ISLANDERS who don’t ‘do’ beer could be forgiven for wondering what all the excitement was about the opening last night of La Piette, Guernsey’s newest brewery.
Yet the turn-out of invited guests – who included the Lt-Governor and Lady Malbon and the Bailiff and Mrs Rowland – and the level of interest displayed demonstrated that it was a special event.
Why? Because this is the age of mergers and acquisitions, consequential closures and the creeping spread of bland uniformity. So the opening of a new brewery – now Guernsey’s only – is a rare occasion and something to be celebrated.
For an island passionate about its identity and determined to retain it in the face of European and British regulators’ ‘one size fits all’ approach, a local brewery and beer is another expression of cultural existence much – dare we say it? – as having a daily local newspaper.
And the opening was as much about the entrepreneurial flair that has kept Guernsey prosperous as it was about opening another chapter in the history of Randall’s.
For faced with InBev, the owner and manufacturer of Breda lager, deciding to stop production of what is probably this island’s favourite pint, the man now behind Randall’s did the unthinkable. ‘Let me brew it for you,’ he said.
That he managed to persuade InBev, which styles itself as the global leader in beer, was a remarkable coup which owes much to his tenacity and enthusiasm and the long history the island has with shipping Breda from Rotterdam.
Yet the success was not without risk: Guernsey people have a curious resistance to recognising that what is done here can be a mark of excellence, which is why locally-brewed Breda had to be introduced into local outlets by stealth.
Blind tasting tests have shown it to be indistinguishable from the Dutch version but the fear was that it would be rejected as ‘rubbish’ because of its local pedigree.
That’s a sad reflection, especially given the upsurge of interest in local produce and farmers’ markets and concern about food miles.
However, ‘Guernsey Breda’ is a quality product, destined to become an export line and something else islanders can take pride in – as well as the welcome return of locally brewed bitter and real ale.
In all, something well worth drinking to…