Abbatiale au Genièvre De Houlle — Best Beer of 2021
Abbatiale au Genièvre De Houlle crowned Beer of the Year at the London Beer Competition 2021, wowing drinkers and judges alike.
The French beer Abbatiale au Genièvre De Houlle has been crowned Beer of the Year at the 2021 London Beer Competition. Rising from a collaboration between Brasserie des Sources and Distillerie Persyn in Houlle, Abbatiale au Genièvre De Houlle was a star amongst judges at the 2021 London Beer Competition. This excellent brew took home the title of Beer of the Year, Best Beer by Quality, and Best Beer by Packaging. What more can we say — it tastes great and looks good too!
The London Beer Competition shines the spotlight on beers from across the globe that excel in quality, value, and packaging. The judging panel at the competition hosts some of the UK’s best cicerones, beer buyers, breweries, and beer experts who judge the beers based on their quality, value, and packaging.
Some of the preeminent judges gracing the panel this year include Lolly Watkins — Beer Sommelier & Manager at DrinkTV, Gabriele Bertucci — Beer Sommelier, Pete Hughes — Group Head Brewer at the Brewhouse & Kitchen brewpub group, and Dan Fox — Pub Company Director: Beer, Pub & Brewing Consultant to name a few.
France has given us a lot to fall in love with: great architecture, the delicious Raclette to melt on our Pommes de Terre, and the art of enjoying a glass of wine at any time of day. Albeit beer isn’t the first drink that comes to mind when we think of France, but the French are responsible for some widely acclaimed beer brands out there, like Kronenburg and Desperados, and to add to it, the award-winning beer Abbatiale au Genièvre De Houlle.
Abbatiale au Genièvre De Houlle is the result of a generous blend of spices, juniper berries and sublimated with a touch of Houlle’s juniper. It benefits from a second fermentation in the bottle, further refining its unique taste. This elixir with a subtle taste rests in an opaque bottle thus protecting it from light while promoting aging in the cellar.
Lights, Camera, La Brasserie des Sources
La Brasserie des Sources, the most awarded brewery in France, was born in 1997, after the shooting of the film Germinal. Actors Gérard Depardieu, Claude Berri, Renaud, and Miou Miou created the brewery as a way of thanking everyone who worked on the movie, and the ‘People of the North’.
In 2005, beer importer Jean-Luc Butez took over the reins to safeguard the fascinating start of this Saint-Amand-les-Eaux brewery, added his personal touch to it, and created some of the most sipped on and best beers across the country and maybe even the world.
Bertrand (left) and Benjamin (right), Head Brewers at Brasserie Des Sources, source: Instagram
The master breweries at La Brasserie des Sources have created some exceptional beers over the years, like the Bellerose Blonde, which is the highest internationally acclaimed French beer. The brewery is also home to a range of other specialty beers, namely, Bellerose Ink Series, Estaminet, Vieux Lille, and the original Abbatiale.
You can also visit the La Brasserie des Sources restaurant, which is quite the talk amongst tourists and local beer enthusiasts. The Brasserie des Sources restaurant features a variety of French-American food like burgers, cheese boards, and more, with house brews on tap and available in cans and bottles to buy as well.
The Persyn Distillery of Houlle — a tradition of two centuries
Houlle is a small village in Audomarois, on the banks of the river that bears the same name. For a long time, its inhabitants made a living from agriculture, before the development of communication routes, roads and rivers, and thereby other activities, before the Decocq family founded the Houlle gin in 1812. The Decocq family were farmers, therefore have their own crops and a flour mill on-site, which they used to distill gin with the Houlle juniper.
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