Beers production

Consumption patterns are changing, with a preference for food from short supply chains, with a local or regional identity, and without additives. Microbrewing responds fully to this trend, offering an alternative to industrial beers. The microbrewery sector continues to expand, accounting for 6% of the volume of beer produced in 2018. For the same year, the number of microbreweries reached a record 1,600 units in France, representing 30% of business start-ups.

This craze for more distinctive products has been taken up by the major retailers, who are in turn adapting their offer with new products that have a more artisanal connotation combined with more subtle tastes, to break with beers that are often considered lacking in character.

While the economic context is favorable, the demands of consumers, increasingly educated about beer, no longer tolerate "false notes" in terms of product quality. The microbrewery world must defend its colors with consistent, quality products.

A second key development is the growing consumer interest in reduced-alcohol and alcohol-free beers. This is a new challenge for brewers, who need to find innovative solutions to keep their place among the beers with character.

Beer is the world's oldest fermented beverage. From ancient times, it has been a beverage free of pathogenic bacteria thanks to the presence of alcohol, then enriched in the Middle Ages with the aseptic and aromatic virtues of hops, and continues to evolve... Beer has evolved into a multitude of families, making it a "pleasure" drink today.

This diversity is explained by the type of brewing technique used and the increasingly sophisticated raw materials.

In order to understand all these developments, this article first presents the brewing world in Europe and lays the scientific foundations to explain the technical choices made in manufacturing, at both industrial and artisanal levels.

A glossary of terms is provided at the end of the article.