I recently returned from a multi-week trip to Southern France and northern Spain, with a stint in Pamplona. I didn't seek out beer bars in any of these places, but nevertheless tried every beer I did see and had roughly 40 different beers on the trip.
All of them were completely and utterly forgetable, with two exceptions. As a caveat, this was not a beer trip and I did exactly zero research into beer for this trip, so this post is limited to things i just happen to see.
Meduz -
http://www.meduz.fr/# - New local brewery in Uzes, France. The Amber being the real winner and worth seeking out in the beer desert that is the Langudeoc Region of France. Real smooth, very good full-bodied flavor, quite a surprise.
The Bear Brewery -
http://thebearbrewery.com/ - This was the real find. Way up in the mountains I literally stumbled across this brewery and all of their beers were quite excellent, except the Pilsner which was just another boring French lager. Their brown and amber were both really good, unfiltered and bottle conditioned; I had to explain to my non-homebrewer friend that the sediment in the bottom was yeast and was fine.
Side note: We had just hiked up a trail for a few hours and randomly found a field of goats and a guy who made chevre from the milk of said goats. This guy was not wearing pants and his shirt was unbuttoned and he seemed like he hadn't bathed in several weeks. So, naturally, we bought the freshest chevre he had and hiked back to our hotel and ate it with the Brown ale (from the Bear Brewery). Best meal of the trip. Anyway, if ever on the France/Spain border and looking for a place to spend a day and stay, Prats de Mollo was a very pleasant surprise and has good beer.
