Heading for France this summer? Then the first thing you're likely to miss will be a decent pint of ale.
Not that the French can't brew: around Calais and in the region butting up to the Belgian border there are good breweries aplenty, turning out delicious bières de garde and other specialities. And Brittany too, is developing an interesting microbrewing scene if you know where to look.
But brewing is still by large a regional affair in France, and for many Brits the drive south by-passes the brewing regions and takes them through the middle of Normandy - fine if you like good cheese and great cider, not so good if you're after a locally brewed beer.
Until now, that is.
On the D908 between La Ferte Mace and the village of Joue du Bois is an acient cider farm which is the home of a former teacher from Peterborough, Steve Skews, and his wife Jane. It's also now the home of Le Brewery, a project which the Skewses have been brewing up for the past couple of years along with Jane's sister Sue Green and her husband, another Steve.
It all started with the fierce winter storms of 1999 which destroyed much of the Skews's orchard, meaning there'd be a shortage of apples for cidermaking for quite some time. The Greens, meanwhile had seen not one but two microbreweries sprout in their home village of Wickwar, near Bristol.
And, says Steve Green, even though there are - or were - no breweries in Normandy, there's no shortage of interest in beer..
"Normandy and Orne have a large population of British people both as permanent residents and seasonal tourists," he says. "Local French people are also known to an interest in a good half-litre, and there are pubs around the region that sell premium Belgian beers and would surely be interested in a good local product.
"We discussed the idea over a long evening and decided to investigate the feasibility of setting up a brewery at the farm."
After visiting the nearest brewery - 200km away - the partners decided their idea was worth pursuing and sought a professional opinion, and some practical help, from York based brewing consultant David Smith, who visited the farm late last year.
"His report listed a number of hurdles but showed that a brewery could be installed and operated in some of the buildings on the farm," says Steve. "Considerable work would be needed to make them suitable, but it was not impossible."
| Le Brewery before work began... | |
While the Skewses set about tackling French officialdom on the regulatory requirements for setting up a brewery - no easy task, since the authorities themselves seemed to have little idea of what was necessary - the British end started the hunt for suitable second-hand kit.
After visiting a number of breweries with plant for sale, they finally settled on the Worldham Brewery, located in an old oast-house on a farm near Alton, Hampshire, and recently closed by owner Hugo Sharpe, who was calling it a day after 10 years at the mash tun.
"This was of the ideal brew length and in a good location for transportation to France" says Steve Green. "It's a 10-barrel plant with extras that allow its use as a five or possibly 15-barrel plant - a good flexible and future-proof solution for a new company setting up in a new market in a new country."
Getting the brewery to Normandy wasn't so simple, though. In fact, getting it out of it's oast house wasn't so simple.
"A team of engineers, electricians and other much appreciated helpers assembled one cold weekend in mid January to dismantle the brewery" says Steve Green. "I could come up with many quotes in connection with moving the plant, but they'd be unprintable!"
"The brewery had evolved over many years and it was hard to believe the building wasn't built around the pipework rather than the pipes fitted into the building. Much of the plant had been welded into the structure of the building, so the task was challenging.
"The main difficulties were shifting the heaviest items such as the copper over floorboards that had insufficient loadbearing ability. We had to lift the vessels down from the loading bay at the brewery using a site trolley and various pieces of wood, all of which broke during the process. No-one was seriously hurt, but we came close. It was also icy during most of the work, which made things more difficult still".
At the French end, the lorries carrying the plant found they couldn't negotiate the farm track, so the kit had to be transferred into a variety of tractors (including a muck-spreader) and made the last few yards to it's new home in an inglorious ad-hoc convoy.
| The final leg of the journey from Alton, Hampshire saw the former Worldham kit on a farm trailer. |  |
Although the stables at the farm had been in a state of dilapidation, one feature about them has proved ideal for a brewery: they're in a row. This has made it possible to house each stage of the process in a separate temperature controlled compartment, all in a logical series, with the malt store and mill in the old haylofts above.
Test brews have been completed and even as you read this, the first batches of Norman Gold, a blonde beer of 4.9% ABV in the French style, and the hoppier darker Conquerant at 5.5% will be ready for drinking. A third beer, a 6.8% stout named Odo after the Bishop of Bayeux who was a leading player in the Norman Conquest, will be phased in as the opportunity arises.
"Our mission is to introduce good-quality traditionally brewed beer into an area of France where only supermarket lagers are available," says Steve Green. "Our primary aim is to distribute thoughout Normandy. The UK market is crowded and over-regulated. Taxation in the UK is also encouraging brewers like us to look overseas to develop our dreams.
"Success will only be measured by whether we enjoy what we're doing. Anything else is a bonus. If success could be guaranteed by enthusiasm we should do well, but we are developing a new and unknown market.
"We don't think of whether we are ready for the market, though; it's more of the reverse - is the market ready for us?"
So, if you find yourself driving through Normandy this Summer, and the ferry at Caen is about 90 minutes behind you, and you're suddenly very thirsty, you know where to call.
| Brewing al fresco - micro's kit is now up and running. |  |
This article was published in the CAMRA publication "What's Brewing" - May 2001.