Alfa Brewery (Alfa Brouwerij) is a family-owned independent brewery located in

Schinnen Schinnen (; li, Sjènne ) is a village and a former municipality in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. It is home to US Army Garrison Schinnen, a support base for US personnel assigned to nearby Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum. It i ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Alfa was started in 1870 by Joseph Meens and is one of the few independent breweries left in the Province of Limburg.

Availability

Until 1960 Alfa

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

s were only available in the local area, but since then the brewery has expanded, and their beers are now available throughout the Netherlands. Since 1993 Alfa also expanded their distribution to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Alfa has also produced brews for other companies, such as the unfiltered

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewe ...

Puur produced for Bier Fabriek.

Brief details

The brewery follows the

Reinheitsgebot The ''Reinheitsgebot'' (, literally "purity order") is a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and the states of the former Holy Roman Empire. The best known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516 (by Will ...

and is the only brewery in the Netherlands that uses an officially certified

underground spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...

. The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport certified the underground spring in 1995 and retests it every six months to ensure it continues to meet the stringent standards. It is one of only 10 such springs in the country and the only one used in the production of beer. The water is so pure that it does not require any processing before it is entered into the brewing process. Only a certain amount of water is permitted to be withdrawn each year, and this has led Alfa to number their beer bottles to ensure that only the authorised amount is used.Spring water
. Alfa Brewery. Retrieved on 2010-07-05

Awards

* Royal Warrant by Royal Decree from HM Queen

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "bles ...

(1995). *Gold medal in the 31st and 33rd

Monde Selection Monde Selection is an annual non-competitive award open to food, drinks, and cosmetics products, created in 1961. It is run by the commercial company, International Institute for Quality Selections, Brussels, Belgium. Consumer products are tasted a ...

s in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

*Award in the 1999 UK Beer and Cider Competition

References

External links

{{Commons category inline, Alfa Brewery
Alfa Brouwerij website
in Dutch and English (archived versio
here
Breweries in the Netherlands Breweries in Limburg (Netherlands) Companies based in Limburg (Netherlands) Food and drink companies established in 1870 Companies established in 1870 1870 establishments in the Netherlands South Limburg (Netherlands) Beekdaelen