Why brewers are finding success in the French Alps

Craft beer is emerging as a favoured drink in France, leveraged by brewers who are recognising its potential with outdoor sport enthusiasts.

For instance, Big Mountain Brewery, based in the Alpine town of Chamonix, has been born from its co-founder, Jack Geldard recognising a gap in the market. Geldard, who hails from West Yorkshire, is qualified International Mountain Guide and has competed at a national level at rock climbing. When the craft beer revolution happened in the US, the trend resonated with the outdoor lifestyle community, and Geldard said he knew he wanted to recreate that in Europe. He set to work home-brewing and very soon afterwards, Big Mountain was founded.

In a recent report with Euronews, Geldard explained how France is a net importer of beer, with a lot of it sent to France from the UK. This, most notably with smaller breweries, he revealed has slowed since Brexit, which means breweries like his that are based in the area can capitalise on the opportunity.

Geldard admitted that he recognised the increasing influence of US craft beer on the French market and highlighted how it has taken longer to come to France due to language and France’s proximity to Belgium. He explained: “The French palate seems to like sweeter beers like the Belgian style” and revealed that this is why his brewery has created a new Blonde Mountain Lager, which is specifically tailored towards French tastes.

Also seeing an opportunity for beer in the French Alps, Tim Longstaff, from Stockton-on-Tees, set up Sapaudia Brewing Company in the Tarentaise Valley, flanked by three of the world’s largest ski areas Val d’Isere, Tignes and Les Arcs. Longstaff explained how “When Brits went home they were surrounded by craft beer, then returning to France they could not find much of it at all. So people started to see a business opportunity.”

After Longstaff met his business partner Ash Smith in 2015 and started chatting about the opportunity for craft beer in the Alps, in 2018 the pair decided to start brewing and admitted that the area “seemed like a pretty good market to have on our doorstep”.

Longstaff agreed with Geldard that the craft beer movement has been time-lagged from the US and the UK to France due to beer preferences but anticipates that local breweries will begin seeing smaller brewers to take on the bigger brands.

He pointed out how “last year for the first time in France, beer outsold wine” and admitted that “craft beer is still relatively new here, people aren’t looking for boundary-breaking styles, especially in the mountains, but just a good pint after a day of skiing or biking”.

Brewhouse74, based in Saint Gervais les Bains, was created by Simon Greenwood who was originally from Reading. According to Greenwood: ”The rise of IPA especially has caught on in France like wildfire, as it has globally.”
Greenwood explained how, initially in France, there was a reluctance to enter the ‘new world’ of craft beer and said that the situation is “very similar to the almost dislike and distrust of the rise of ’new world’ wines from the Southern Hemisphere and USA two decades ago”.

Greenwood described how he and his business partner, Stephen Furze, had already begun thinking about creating their own brewery when the craft beer revolution was in full flow back in 2016 and was also just taking off in Britain in “the same maniacal way”. He mused: “Maybe other Brits saw an ever-saturating craft beer market in the UK and decided that a move to the continent was a good idea.”

Longstaff maintained that “beer is for everyone” and revealed how he and his team has “worked hard locally to not just be a British brand that only caters for one group of people” which has led to the brewery also now selling “a lot of beer now in Lyon which are all French-owned bars”.

Speaking of how things have evolved into a genuine craft beer community, where mutual respect and interests are also being cultivated alongside friendships. Indeed, in many ways, the beginning of a new movement. Longstaff observed how “everyone gets on and wants to share knowledge, contacts for new suppliers etc. So it’s great to see and taste what other people are up to and maybe take some inspiration from them”.

Geldard agreed that, in reality, France is likely to embrace craft beer in a big way because it appeals to so many of its artisan attributes already. He added: : “I believe that culturally French people love an artisan, they love locally made products, and they have a real taste for quality — whether that is in food, wine or beer. It’s a beautiful country and a great country in which to make beer.”