The crown jewels

Roger Protz celebrates the proud tradition of the Kronenbourg brewery The cab driver nodded to the right and then to the left: "Over there are the Vosges mountains and over there is the Black Forest". In between runs the crossing point between France and Germany, the great industrial artery of the river Rhine. This is mainland Europe, still full of disputed regions and fought-over borders. We were in Alsace, which the French acquired in the 17th century, but has since twice been controlled by the Germans, most recently during World War Two. It is, dare I say, a very Germanic region. The towns and villages are packed with black-and-white medieval buildings, and the people pepper their French with German expressions. Sneeze and they wish you "Gesundheit." It is also a key industrial area of France, although, thanks to the usual care and sensitivity of the French, heavy industry is tidied away and only agriculture dominates the view. As we headed for Obernai and the Kronenbourg brewery, we passed fields ripe with maize. It is a region where grapes for Pinot, Muscat and Riesling wines grow alongside hops that suck in the sun and the rain, and blossom in glorious green in late summer and early autumn. Obernai is too breathtakingly lovely ­ all narrow streets, handsome squares and half-timbered buildings ­ to permit a modern, workaday brewery in its midst. The Kronenbourg plant is based well away from the town. It is enormous, one of the biggest breweries in Europe. You are bombarded with amazing statistics: the site has three brewhouses, each one producing 30,000 hectolitres of beer a day, with a new brew every two hours. Five wells supply 3.5 million hectos of water a year, while the site uses 160,000 tonnes of malt annually, most of it grown in the Champagne region. With a second brewery near Nancy, which concentrates on the Kanterbrau beers acquired as a result of a merger with another large company, Kronenbourg produces 20 million hectolitres a year in France alone. The beers include not only the main Kronenbourg and Kanterbrau brands, but also Foster's lager and contract brewing for Carlsberg. Beamish is brewed in Ireland, but is distributed by Kronenbourg and is making inroads into the substantial Irish stout market dominated by Guinness. Grimbergen abbey beers and Brugs wheat beer from Belgium are also found on bars alongside the mainstream Kronenbourg brands. The company is far and away the biggest brewing group in France, accounting for 42% of the domestic market. But in a country famous for its pride and determination to preserve its heritage and tradition, the most surprising fact about Kronenbourg is that it is no longer owned by the French. Everywhere you go in Obernai and in near-by Strasbourg, you hear the words "Les Ecossais" ­ the Scots. Since 2000, when the French food giant Danone decided to quit brewing, Kronenbourg has been owned by Scottish & Newcastle. The company that was once the Mr Nobody of British brewing is now not only the biggest UK brewer, but is also a global giant. Ownership of Kronen-bourg gives it entry into 120 countries where its premium lager brand, 1664, is sold. In partnership with Carlsberg, S&N is now the major player in Russia and the Baltic States. The Obernai plant is central to Kronenbourg's development as an international brewer. Already 80% of the 5.9% abv 1664 is exported and S&N is determined to build on that figure. Obernai, opened in 1969, is known as "K2" to distinguish it from the Strasbourg plant. Until 2000, the breweries worked in tandem, but now Strasbourg is used only as offices and a visitor centre. Obernai was chosen as a result of the abundance of pure, soft water, ideal for lager brewing. The water flows down from the Vosges mountains and lies in a vast basin between the wooded mountains and the Black Forest. The brewing plant is modern, designed to push as many brews as possible through the system. The mainstream beers are not pure malt and are mixed with around 20% maize. In fact, it was the brewers of Alsace that tried to get the European court to rule the German's Reinheitsgebot (Pure Beer Law) was a restraint of trade because it insisted that the only ingredients permissible were water, malt, hops and yeast. Kronenbourg uses only hops grown in Alsace. The main variety is the aromatic Strisselspalt. Hop concentrate is preferred for ease of handling, but since the S&N takeover, attitudes to ingredients have changed and new brands have been developed by master brewer Jean-Yves Malpote. Alongside the main Kronenbourg and 1664 brands, 4.7% abv and 5.9% abv respectively, there are two new versions of 1664 with greater character. Pure Malt has no cheap ingredients such as maize, while a deliciously tangy Fleur de Houblon (Hop Flower) uses fresh Strisselspalt brought fresh from the fields. A beer called Ale, which, despite its name, is aimed solely at the French market. It is brewed and fermented at a higher temperature than lager, and uses a blend of French and German hops as well as roasted malt. It's a pleasant beer, though it would puzzle British ale lovers. Kronenbourg Fizz, blended with gin and lemon, is aimed at the youth market, as is a 1664 with the addition of rum. Of greater interest is a rich, flavoursome beer 1664 Premier Cru, which is also available in Britain [see panel]. The modern brewhouses at Obernai have a series of linked, stainless steel vessels. Malt is mixed with soft brewing "liquor" (water) in mash vessels. Maize is prepared in separate vessels to break down the protein and is then added to the malt. After two hours, when malt starch has been turned into fermentable sugar, the mash is filtered in a lauter tun and is then boiled with hops in a brew kettle to add aroma and bitterness. Primary fermentation and cold maturation (lagering) take place in conical fermenters that each hold between 6,000 and 10,000 hectos. At the end of primary fermentation, most of the yeast is filtered out and the unfinished beer is left to mature at -1ºC for a maximum of eight weeks. The premium 1664 is lagered for five weeks, specialist beers such as Premier Cru enjoy two months' maturation. The French market is radically different to the British one. Two-thirds of the brewer's production is packaged, and 60% of its output is in the form of standard 4.7% Kronenbourg. 1664 is seen as a beer for special occasions or weekend drinking. With its fine aroma and palate of juicy malt, floral hops and a touch of citrus fruit, 1664 is, by big brewers' standards, a characterful premium lager. It's a pity the British version brewed at Reading has been knocked back to 5%, but then the French enjoy far lower rates of duty. It would be good to get supplies of Kanterbrau Gold in Britain. This is the group's other premium lager brewed at the Nancy plant. Beers there are lagered in the true 19th-century fashion in horizontal tanks that allow slower maturation, which leaves a richer and fuller palate. The most impressive aspect of S&N's ownership of Kronenbourg is a quiet determination, backed by new bar fonts and promotions, to improve the quality of the beers and to develop new brands that will appeal to a more discriminating sector of drinkers. Who knows, perhaps pure malt beers from Alsace, rich in hop character, will one day find their way across the Rhine and will be consumed with pleasure and even fervour by that most demanding of audiences, German beer drinkers. Gesundheit!