As the top Tour de France riders lined up in early July, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard — the rivals who have won the last five Tours — likely did not include beer in their training regime. However, beer once played a prominent part in the Tour’s culture, as a form of hydration and quick calories during the race. Once chic, then dormant, and now returning to vogue, French beer and bike culture appears to be on the rise again.

During Tours de France in the 1960s, “café raids” were a frequent tradition. Film from the era often captured riders running through cafes on particularly hot days, cleated shoes clicking, grabbing drinks and food. Bordering on looting, competitors like legendary French rogue Jacques Anquetil, sweat dripping from helmetless brows, were known to burst in and take everything within easy reach, then ride off, pockets bulging with bottles of wine and beer. Tour organizers would later settle the cafe bills though, which along with general enthusiasm and national pride usually rendered these escapades non-confrontational.

At the time, beer was considered a means for cyclists to refuel and rehydrate during long race stages. The two or three minutes riders lost during a “raid” were easily recovered as the peloton slowed to share the booty and imbibing competitors eased their pace a little.

Today, developments in sports science and understanding of human physiology have swung the pendulum away from consuming alcohol in any form during training, let alone during the Tour proper. Racers, like Slovene phenom Tadej Pogacar, instead find their hydration in modern proprietary electrolyte and high-carb forms. As Pogacar comes off recent wins at Tour of Flanders and Critérium du Dauphiné, stalking a fourth Tour de France victory, he is unlikely to even raise a glass of champagne or beer in celebration of an individual or team stage victory this month.

Similarly, Jonas Vingegaard, the Danish two-time Tour champion and Pogacar’s closest rival since 2020, will eschew beer during the three-week, 2000-plus mile race. For some though, like Dieter Werner of the Alach-Untermenzing suburb of Munich, Germany, that is a pity. Werner came to watch the Tour near Valenciennes and visit friends in eastern France, where he enjoys local French beers.

Werner and fellow Tour fans can thank a tide of Christianity and Roman influences for France’s beer heritage. Though its wine industry has grown in notoriety in recent centuries, French beer traditions date back millenia and were once as rich as Belgium’s. Two world wars on its soil and the push of industrialization, though, significantly impacted beer production in the region, along with other agriculture-linked endeavors.

Today however, the nation revered for culinary flair is again focusing its gastronomic creativity to return beer to French tables and status as “la pièce de résistance” for every palate and every plate. Modern French beer styles nevertheless reflect divided urban and rural cultures.

Urban styles include the Pilsner and Blanc Wheat. The former is a pale lager similar to German Pilsner, with distinctly French terroir. It is refreshingly bready, often with honey flavors, Werner noted, the result of decoction mashing and Rhine River basin malts. Aromatic Rhineland hop varieties, e.g., Strisselspalt and Elixir, also lend the style floral, herbal qualities, and citrusy hop aromas, distinct from the subdued Noble hops employed in German beers. The Blanc Wheat (Bière blanche) style resembles Wit and Weissbier, while being more persistently cloudy than these Belgian or German cousins and exuding a Meyer lemon-like regal citrus character.

While these neighbor-influenced styles cater to the faster crowd, one of the oldest French beer styles also seeing a revival is Bière de Garde. The high gravity farm style originated in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region pre-WWI and is marked by a rich maltiness and sometimes spicy yeast. Typically aged for several months, the style has a rounder malt profile than young French urban beer styles. This classic northern French farmhouse beer elegantly balances the rustic agrarian ties of the culture with the efficiency of modern brewing, and, of course, pairs beautifully with an “assiette de fromages.”

As the final legs of the 2025 Tour de France wind toward Paris, French beer continues a rough and experimental revival. Reinventing the drink apart from international macro lager brands and the din of France’s wine-first culture, domestic beers are nevertheless making bold, rebellious progress.

As the quality and diversity of French beer continues to improve, hopefully Tour riders will begin making quick raids along the route again.

Vive le Tour, notre bière et nos vélos!

Cyril Vidergar can be reached with ideas and comments at beerscoop@gmail.com.