Morzine Source Summer 19 ISSUU

42
www.morzinesourcemagazine.com
OH, BEER!
The Rhone-Alpes’ Love
Affair with Local Brew
BY DAVE BRANFIELD
Bier. Bira. Cerveza. La bière artisanale. Craft beer.
Whatever you call it, it’s one of the oldest and
most recognised drinks made by humans across
the world. Whilst it arrives in our glasses in many
different styles today, the fundamental process
for making beer has remained barely changed
in thousands of years but has made a serious
comeback in recent times.
Many of you reading this may
live outside of France, so
the fact that beer has made a
big comeback may not really
feel like news worth talking
about. You’ve most likely
been knocking back pints of
interesting barrel aged stouts
and highly hopped IPAs for
ages, so why the fuss? Well, here
in France, things take time to
catch on and we’re just getting
to grips with the fact that
not all interesting, grown-up
drinks are made from squashing
grapes. We’re also discovering
that beer has a valid place in
both bars and alongside some of
the top notch food on offer.
Cities around France have been
quicker to search for something
new in their glass, but as with
many rural communities, the
outlying countryside has been
slower to enjoy the benefits
of flavour over fizzy lager. But
change is now gathering pace
and possibly most importantly
of all, it seems that the pint
is now the generally accepted
medium for consuming these
mind blowing beverages.
Whilst French drinkers have
traditionally enjoyed the strong
doubles, lambics and triples
of Belgium, a large part of this
new found palette has drifted in
from other countries in Europe;
those which have already
picked up on the emergence of
tasty, hoppy beers hailing from
the US. France as a nation is
rightly very proud of its home
grown products - especially
those created by small
artisan producers using local
ingredients with hands-on skills
- so with the emergence of
small breweries producing hop
forward and flavoursome beers,
the nation has started to get
on board in a big way. In fact,
France now has the third largest
number of microbreweries in
Europe and every time we travel
around to different areas we are
amazed by what is on offer.
So why am I telling you this in a
magazine focussed on Morzine
and the surrounding area? Well,
I happen to own Ibex, one of
the two breweries based here in
Morzine. I like a good beer and
we’ve been watching the beer
scene grow rapidly around us
in France since first opening
our doors in 2014. We started
out to try and brew low ABV
beers with bigger flavour, when
most people locally had never
heard of an IPA, but that doesn’t
mean we were doing something
completely new. In fact, the
#lovemorzine
#lovelesgets
#loveavoriaz