A Beer in the Loire

Many people dream of escaping the rat-race and dreary office jobs to have a tree or sea change. Tommy and Rose did just that but not without almost insurmountable challenges. In 2016, they both took redundancy payments and moved from London to the Loire Valley in France. Rose sold her London flat and, along with their redundancy money, they bought La Ruche, a sandstone house in Braslou, across from the Richelieu Forest. The same house in London would’ve cost ten times more, but they now have to live on the remainder of their redundancy money until Tommy can realise his dream of brewing craft beer and selling it to the wine-loving French. Sounds challenging! Tommy has to brew a beer that tastes ‘nice’ and is accepted by the locals. Each chapter is devoted to a type of beer he brews, the recipe, and his mistakes. By Beer Number 9 trial, he’s depressed and blaming the ‘prick’ who decided to continually improve the flavour, when everyone was quite happy just drinking it for the magical properties of the alcohol. His helpful French neighbour keeps telling him it’s too bitter. The French like Blonde. The detailed descriptions of the different flavours and smells of beer and how they’re achieved is fascinating. Another huge challenge is their overweight, psychotic hound, Burt. Tommy is certain that Burt is trying to destroy him and his world, and this provides much hilarity. There’s a lot of humour in observing the differences between the French and the Brits, their driving, personalities, and the infuriating Gallic shrug. There’s a chuckle on every page as Tommy rushes into decisions bravely or ‘stupidly,’ as Rose says. She calmly balances his chaos, even when baby Albert arrives. This book was fun to read and shows how persistence with humility can make a dream come true. Reviewed by Judith Grace