An artisanal brewery furnished with state-of-the-art equipment involving a €1 million investment was inaugurated in Gozo yesterday.
Lord Chambray, as the brewery is called, is located in the Gozitano Agricultural Village in Xewkija.
Samuele D’Imperio, managing director of Lord Chambray Ltd, said his family had first visited Gozo over 25 years ago and had immediately fallen in love with the island.
We want to share our pride and passion for brewing artisanal beers and are convinced our three local brews will soon become established on the market
Since then, they have been visiting regularly until, about five years ago, they bought a residence at Fort Chambray.
“We feel we would now like to give something back that is of exceptional quality.
“We want to share our pride and passion for brewing artisanal beers with our clients and we are convinced that the three local brews – Blue Lagoon, Golden Bay and San Blas – will soon become established on the market as premium ales.”
Gozo Minister Anton Refalo said that, for the first time, Maltese and foreign tourists visiting Gozo would have the opportunity to experience a beer tour and to familiarise themselves with the art of beer making.
Lord Chambray beers are made from top class ingredients, including barley, hops, herbs, spices and yeast, sourced from Belgium and the United States.
Italy’s leading master brewer, Andrea Bertola, has been engaged to oversee the brewing process and is visiting the brewery twice a month.
The brewing process takes place in brewing kettles and vats from Spadoni, one of the leading companies in Italy that supply filtering systems and complete services to a number of industries, including the wine-making, beer, edible oil, fruit juices and syrups, spirits and dairy industries.
The high level of technology deployed at the brewery is evident both in the specialised equipment to revitalise water, which then goes through a sophisticated reverse osmosis plant, and in the beer bottling equipment to produce the finished product.
The beer is fermented for eight to 12 days, followed by a further 18-20 days for maturation or lagering (at least).
Once the beer is bottled in the ultramodern GAI bottling plant, the ‘Ferrari’ of bottling machines, it is allowed to rest for a further seven days during which a second fermentation in the bottle takes place.
Blue Lagoon is a Blanche beer whose recipe dates back 400 years. Blanche beers use a far broader palette of fruity or spicy ingredients than German or English brews.
Golden Bay is a non-pasteurised, bottle fermented American craft-style beer while San Blas is a deep amber American pale ale.