Brewery visits are always interesting and vary from the large multinational beer factory through to the regionals with their historic brew houses and now a new wave of purpose built micro breweries than are often little more than a brewery in a garden shed !!!
Picobrouwerij Alvinne is in the market town of Inglemunster, South West Flanders. As the name suggests, ‘pico’ means small, this is a hobby brewery run by Glen and Davy. The entrance is via an up and over door which apart from the small sign above looks like any other garage. The garage doubles as a store and the bottled beer is sold direct from the premises. Walk through the garden past the children's nursery on the left and you arrive at the brewery which is housed in a large wooden shed.
The brewery is like a visit to a model village, with the coppers and fermentation vessels all in miniature. However what is not in miniature is the impressive range of beers brewed. There are the Blond and Bruin at 6%, then came Extra and Tripel at 7% followed by Balthazar a spiced strong ale at 9%. Recently a special brew Podge (Intrepid Beer Traveller) Belgian Imperial Stout at 10% was brewed for Zythos Bierfestival and a Melchior at 11% is planned. What strength will Gaspar be? Who dares to guess?
In the corner of the brewery is a small bar and a chance for a taste. The established beers were typical full flavoured Belgian styled ales, although the stronger beers, which were spicy and fairly sweet would probably be better if laid down for a while. At the moment the brewery is run as a hobby with a commercial angle in that the beer is sold as off sales. What the future holds we must wait and see as Glenn and Davy are happy to remain enthusiastic hobby brewers.
PS chickens fed on spent brewery grain grow big and lay large eggs. Roger
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