Guide · Breton drinks
AOP Cornouaille, IGP Bretagne, organic farm cuvées, chouchen: how to tell the styles of Breton cider apart, what to eat with each, and where to drink or buy it in the 12th arrondissement.
Ty Louis, a Breton restaurant at 240 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, between Bastille and Nation, has a list of Breton ciders matched to its dishes and sells bottles to take away in its own Breton grocery: AOP Cornouaille, IGP Bretagne and organic farm cuvées. The kitchen also cooks with cider from Cidrerie Kerné in Pouldreuzic, Finistère. Ty Louis is not a crêperie, so the cider here goes with kig ha farz, Breton charcuterie and salted-butter desserts rather than galettes.
The short version
Cider is not a side drink in Brittany. It is the historic partner of the meal, from buckwheat to salted-butter caramel, in a region that never had a wine culture of its own. But “cidre” covers very different things, from a sweet, barely alcoholic doux to a tannic, deep AOP. Here is how to find your way, and what we pour at Ty Louis.
If you grew up with English or American cider, two things will surprise you. In France, cidre is always alcoholic: the apple juice you might expect is “jus de pomme”. And Breton cider is usually lighter in alcohol, made from cider apples rather than eating apples, with a natural bubble that often comes from finishing its fermentation in a corked bottle.
Reading the label
Menus and bottles in France stay in French. These are the words that tell you what is in the glass.
The styles
The only cider AOP (protected designation of origin, the European PDO) in Brittany, from southern Finistère. Bitter and bittersweet apples and a long maturation give an amber, tannic cider with real depth.
Pair with · Kig ha farz, smoked charcuterie, andouille de Guémené.
Farm cider from anywhere in Brittany, under a protected geographical indication (the European PGI). Fruity and balanced, and easier to like on a first sip than the AOP.
Pair with · Buckwheat dishes, poultry, Breton cheeses.
Pressed and fermented on the farm, with nothing added. Depending on the cuvée it ranges from crisp and fruity to properly wild: the orchard, unfiltered.
Pair with · Apéritif, galette-saucisse, dish of the day.
A short fermentation leaves residual sugar, a fine bubble and only 2 to 3% alcohol. The roundest of the family, good to start a meal or to go with dessert.
Pair with · Kouign-amann, far breton, and crêpes (elsewhere: we do not serve them).
Not a cider but its Breton cousin: fermented honey. Some makers add apple, and sources disagree on what the traditional recipe was. Sweet on the tongue and much stronger than it tastes, so it is sipped in small glasses.
Pair with · Apéritif, foie gras, or as a digestif.
Cider in the kitchen
Cidrerie Kerné is a family cider house in Pouldreuzic, in the pays Bigouden of Finistère, founded in 1947 and now run by its third generation, working with IGP Bretagne apples. Its cider does not stay in the glass at Ty Louis: it goes into the cooking.
Bacon, cow’s tomme, tartare sauce, beef patty (French origin), Roscoff onion compote with Kerné cider, hand-cut fries, green salad.
Poultry supreme cooked in Kerné cider with cream, mushrooms, Roscoff onions, chestnuts and bacon. Served with a mousseline of Roscoff sand carrots.
Winter spices: vanilla, cinnamon, star anise.
The menu changes with the seasons: see the full menu for what is on today. More about the cider house on the Kerné website.
The Breton apéro
Drier and lighter than a crémant, brut cider has become a French apéritif in its own right, on its own or mixed, with or without alcohol. A few ideas to try, at home or in Brittany.
Served at 8 to 10 °C in a bolée or a wine glass, a dry brut cider makes a light apéritif (4 to 5%), less sweet and less alcoholic than a crémant. The Breton way to open a meal.
The local take on the spritz: swap the prosecco for a dry cider, add a dash of bitter and a twist of orange. Drier, lighter, and Breton all the way through.
Sweet cider with crème de cassis (or blackberry liqueur): Brittany’s version of the kir, soft and round. For anyone who likes a sweeter apéritif.
Low and no alcohol is gaining ground at the table. A low-alcohol sweet cider, or a pure Breton farm apple juice served cold, lets everyone join the toast.
On the grocery shelf
Kystin is a cider house and distillery in Saint-Avé, in the Morbihan, whose name means “chestnut” in Breton. Where most cider makers chase tradition, Kystin infuses and roasts: these are the cuvées on our grocery shelf.
Organic cider infused with roasted buckwheat: the galette we do not serve, in a glass.
A perry, made from sharp pears rather than apples. Floral, delicate and very light.
Cider infused with cinnamon. Warm and indulgent, one for the end of the meal.
Organic cider from sixteen apple varieties plus a seventeenth ingredient, Redon chestnut, hence the name.
Ice cider: the apple sugars are concentrated by cold, like an ice wine. Rich and sweet, a cider for foie gras or dessert.
Where to find it
At the table, our cider list follows the plate: a dry brut with the kig ha farz, a sweet doux with the kouign-amann. To compare, order “La Traversée bretonne”, our set menu in four acts at 53 € per person: it opens with three ciders side by side, natural, chestnut and buckwheat, included in the price.
To take away, the Breton grocery next to the dining room stocks corked organic ciders, AOP Cornouaille, IGP Bretagne and chouchen, chosen from independent Breton producers, plus a Breton ciders box with three complementary bottles if you want to bring Brittany home or offer it.
The Breton grocery The menu Breton food, explained Getting here
Good to know
At Ty Louis, a Breton restaurant at 240 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the 12th arrondissement, between Bastille and Nation and one metro stop from Gare de Lyon on line 1 (Reuilly-Diderot). The cider list covers AOP Cornouaille, IGP Bretagne and organic farm cuvées, matched to Breton dishes. We are open non-stop Tuesday to Saturday, 12 pm to 11 pm, so you can also come by in the afternoon just for a drink.
In France, cidre always means the alcoholic drink; there is no “hard cider” distinction. Breton cider is made from cider apples, many of them bitter or bittersweet varieties, and it is often lower in alcohol than English ciders: about 4 to 5% for a dry brut, 2 to 3% for a sweet doux. Many bottles are corked and fermented in the bottle, which gives a natural, fine bubble.
It comes down to residual sugar, and therefore alcohol. Brut is dry and stronger (4 to 5%), demi-sec is the balanced middle, doux is sweet and light (2 to 3%). Brut goes with savoury dishes, doux with dessert.
It is the only cider with a protected designation of origin (AOP, the European PDO) in Brittany, from southern Finistère. It guarantees local apple varieties, a defined area and a traditional method, and gives a dry, amber, structured cider.
At the Breton grocery inside Ty Louis: corked organic ciders, AOP Cornouaille, IGP Bretagne and chouchen, chosen from independent Breton producers, plus the creative cuvées of the Kystin cider house (buckwheat, chestnut, cinnamon, perry and ice cider). A Breton ciders box with three complementary ciders is available on request.
Chouchen (“shoo-shen”) is Breton mead: honey fermented over several months, at 14 to 16% alcohol, closer to a fortified wine than to a cider. Some makers add apple, and sources disagree on the traditional recipe. Under French law “chouchen” and “hydromel” (mead) are not interchangeable names, since a 1911 decree reserves “hydromel” for honey fermented in water alone. It is drunk cool, in small sips, as an apéritif or a digestif. Ty Louis does not make it: we stock it in the grocery.
Dry brut cider goes with kig ha farz, charcuterie and buckwheat dishes; sweet doux cider goes with kouign-amann and far breton. Chouchen is for the apéritif or after the meal.
Yes, with “La Traversée bretonne”, our set menu in four acts at 53 € per person. It opens with three ciders side by side (natural, chestnut and buckwheat) and a sharing board, and the ciders are included in the price. The wine pairing later in the meal is charged separately.
Yes, and it is a real trend in France: a well-chilled brut cider is drier, less sweet and less alcoholic than a crémant or a prosecco. It also makes a good base for mixed drinks such as the “Breton spritz” (cider, a dash of bitter, orange zest) or the kir breton (sweet cider and crème de cassis).
A pure Breton farm apple juice served cold, or a very low-alcohol sweet cider, makes a good apéritif with little or no alcohol, so nobody is left out of the toast.
No. Ty Louis is a Breton restaurant with no crêpes and no galettes on the menu. Cider here goes with the rest of Breton cooking: slow-cooked dishes, charcuterie, seafood and salted-butter desserts. Paris has good crêperies if a galette is what you are after.
Reservations
Tuesday to Saturday, lunch and dinner, non-stop service.
240 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, between Bastille and Nation.