SARL Bières de Ré

Bières de Ré is a small craft brewery on the idyllic Ile de Ré, just off the coast of Charente Maritime in France. The island is covered in picturesque villages of white painted houses and is surrounded by unspoilt fine sandy beaches. The rest of the island is made up of forest, heath, sand dunes and, oh yes, a great little brewery.

The brewery is housed in an industrial unit on a small estate just outside the charming village of Sainte Marie de Ré. I visited the brewery on a warm sunny day in June this year and was shown around by Arnaud Roy, owner and brewer.

The brewery is small, modern and immaculately clean, almost to the detriment of any character but this is a working modern brewery not an old German pub so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. To summarise the brewing process runs something like this (my ability to listen to French and write notes in English being tested to its limits).

Mashing takes place over a two hour period commencing at 40°C and terminating at 80°C. With the malt coming from French, Belgian and German suppliers.

The wort is then tranferred to a second vessel and kept warm while the spent grains are removed from the first vessel. Then the wort returns for the addition of hops and boiling (the one vessel acting as both Mash Tun and Brewing Kettle). There is just one addition of hops, at the beginning of the boil. The wort is boiled for one hour before the temperature is reduced to 20°C for fermentation.

Primary fermentation takes place in open fermenting vessels and lasts for about one week. The beer is then bottled with new wort on the brewery's own bottling line and undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle.

The bottles are conditioned at the brewery for three weeks at 20°C after which it is available for sale, from the brewery, other local outlets or from the brewery's website.

http://bieresderefr/

The following is a brief history of the brewery translated from the website.

The brewery "Blanche de Ré" was born at the beginning of 1996. Following brewing tests by a master brewer bottled "Blanche de Ré" beer went on sale in June 1996.

Further innovation led to the development of two more beere in 1998 and 1999, "la Déferlante" and "l'Ecume de Ré", all to the same purity procedure in line with the Bavarian purity law of 1516.

The brewery was bought by a young couple (Anne Laure et Arnaud Roy) in 2005 who created, a few months later, to celebrate the occasion and the 10th anniversary of the brewery, the fourth beer "la Blanche Amb'Ré".

In March 2006 a new 10hl brewhouse was brought into service in order to pursue the new owners objectives of quality and tradition.

So that just about covers the brewery. I expect I should say something about the beers, yes? OK here goes. BDR produce just four beers: la Blanche de Ré; l'Ecume de Ré (foam); la Blanche Amb'Ré and la Déferlante (breaker).

la Blanche de Ré (5%)

This bière blanche (white beer) pours a lightly cloudy gold colour with a coarse but persistent head and is strongly effervescent. I left a large amount of yeast debris behind in the bottle.

The aroma is of a type that I am beginning to associate with French craft beers, some sweet maltiness, wheat malt and grassy hops. As well as a hint of prianiki (Russian spiced honey cakes) yeastiness and vinuous fruit.

The taste is light and clean with malt and wheat malt apparent, there's a hint of sweetness and an astringent slightly citrus finish.

Very refreshing, you could drink a lot of this chilled on a hot day!

la Déferlante (8%)

This beer (breaker) named after the surf famous all along the Atlantic coast of France, pours a luxurious rich, hazy gold. Highly effervescent with a dense head that begins to form shortly after pouring finishes!

The aroma is of sweet malt, dried dates, buttered blanched cabbage with some grassy hops.

The taste is well balanced with neither sweetness nor acidity quite winning the battle. Vinuous fruitiness betrays the alcohol and there is a very full bodied mouthfeel with clementines and blackened bread crust bitterness in the finish.

The bottle notes suggest "unctious with a pronounced character" and "aromas of cereals, fruits and vegetables". I'm not going to disagree with any of that.

l'Ecume de Ré (5%)

The next beer (foam) again has a surf theme and it pours a dark red/brown almost black, opaque, effervescent, with a coarse but persistent head.

The aroma is fruity and grassy with well cooked but cooled brown bread.

The mouthfeel is very full and malty, typically French with a graininess and a little roast flavour. Some alcohol is apparent although this is not an especially strong beer. As the bottle notes suggest, there is a definite but subtle coffee note to the taste with a less pronounced spiciness.

la Blanche Amb'Ré (5.8%)

This beer, punning the style Ambrée (Amber) and the name of its island home is the newest beer in the range. A thin coarse head sits atop a hazy amber beer of fierce effervescence and a thick sludge again remains in the 33cl bottle. The head is persistent and becoming thicker.

The aroma is sweet and malty with vinuous fruit, citrus and brown bread.

The taste is more light bodied than I expected, malty and sweet yes but with a pronounced citrus edge, especially in the finish. As I drink more the finish is becoming more bitter. As with all these beers the flavour is brought to your tongue amidst a champagne like mousse of bubbles giving them a very definite brewery character, as does the wheat beer style common to all the beers of BDR.

The bottle notes suggest "honey and caramel".

Summary

These beers are not in a style that I would normally choose, not a bad thing as I surprised myself by enjoying them all. They are skillfully made wheat beers of imposing character, all are bottle conditioned and all share the same ingredients list of: water; barley malt; wheat malt; yeast and hops.

My thanks go to M. Roy for the informative tour and the beer samples to review, I hope I've done them justice.