Beer brews up a following in France's wine country

(PRI) - In the southern port city of Marseille, France, one man is brewing up a bit of a beer culture, in a country traditionally valued for its wine.

At an outdoor terrace in Marseille, three couples bring their glasses together to make a toast — with beer — regular, old, watery, tap beer. In French, one of the gentlemen in the group says, “Hey, this beer quenches the thirst,” which, if you think about it, doesn't seem like a very French answer.

The French don't just sit down at a bistro and order alcohol to quench their thirst. They order booze because it goes well with buttery foie gras, pungent raclette or plain old brie cheese. In other words: the French order wine. In this country, beer has traditionally been left out in the cold.

But why? Why is it that, in a country where food and drink are so valued, beer has been overlooked for so long?

“I think it is because since 60 years ago, after the war, we started to have industrialization of beer,” says Salem Haji, who co-owns Marseille's first, and only, microbrewery. “And the beer became this alcoholic water that we know now. The big breweries bought the small ones just to get a monopoly. So people thought, beer is just refreshing.”

His shop is called Biere de la Plaine. It is part store, part bar, and part tubes, tubs and bottling machines. His goal: to crush the beer stereotypes in France, like a cigarette under his boot.

“I think cheese and beer goes better than cheese and wine, especially red wine,” he says. But I remind him that what he’s just said is considered blasphemy in France.