Brasserie des Voirons "Fred"

Beer fermented and aged on the lees of Chardonnay skins for 9 months from Fred and Laure Cossard in Beaune

Notes from Importer: Lovely couple Christophe and Barbara manage La Brasserie des Voirons, a microbrewery that draws on their backgrounds in the restaurant industry, wine import, and even ballet. The brewery was opened in 2013 in the Savoy town of Lucinges, not far from the French side of Mont Blanc at an elevation of 715 meters above sea level. Des Voirons is able to use fresh mountain water in its brewing thanks to the region's terroir, which benefits from water sources naturally purified by the glaciers of the Alps. Also, you can count on Christophe and Barbara to use only the finest ingredients, like organic barley, wheat, and hops from Germany and Belgium. They make a variety of beers, including a series of specialty brews that are barrel-aged for as long as a year and feature a wide variety of ingredients sourced all across France.

About the producer: The Brasserie des Voirons is run by Christophe Grellier in the Haute-Savoie village of Lucinges, which sits some seven hundred metres above sea level in the shadow of Mont Blanc.

Christophe worked as a chef in haute cuisine temples such as Tour d’Argent and Marco Pierre White before settling in Lucinges in 2003, opening a small auberge serving food from the region alongside his favourite wines. He ran it for a decade before closing its doors in 2013 to take over the village’s tiny brewery.

The beers are brewed with the pristine alpine water of Voirons, which draws from the same source as Evian. The quality of the water lends the beers a luminous, nourishing character which provides the perfect foundation for the creativity that ensues. All other ingredients are of the best quality and are sourced with the utmost respect for nature, and the brasserie has been certified as organic by Nature et Progrès.

Some are aged on the lees of the wines of some of France’s most decorated vignerons, often in the same barrels in which the wine was raised, others are infused with citrus, berries, wildflowers or foraged herbs in sandstone amphorae.

Bottled unpasteurised and unfiltered, they evolve beautifully over time and are amongst the most delicious and compelling beers we have tried.