Alvinne is a small

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

in the hamlet of Moen near the Belgian city of

Zwevegem Zwevegem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Heestert, Moen, Otegem, Sint-Denijs and Zwevegem. On January 1, 2019, Zwevegem had a total population of 24,648. The total ar ...

, founded in 2002. The brewery creates a range of beers, including versions of 'traditional' Belgian styles such as strong golden ales, abbey-style beers and

saison Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. ...

, as well as original creations that cross stylistic boundaries and beers inspired by styles from outside their home country like

imperial stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

. Alvinne has gained international attention.

Name

The name of the brewery derives from a female spirit,

Witte Wieven In Dutch mythology and legends, the Witte Wieven (also known as Wittewijven) are spirits of " wise women" (or else elven beings). The mythology dates back at least to the pre-Christian era (7th century) and was known in the present-day regions of ...

, of local folk tales. Their earlier name included the term "Picobrouwerij", a play on the scientific terminology for very small objects. It is based on the fact that the brewery's production is smaller by several orders of magnitude than that of a typical

microbrewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

. The prefix

Pico- A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol. The pre ...

is combined with "brouwerij", the Dutch and Flemish term for brewery.

History

At the beginning of Alvinne's existence in 2002, they brewed their beers at the De Graal brewery premises in Brakel, East Flanders, later moving to their own premises in the town of Ingelmunster proper in 2003. In 2006 they relocated again to their current facility in Heule. Brewery Alvinne Moen

The brewery makes beer about three times per week to make up the annual volume. A brew kettle of 600 liter capacity is used, but batch volume is restricted to 300 liters for the stronger beers due to the limited size of the mash/lauter tun. There are four 1000 liter steel fermentation tanks. The Alvinne products are generally only available in 33cl bottles (of the short, squat variety popularly associated with beers like

Duvel Duvel Moortgat Brewery (Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat) is a Flemish family-controlled brewery founded in 1871 in the Antwerp Province (Belgium). Its strong golden pale ale, Duvel, is exported to more than forty countries. Duvel is Brabantian, Ghent a ...

) and on tap. All of the Alvinne beers are unfiltered and unpasteurized. The brewery lists most ingredients of their beers on the label. English and Czech hop varieties are most common in their recipes, and the beers produced combine traditional Belgian brewing techniques such as the use of sugar and spices with the methods and styles of other nations. The large quantity of beer styles in production is particularly uncommon for a brewery of such modest size, as is the fact that the diverse brews are created using different commercially available yeast strains (as opposed a single 'house' strain) to obtain specific flavors and aromas.

Beers

*''Alvinne Blond'' (6.0%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

) A blond "Special" ale, this is brewed with Pilsner and wheat malt, crystallized sugar and English hops of the Fuggles Northern Brewer varieties. 33 IBU. *''Alvinne Bruin'' (6.5% ABV) A brown ale made with Pilsner and 5 specialty malts, light candi sugar and Goldings, Hallertau and Northern Brewer hops. 32 IBU. *''Alvinne Blond Extra'' (7.1% ABV) A dry-hopped strong golden ale. Brewed with Pilsner, wheat and caramel malts, crystallized sugar and English hops of the Fuggles, Target and East Kent Goldings varieties. 30 IBU. *''Alvinne Tripel'' (8.7% ABV) Brewed in the Abbey Tripel style, this dark gold ale is made with Pilsner, wheat, caramel and Vienna malts, light candi sugar and vanilla, and hopped with Fuggles, Challenger and East Kent Goldings to 33 IBU. This beer was launched in March 2005 at the Zythos Beer Festival. *''Balthazar'' (9.0% ABV) The first of three Christmas beers named after the

Three Wise Men 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

of Bible story. The choice of name reflects the popularity in Belgium of the pre-Christmas holiday of Epiphany, or

Three Kings Day Epiphany ( ), also known as Theophany in Eastern Christian traditions, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation ( theophany) of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not ...

. Balthazar is a dark reddish-brown strong ale made spicy with the addition of coriander, cardamom and ginger. Brewed with Pilsner and 4 special malts, dark candi sugar and the spices listed above, it is hopped with Challenger and East Kent Goldings to 28 IBU. The spiciness is accentuated by the use of the commercial version of the

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

yeast strain. *

Melchior Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations. As a first name * Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide * ...

(11.0% ABV) The second of the Christmas beers. A very strong ale described by the brewery as being in the

barleywine Barley wine is a strong ale between 6–12% alcohol by volume."Barley wine"

Tielt Tielt (; french: Thielt) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Tielt proper and the villages of Aarsele, Kanegem, and Schuiferskapelle. History Some traces of Gallo-Roman occu ...

. Bittered to 60 IBU with Challenger and East Kent Goldings, it is fermented with a Belgian Strong Ale yeast. *''Gaspar'' (8.0% ABV) The third of the Christmas beers. An extremely bitter strong golden ale formulated to exceed 115 IBU. Brewed with Pilsner, pale, wheat and chocolate malts and hopped with

Saaz hops Saaz is a "noble" variety of hops. It was named after the Czech city of Žatec (german: Saaz). This hop is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer as the Czech pilsener. Saaz hops accounted for more than of total 2009 hop production in the Cze ...

, Hallertau and East Kent Goldings. Uses a Belgian Trappist yeast strain. *''Podge Belgian

Imperial Stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

'' (10.5% ABV) Brewed at the request of English beer connoisseur Chris "Podge" Pollard (a

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is the ...

activist and craft beer authority), this strong stout is black in color and has a rich, silky mouthfeel and slightly spicy flavor, but very low carbonation and no head at all "for the English taste". Made with Pilsner plus six other malt varieties, crystallized sugar and dark candi sugar, and hopped with English Challenger and East Kent Goldings hops. After taste-testing of multiple strains, the Wyeast Irish Ale yeast variety was selected for this brew. *''n Maurootje Lauwse

Saison Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. ...

'' (7.0% ABV) This example of the Belgian Farmhouse Ale style began as a final project recipe created by one of Glenn Castelein's brewing students, William Roelens, who named it after his grandson Mauro, who lives in the town of Lauwe. The Alvinne brewers were so impressed by this beer that they added it to their lineup with Roelens' permission. *''Dertig'' (8.0% ABV) A limited-edition strong golden ale brewed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Hotel Erasmus in

Brugge Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

and available only at the hotel restaurant's tap. The name means "thirty" in Dutch and Flemish. In addition to marketing their products under their own names, the brewery also follows the Belgian practice of offering "label beers" (Etiketbieren) for pubs, restaurants and other establishments. In this practice batches of the beer are produced and given a special label with the name and design of the client. These are typically the same beer recipes as the regular line, merely issued under a different title. Brewer Glenn Castelein also teaches an annual brewing course. Alvinne has made its brewing apparatus available for other projects, including the "Kroegbier" line of brews made by the owners of the 't Kroegske craft beer pub in nearby

Emelgem Emelgem is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders and a part (deelgemeente) of the municipality Izegem. Emelgem was an independent municipality until 1964. On that moment Emelgem had an area from 5,44 km² and was counting 5049 in ...

References

External links

Alvinne official website

Alvinne listing
on

RateBeer Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are cons ...

Alvinne listing
on

BeerAdvocate Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are cons ...

{{Coord, 50.850234, 3.229492, format=dms, type:landmark_region:BE, display=title Breweries of Flanders Companies based in West Flanders

Name

History

Beers

See also

References

External links