Beer Making in the Quercy

The Merchien Brewery Starts Production

It’s been a long time coming but at last there is good news on the Merchien brewery project – we will soon be in production. The whole brewery has now been manufactured and is on its way to the vineyard. We hope to have our first beers available at the end of May. Over the last few months we have been spending a lot of time getting the facilities ready for the system to arrive, with painting, new electrics and plumbing. The equipment has been manufactured in Newark, England it is a standard design, but with many modifications for our requirements.

The brewery has a capacity of 5 barrels, a barrel is a traditional brewing unit of measure, it roughly equates to 8hl (hecto litres). The complete system comprises of five vessels, three of which can be seen in the photo, the large vessel on the right is the Mash Tun where the beer is made, the small tank is called an Underback. The other two are fermentation vessels.

So when we are in full production we will really need your help to manage our stock levels – that means drinking as much as you can please !

At launch we plan to have three beers:-

Biere Noir
English Porter style, a dark and very rich beer with six different types of grain and two types of hops Fuggles and Goldings producing a complex taste – strength 6.5%

Biere Bronze
IPA India Pale Ale, a traditional British beer with a light colour, a strong hop taste – strength 5.4%

Biere Doree
Light Bitter or light ale for those long summer days and evenings uses Fuggles, Goldings and Progress hops – strength 4.3%

Sales of the beer will follow the pattern of the wine, and will be sold from the vineyard, St Antonin Sunday market and now Limogne Sunday market.

The brand name for our beers will be ‘Bière des Causses’, which refers to this region of France, and is especially relevant as we have just planted our own hops, barley and wheat for use in our beers.

Cheers!

©Sarah and David Meakin 2006