2023-12-15 05:00:27
The Georges Brassin lowered the curtain in April. At 47 rue Lacroix, in 17e district of Paris, the microbrewery sign has disappeared from the landscape and a gray blind suggests nothing of past activity. A sudden stop which puts an end to an adventure, all in all ephemeral. « We launched in 2020, at the time of the Covid-19 crisissays Patrick Ligot, one of the founders of Georges Brassin. I was in information systems consulting and, like many thirty-somethings, I wanted to start a career change. I left my job two weeks before the first confinement”he continues.
Five partners, all passionate about the malted bubble, are ready to support the project of this microbrewery. Conventional termination of contract, training as a brewer, opportunity to find premises… Le Brassin comes out in September 2020. The commercial start is off to a flying start. And for good reason. Between curfew and confinement, the bars are closed and local customers come to get their supplies from the source. But change of scenery in spring 2021. Parisians regain their freedom, favor terraces and reconnect with life before.
Caught on the wrong foot, Georges Brassin took time to offer their beverage in barrels for bars, and no longer only in bottles in their shop. Another hard blow in 2022. « The second year, we suffered the inflationary crisis, with the explosion in the cost of bottles, cereals, energy. We wondered if we should expand, but ultimately we made the decision to stop.”, concludes Mr. Ligot. Vladimir butine, their beer brewed with chestnut honey, has left the shelves… And the partners have returned to their pre-Covid-19 activity.
This story is not unique. In the four corners of France, it has been repeated for almost a year. “Closed permanently. » The virtual panel is displayed more and more often on the microbrewery web page. Brasserie du Mont-Fleuri in Charmes, in the Vosges, La Louve grise in Vayres, in Gironde, La Roteuse in Brochon, in Côte-d’Or, du Lapin blanc in Carpentras, in Vaucluse… The list of implementations liquidation continues to lengthen. And if the number of cessations of activity does not reach twenty in 2022, it has already passed the sixty mark this year.
Defend their interests
The end of the gloom for microbreweries? A sign of a change of era, in any case, the world of artisanal foam was shaken by an event with strong symbolic significance. In July, Anchor Brewing, America’s oldest craft brewery, closed its doors. Established in California since 1896, it did not resist the crisis linked to Covid-19 followed by the inflationary shock and competitive pressure. However, this emblem was no longer independent since it had passed into the fold of the Japanese group Sapporo in 2017. But Anchor Brewing took on the role of pioneer of a movement described as « craft beer » across the Atlantic, which has spread to France under the name of microbrewery or craft brewery.
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