October is beer

On the last day of September the sunshine was brillant, the sky was intensively blue, and there was just the slightest hint of an autumn breeze. Riding my bike up from the lake and down Rue Montchoisy, I pedalled past Tom Beers, a store which opened in Geneva this past year and which has a wide selection of beer, and I immediately thought about, well, beer. The next day was the first day of October. With Oktoberfest already underway, not to mention the upcoming Geneva Beer Festival on October 21st and 22nd, I decided to stop and get some recommendations. I wanted something really local.

Riding the worldwide wave of popularity of microbreweries, close to 140 small artisanal brewers have popped up in Switzerland over the last two years, making the total number of breweries in Switzerland 632. That’s something of a record. I too wanted to try something really really local. Lausanne was going to be too far. It had to be from Geneva and not be a Calvinus beer, which while good and a Genevan institution, is actually brewed in Appenzell.

I was immediately steered towards the offerings from Brasserie des Murailles, a small brewery located on an old farm in the commune of Meinier, where Philippe Margand and Nathalie Droz have been making beer since 2001. They offer a selection of wheat beer, Belgian ales and a stout. Here is the full line on offer at Brasserie des Murailles minus the seasonal releases. You can find many of these at the Coop supermarket.