Vicat beer: second brew using barley grown on our restored quarry land
Two Vicat craft beers, a pale and an amber lager, brewed with barley grown on our restored quarry land have been produced by the Les Ursulines brewery in Crémieu, in eastern France. This second brew was tapped at the brewery on 23 April, 2019. Details of a sustainable short-supply-chain initiative.
Our businesses, and especially our quarries, impose responsibilities with respect to biodiversity. In conjunction with other stakeholders, we do the utmost to develop local projects aimed at promoting and preserving biodiversity. On Faverges Plain in the Isère region of eastern France, inspirational cooperation between different local stakeholders has enabled us to return land that was used for quarrying to agricultural use producing organic brewing barley. Two Vicat craft beers—a pale and an amber lager —were produced in 2019.
In 2014, after reflection on how to restore land in Faverges Plain to agricultural use, we purchased seed for growing brewer's barley. Grown and managed organically by CUMA de la Plaine de Faverges, the barley harvested every year is malted, i.e. germinated and dried, by a local contractor, Malteurs Echos, in the Ardèche region. The Les Ursulines craft brewery in the medieval city of Crémieu then uses it to brew our Vicat beer.
The result? Two Vicat craft beers, one pale, one amber, were produced. The brewer adjusted the recipe for his usual pale lager to take account of the quality of the barley, brewing beer to a unique recipe using exclusively barley from our old quarry site. The 2019 brew was officially tasted on 23 April 2019.
"On our different sites we are permanently interacting with the farming world and parties with environmental interests. Our objective is to find common interests for us all and thus to make living together easier. The restoration of the Faverges Plain is an outstanding example of a sustainable partnership involving a short supply chain. We want to use this success to carry out more restoration projects", explains Raphaël, sector head, Granulats Vicat, Lyon.
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