Berrea Cerveza Artesanal
The village of Amandi near Villaviciosa is most famous as the home of Cortina cider. But, it contains a secret. A secret outpost of Franco-Belgian beer making. Named for the call deer make during mating season, Berrea is probably the most authentically independent brewery in Asturias.[1]
We got the opportunity to interview Olivier Lecerf, owner and brewer, earlier this year. This is what he had to say:
What is the History of the Brewery?
"In 2013, I changed my job orientation and I thought about opening a shop and sell products from my area, Flanders, Belgium, etc. I especially wanted to sell beers from the north of France and Belgium. I saw it would be complicated to only sell this type of beer and just around that time there was a new store in Oviedo that sold craft beer. In 2013, I realized there was a craft beer movement, at least here in Asturias, because it was prior to this in the rest of the world, and, since I have always been in love with beer I thought “maybe I can make my own beer and sell it”. I didn’t really know much about it and, especially, I did not know the market. So, I started making beer in 2013 at home, as a homebrewer, something which is very common now but, back then, we are talking about almost 10 years ago, maybe it wasn’t so common. I started selling it for a year and a half at El Tenderete de Cabranes, it was quite successful due to the small amount I had, and from 2013 to 2015, I looked around to see how the market was doing because I didn’t know where what I was getting myself into. I thought it was feasible, I did some more research, about products, about the market, and, in 2015 I jumped in to open the business, I got a loan, I saw this place, I remodeled it, did all the legal paperwork, and in June of 2017, exactly during the festivities of San Juan de Amandi 2017, is when I legally sold my first beers."
What would you say makes Berrea different from other breweries?
"I think it would be the styles of beer I make. I’m from Lille, France. When I was younger I would go out to bars or we would go to Flanders in Belgium. Even though there were beer menus, there were not different styles of beers such as IPA. All those types of beers that we know now didn’t exist, at least in Europe. So the styles of beer I’ve been drinking since I could drink legally, are a very representative style from Belgium and the north of France.
"When I started Berrea I knew I was going to make these styles of beer. Bière de garde, bière de garde brune, and blanche, which are all styles from my area. And, later when you see the market broadening up; people make IPAs, New England IPAs, hazy. I kept making that type of beer, and now in Asturias I am “the Belgian”. In fact, I’m not from Belgium, I am from France. They call me that because I make traditional beer, which is a little against the market flow.
"I am not saying that I am doing a better job than the others, not at all. But I want to show my love for this style of beer, and it’s what makes me a little different. There are other things that also make me a little different, such as the volume I produce. I am one of the smallest producers in Asturias.
"Also, the way I sell the product is different. My priority is to serve to sell to the customer directly. I am not interested in selling to grocery stores, for example. I wouldn’t be able to do it in terms of production anyway, but that’s not the kind of thing I want. 90% of my professional customers are restaurants, because I think it’s a type of beer that goes well with meals. More so than a New England IPA for example, from my point of view. What makes me different is this the type of beer and my relationship with the customers. I don’t have a distributor, for now (he laughs), if things change later, we’ll see."
What beers do you Make at Berrea?
"My beers are very malt-oriented. I think that only with the cereal, the barley, the wheat, and the types of malts, which is, the colors, the flavors, only with this you can have a wide variety of flavors and aromas. By playing with the different types of malts, I make quite different beers. I focus on making malty beers over hoppy beers even though hops are also important, that’s my style. Besides the Silvestris and the Blanche, which are a little lighter, none of them are under 5%. I like making strong beers. My goal is not to make people drunk, but I like strong, highly flavored beers. There are very strong hoppy beers, obviously, they are very aggressive beers, in a good way, especially the aroma. I think you can make strong beers using malts too.
"So, I make malt-oriented beers, with strong flavors, with a high alcohol content. The ingredients are the most important, as 99% of the brewers will tell you. I don’t use rice, corn, thinners. I don’t filter or pasteurize my beer. It is made with TLC. Since I produce manually, I cap every bottle by hand and I can see if there are any defects."
Berrea Blonde
"The first beer I made; the one I sell the most of; is the Berrea Blonde. It is inspired by the bière de garde style from the north of France. Even though it’s called ‘blonde’, in that part of Europe this type of beer could be different colors. It’s not a very bright beer, such as Mahou. People who see it sometimes think it’s like an ale, it’s a little copper-colored, but it’s still a blonde beer. In spite of being a blonde beer, it’s got a 7.5% alcohol by volume, it has caramel and honey hints due to the malts I use. It also has a subtle bitterness to it, it’s not very bitter, it’s a little sweet, and it’s not a citric bitterness, it’s more floral. It’s got some grass hints as well.
"It also ages very well. Beers with a higher alcohol by volume than 7% age well easily, and that beer, three or four years later will have a great color, a very good head, and even a woody flavor. Its weakness will go down and it will have a much more rustic and earthy flavor, it’s a very interesting beer. Most people like it."
Berrea Brune
"Second, it’s the Berrea Brune, which is like a stronger version of the Blonde. It has the same malt base with added molds and a higher alcohol content. This makes it more complex. It has fruity flavors such as plums, ripe fruits and prunes. It has a smoky touch to it, and it reminds a little of cognac. It’s a much stronger beer at 10.5%. People like it a lot, especially craft beer stores, people who have who are more experienced with craft beer. There are many people who don’t like ales and when they try it they like it."
Berrea Blanche
"Then I did the Berrea Blanche, which is a very representative style of Belgium, where it’s called witbier. This beer has a big proportion of wheat, wheat malts, and oats. The hops used in it are different to the previous two. It has coriander seeds, Seville orange zest, which makes it a lot less sweet than the others and a lot more refreshing, even a little more sour due to the oats and the sourness of the orange zest. It’s a very fizzy beer, with a big bubble that fills up your mouth, some people who have come here for tastings have told me it reminds them of cava. It has a brut hint to it, kind of dry and sour.
"This type of beer is not very known in Spain, most people don’t know it here. The only ones who have been making it in an industrial level are Estrella Galicia who, less than a year ago, made a special beer for the Camino de Santiago. I don’t sell this beer a lot, not everyone likes it, but I keep making it because those who do like it are hooked to it because it’s very different to the others. It’s not very strong, with only 5.5 % alcohol by volume content."
Berrea Silvestris
"The last beer I made is a seasonal beer called Berrea Silvestris. On the contrary to the other beers, which are quite complex, my goal with this beer is simplicity. That means, I use only one malt base, so that it only has one malty flavor and it’s not complex in this sense. It also has wild, local hops, which grow around the brewery. I found them totally by chance, it seems that throughout the north of Spain there used to be hop crops, also in Villaviciosa, so they probably come from those hops. They are climbing plants that spread easily.
"Once we pick up these local hops, we first analyze them to find out its alpha acids content to know how much we should put in and we add it to this simple malt beer, which gives us a very simple lager beer, very easy to drink, easy to understand, with a low alcohol content, not complex nor aggressive. The advantage this bitterness has is that it teaches you what hops taste like. Because now, when we consume a lot of hops, in beers such as New England IPAs, it’s a mix of mosaic, citra, etc., but you don’t always know what a hop plant tastes like. It’s a very summery and springy beer, easy to drink, 5.4% alcohol by volume content, and very refreshing."
Where do you think craft beer will be in Asturias in 5 years?
"In 5 years, it will still be here. I can use the common expression “it’s here to stay”. Craft beer, whether it’s in Asturias, Spain, Europe, or around the world, is back and is not going away. What’s going to happen? What’s already happening. Especially now, since prices are going up, only the main breweries are going to remain. There was a boom in the market years ago, several of us started at the same time as me, we all got our little factory, and there was a little bit of competition, healthy competition, as we all have a very good relationship among beer-makers in Asturias. So, who is going to make a difference is that one with the best prices and the best product. So, in about 5 years craft beer will still be here but maybe there will be just a few left.
"In fact, I must confess that for Berrea it’s going to be very difficult, Due to the small volume of beer that I make, that influences material costs. And now, with the coronavirus crisis and the current economic status, it’s going to be more difficult. Also, if the administration doesn’t make it easier, it’s going to be more difficult because I think that starting up a factory, like a cheese factory or craft beer factory, is a plus in an economic sense. Here for example, in Villaviciosa, which is a small town, the fact that I have a craft beer brewery, as small as it may be, attracts tourists, people want to see this.
"So, what’s the problem? If Town Halls or the Asturian government don’t help us in terms of bureaucracy we are not going to be able to start up factories or will not going to do it legally and this will be over. You can put that in bold (he laughs). The administration here is a big problem for those of us who want to start businesses. I’m not only talking about craft beer, I’m talking about any business; a cheese factory or whatever it is."
In what sense? Are there obstacles or is it just very difficult?
"It’s both, it’s very difficult and there are obstacles. Well, you are an American. In general terms, in Europe we always think that it’s a lot easier in the United States, isn’t it?
"We always see American examples that, when they want to start up a business, it’s easier for them. It works well, and if it fails it’s ‘okay, you can just move on’. Here, most of the time you’re going to fail because there are tax barriers, especially administrative barriers with lots of paperwork that makes no sense. It’s a vicious circle. If you want to do something, you need that paper, but if you don’t have that other paper then you can’t do it. So, it gets complicated.
"For example, if you want to start up a craft beer brewery, it’s not something any weirder than starting up a cider llagar. However, for many years, people could have a llagar at home with no problems. No one said anything, because it’s a cultural thing. But you can’t make beer because you have to follow the rules and you think “Why can they make cider and I can’t make beer? I don’t know.”
"The administration needs to make things easier, provide more places where we can develop these type of activities. First, we should be allowed to start the business and have an administrative follow-up as we develop, not ask for everything from the beginning, because “You have to have this, this, this, and that, and when you have all that, I will check and see, and if I am okay with it, then you can start your business.” I think it should be “We trust you, start the business and we will see what you need to rectify“. But, if things don’t change, between the economic problems, the higher prices, and the administration, then I don’t know (what will happen)."
And, in ten years? Where do you see Berrea and Asturian Craft Beer?
"I don’t know, maybe the type of beers will be very different. If you think back 10 years, there were very few craft beers in Asturias. There was Caleya and not much more. People years ago started making pale ales. Now there are more different styles. Before beer was bottled, now it’s canned. What will there be in 10 years? Maybe due to all these administrative changes, who knows. I don’t know if you’ve seen in the news lately that they were talking about maybe removing wine from menu del día in restaurants. Maybe in 10 years, we are going to be asked to not make beers with an alcohol by volume content higher than 5%, for example. I think that, if things keep going this way, things could be a lot more difficult.
"Maybe I have a pessimistic point of view, but, looking at the way things are going, I don’t think the path is made to make things easier on us, but the opposite, so we will have to create a Brewers Association. Well, it is true that, during the pandemic, several other craft brewers from Asturias and I were talking about creating a Brewers Association, in the end it hasn’t happened, but it was several of us like D’Equí, Pepinum, Asturias Brewing Company, etc. who wanted to create something to protect ourselves, and in the end, for no specific reason, it hasn’t happened. But, for real, if we want to still make craft beer in 5 or 10 years, we will have to create a Brewers Association to give more consideration to craft beer here in Asturias."
Speaking about that, have you received help from other breweries, other people in Asturias, or had any collaborations?
"Berrea hasn’t received any help from other brewers in terms of doing collaborations. We haven’t done any in my brewery. I like working on my own, doing my own thing. But I am not closed to anything and, I am sure that, if I want to have a collab with another brewery of the same volume as mine. Probably if it happens, it will be great.
"At an economic level there hasn’t been any help. When I wanted to start this, I began by asking Leader (rural development subsidies) for European funds. And, as I was saying earlier, it’s a vicious circle. It makes no sense, because they give you very short term with budgets that cannot change, and a series of prerequisites are impossible to have. I believe that when you have a business idea you have to start now. You cannot wait for a grant that maybe will arrive in a year, because you miss opportunities.
"In terms of collaboration with other breweries, now I am collaborating with Ordum beers, it was through a contact that we have in common, and they asked me to work with them so I help them making the recipes and controlling production and they are also willing to help me in the sense that if they have a fair they bring Berrea beers, we have a very good relationship."
Can you tell me a little about your equipment?
"This (he points at it). The machines are very simple for various reasons. First, everything is mechanical and manual. I have some pots with a tap, and a burner underneath. I stir manually, and transfer of the beer via small pumps. There is no sensor-controlled temperature. Everything I do with a thermometer. It’s the most basic way it could be.
"Why did I choose this? First because of costs, because it’s a lot cheaper and I thought it made no sense to buy a machine that could cost you 100,000€ to make the same production volume if you can buy it for 10,000€ or 15,000€ and I don’t spend anything on electricity. My machines, for example, for the volume I make is enough to do it this way. Is it difficult to do it, physically? Yes, because the cleanings, the transferring, everything, is done by hand, it’s not just pushing a screen. The beer comes out as good or better than some machines that may cost a million euros.
"What a super modern machine does is that it makes your job easier, but not necessarily the product will be better. There are some home brewers that have a 20 liter pot at home and they make incredible beers and there are people that have machines that cost 500,000€ and they don’t know how to make a beer. I opted for simple machines, easy to work with, that I am not going to have any issues if for example there is a sensor missing, something is broken, etc. Well, a pump may fail, but it’s easier to repair."
And now the last question is just for you. Do you have a favorite style, a favorite beer or favorite brewery that you like drinking?
"I always like Belgian-style beers. Like a good Westmalle Tripel; I never get tired of drinking that beer. Or a good Chimay Blue – it’s basic, and we all know it but I never get tired from drinking it. Also Imperial Stouts; I don’t discount making them in the future because they will fit well with my style. I like some IPAs, but it’s not my favorite style. Also I like a good Pilsen from the Czech Republic or Germany."
"I would like to visit old breweries; traditional Belgian, German, or English breweries. Obviously, here in Spain, there are bigger breweries with machines like Dougall’s for example, in Cantabria, that I would like to see to see how the business developed but in the end it’s just machines and volume. If you go to more traditional breweries where, for example, you see the floor and you think “they can’t make beer here”, like in Brussels or in England, there are a lot of older factories with machines even run by steam that are manual that make awesome beers and I prefer these, seeing these things inspires me.
"In Germany, for example, there’s a very interesting thing: very small breweries with a small production volume, maybe just slightly higher than mine, that have their own bar and I love that. For example, there’s one in Dusseldorf, where they make everything manually. I like this a lot more than seeing a lot of stainless steel and automatic barrels. This is the way I am. I used to take photographs. I started with film and I used to develop my own pictures and I am still in love with this. Now I’ve gone digital and I don’t like it so much. I have always been a person who likes more hands-on things."
Beer Reviews
No current Berrea Cerveza Artesanal beer reviews
Tap Room
Yes, we have a tasting room. I think usually you should get a license to be able to sell and consume beer in a place. This is just a brewery but when we have tours, then we have a tasting.
But you are not open as a bar, right? No, I’m not. Usually on Saturday mornings in July and August I open from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. During the rest of the year it’s closed, I work here, it’s not worth it being here on Saturday mornings, there are very few people. But in the summer, there are a lot of tourists so I usually open on Saturday mornings to sell directly to the customers. Sometimes people ask if they can drink one here but I have to say no because I don’t want to get in trouble.
Tours
Tours are available through Asturias Convivencias.
- ↑ See the definition of berrea in the RAE.
