com website (in French).

Don and Tricia are obsessed. They drink beer. They talk about beer. They brew beer. Sometimes they do other stuff. But mostly, with them, it's all about the beer.

Tricia and Don who are obsessed

At the start of 2007, they began brewing at their pub in Carnoët in Central Brittany. And their beer has already received widespread acclaim in Brittany and around the world. It would do. It's good. I told you -- they're obsessed.

Their first beer is named after their dog who in turn is named after Orson Wells. Some people are amazed at the way they name their beer, but it follows a long Anglo-Irish tradition of naming beers after pets who are named after Hollywood legends.

Orson the dog

One of the delights of drinking Orson Ale is that you can do so while the dog sits at your side looking dolefully up at you hoping to catch a few spilled drops of his own beer. He gets very little except when Don and Tricia go hop picking when he generally breaks into the brewery and helps himself.

Sadly, owing to timing difficulties, Orson Wells never got to drink the beer. But chances are he would have approved. As he once nearly said: "my doctor told me to stop ordering beer for four unless there are three other people with me."

Orson Wells who never drank Orson Ale

Anyway, all this is off the point. Orson Ale is a golden bitter brewed in the best traditions of English real ale. And because they are obsessed, Don and Tricia have not stopped there. Visit their pub, Les Fous, and you will discover a range of special bitters, stout, mild and pale ale, some of which have been named after their donkeys. But that is a whole different story.