La Chouffe Alcohol Free
Chouffe Alcohol-Free is based on the brewery’s main recipie for its golden ale – and with the passion and know-how that goes into their other beers.
It is brewed using a modified mash and with a special yeast that doesn’t turn sugar into alcohol. Vacuum distillation is employed to evaporate alcohol from the beer, a popular process as it helps preserve the flavour and fragrance of the beer. This method is carried out in a vacuum chamber and it works by lowering the boiling point of the alcohol.
Brewed at 0.4% abv and 23 Calories per 100ml.
Pours with a big condensed head. Light noble-hop like aromas in the nose with a typical spicy accent of Chouffe beers. A light-medium fruity body in which a soft bitterness emerges. This slight bitterness flows into a rather light, dry aftertaste. Refreshing and thirst-quenching.
About the Brand
Brasserie d'Achouffe
The story begins in the late 1970s, in the middle of the Vallée des Fées (the Valley of the Fairies), when two brothers-in-law, Pierre Gobron and Chris Bauweraerts decided to create their own beer in the garage belonging to Chris’ mother-in-law. With the little money they had at the time, they began what the brewery’s fans now call the “Chouffe Story”. Their first brew of 49 litres was produced on 27 August 1982
Initially considered a hobby, the Achouffe Brewery developed when, after 4 years, the brothers-in-law decided to purchase the farm in which they had been brewing. Shortly afterwards they both embarked on their venture full time in 1986.
In 1992 production rose from 3,400 hectolitres to 5,000 hectolitres per year. The brewery had invested in a new brewing house so that they could increase each brew from 22 hectolitres to 70 hectolitres. At the time, the Achouffe Brewery only produced large, 75cl bottles and “small” 20L barrels of La Chouffe and Mc Chouffe. The 33cl bottles only appeared in May 2009.
“CHOUFFE DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING!”
The brand’s name has the following story. During a lunch break, one of Chris’ colleagues said with his mouth full “You should call your beer Oumpf!” “Oumpf” retorted Chris, his colleague swallowed his mouthful of food and for the first time came out with the word “Chouffe”. It meant absolutely nothing, but after sleeping on it for a few nights and pondering over it, Chris was convinced. His co-founder had the same first reaction as he did “Chouffe doesn’t mean anything!” But he too, after a few nights of reflection, changed his mind.
So they launched a beer with a word that had no meaning – but was easy to pronounce.
