The Blessings

Alsace, France

Located in the eastern part of France, the Alsace region borders Germany and is a culturally diverse and naturally rich region. In addition to Alsace's unique architecture and beautiful medieval villages, the region's largest city, Strasbourg, is also home to the headquarters of the European Parliament.

Alsace is especially famous for its white wine, but it is also known as a beer producing region, influenced by neighboring Germany. Alsace beer is characterized by its refreshing and light taste, and goes perfectly with local cuisine. It is known as one of the leading beer producing regions in France.

Blessing Family Brewery

The village of Waldhambach, where the Blessing family lives, is about an hour's drive northwest from Strasbourg, the center of Alsace. The Blessing family's small brewery is located in this peaceful village in the Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park, which stretches along the border with Lorraine.

Alsace, which borders Germany, has been the subject of territorial disputes between France and Germany for hundreds of years, and is a place that still retains a strong German culture. It is famous for producing high-quality white wine, but of course beer culture is also firmly rooted in the history of Alsace.

Originally from Strasbourg, the Blessings had also lived in Montpellier and Vienna, but in 2013 they returned to this village, where Thomas' grandfather was from, and set up a small brewery.

The brewery is in a garage attached to his house, and the kiln for boiling the wort is a modified version of a used milk pasteurization facility he bought nearby. With this handmade equipment, they brew 40KL of beer per year, which makes them quite a small-scale brewery (microbrewery) even among craft beer producers.

Organic history : Certified since 2014

The Blessings' beer is made using only wheat, hops, water and yeast.

They make a variety of beers by changing the roasting of the malt, all of which are organic and made locally in Alsace.

Characteristics of brewing method

Not only the ingredients but also the water used to brew the beer comes from natural springs in the local Northern Vosges mountains. The water, refined by the forests and clay soil, is soft and perfect for the top-fermented ales that the Blessing family makes.

Compared to bottom-fermented lagers, which have a clean, smooth finish, ale-type beers are characterized by their rich aroma and soft mouthfeel.

Secondary fermentation in the bottle with live yeast remaining

The Blessings create their beer foam through a secondary fermentation in the bottle, a technique used in Belgian craft beers, and the delicate foam that forms in the bottle enhances the beer's aroma.

Beer that has undergone secondary fermentation in the bottle without being filtered or sterilized and with live yeast remaining in it will have yeast activity at room temperature, which will change the flavor. For this reason, it is essential to transport and store the beer at a constant temperature not exceeding 20°C, just like MAVI's organic wines.

Most beer distributed in Japan is fermented in large tanks all at once, the yeast is filtered out, and then it is bottled. Beer that requires temperature control during transportation and display is difficult and costly to handle, so it is rarely seen in major Japanese markets.

Beer for gourmets to enjoy like wine

At the Blessings, we make beer with an awareness of the perfect marriage between beer and food.

The recommended temperature is 8℃ to 10℃.

According to Blessing, "If you drink beer that's too chilled, it will just have a refreshing feeling when you drink it, but you won't be able to fully enjoy the flavor. And because the temperature difference between cold beer and food is too great, it simply serves to quench your thirst, and you lose the opportunity to appreciate the pairing."

Blessing says he aims to make his drinks taste delicious even when served at the same temperature as white wine (around 10 to 14 degrees Celsius).

"My beer should not just be consumed, but savoured."

This is Blessing's passion and dedication to brewing beer.

・[Paris Agricultural Competition] 2016 Gold and silver medals

・ [Paris Agricultural Competition] 2017 bronze medal

・[Paris Agricultural Competition] 2018 silver medal

・[Paris Agricultural Competition] 2019 The top prize: "Prix d'Excellence"

Although the Blessings' brewery is small in scale, their beer is highly regarded and has been winning medals at the Paris Agricultural Competition every year since 2014, just two years after they first brought their beer to market.

This is because her husband, Thomas, is a former biotechnology researcher and has a scientific background in temperature control and fermentation control. Furthermore, his wife, Natalie, is a former architect and although the winery is small, they have sufficient facilities to pursue high quality wine.

As a result of the two intelligent, beer-loving men's research in search of the ideal beer, the beer from their small brewery was quickly recognized as the best in France.