Every year, more than 100,000 litres flow through the taps of the Brasserie de Monaco, an enterprise with more than 100 years of history crafting top quality lager, beer and ale. Here’s a closer look at the how the business is going today.
The Brasserie de Monaco first opened way back in 1905 at its original premises in Fontvieille. It was forced to close up shop in 1972, but that would not be the end of the road for the company.
In 2008, local businessman Gildo Pastor recognised the growing public interest in craft beers and revived the brand by launching it anew on the Route de la Piscine of Monaco’s famous Port Hercule.
Gildo Pastor revived the award-winning brand and relaunched the Brasserie de Monaco in 2008. Photo credit: Rovatti
Over the last 15 years, the Brasserie de Monaco has gone from strength to strenght, becoming an ever-popular drinking destination for the thousands of visitors and residents looking to quench their thirst after a day pounding the streets of the Principality or working hard behind their desks.
Brewmaster Valentin Khun, alongside brewer Maxence Valat, takes great pride in creating a top-quality range that includes a lager, a pale ale, a wheat beer, and for the holidays, a festive, seasonal Christmas beer.
ORANGIC AND SUSTAINABLE
The Brasserie uses exclusively organic and sustainably sourced ingredients in its beverages, and to prove there is absolutely nothing to hide, the gleaming stainless steel vats are part of the interior décor.
The stainless steel vats used in the production of the Brasserie’s beers form part of the décor. Photo credit: Fabbio Galatioto
The outside terrace is a fantastic place to see and be seen by passers-by on the port, with the likelihood of running into a friend or two on the high side given its open aspect.
To accompany the fine beers, the food at the Brasserie de Monaco is prepared with a focus on local fare and an ethos to please all. As such, patrons will find everything from pizzas and salads to burgers, fish and chips, escalope à la milanaise and a generous entrecôte steak on the menu.
A sunny afternoon is the perfect time to drop by for a relaxed beer, but the Brasserie de Monaco is also a great destination during prime times of the year. The bar is pumping for Grand Prix, due to its excellent location, and is a hot favourite amongst sports fans thanks to the big screens. For music lovers, there is an in-house DJ and the party often continues well into the wee hours.
After starting its story in Fontvieille in 1905, today’s Brasserie de Monaco sits right on the water’s edge of Port Hercule. Photo credit: Fabbio Galatioto
AWARDS
All this work and effort, on the part of Pastor, vice presidents Jérémy Lombart and Louis Brenot, and the brewing team, has clearly paid off, as the brewery can boast several awards, including a 2010 Fourquet d’Or prize for its Pilsner, another in 2014 for its lager, as well as a World Beer Awards gold medal the same year. In 2016, the Brasserie de Monaco came home with a silver medal from the Concours International de Lyon for the lager and the team also won the Fourquet d’Or for its pale ale. The latest prize was from this earlier year, when the Brasserie’s lager was once again in the spotlight in Lyon, winning a silver medal.
For more information on the range, events and opening times, click here.
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This December, the festive spirit in Monaco is set to reach new heights with the much-anticipated ‘Golden Voices Stars Concerts’ Christmas concert.
Organised by the renowned Vanina Aronica, the concert features an impressive lineup of professional artists and rising stars. Audiences can look forward to experiencing the powerful performances of Vanina Aronica herself, a classic crossover soprano and artistic director. Joining her are other luminaries such as Maria Salamone, a multi-award-winning poet, and Lorenzo Caltagirone, a lyric tenor honoured by the Pavarotti Foundation.
The event is not just a showcase of established talents. Emerging artists like Maurice Hadjadj, winner of the Golden Voices Senior Award 2022 – France, and Andrea Fabregas, 2023’s recipient of the same award from Spain, will also grace the stage. Emma Lombard, who won the Golden Voices Public Award in 2021, and Juliette Valle, the Junior Award winner of 2023 from Mexico, add to the lineup, alongside the fresh talents from The Golden Voices Academy and the Monaco Team of The Golden Voices Music Awards.
The concert promises a rich and varied program, blending classical music, popular variety, and traditional Christmas carols.
A collaboration of culture and art
This event is not just a musical concert but also a testament to collaborative cultural efforts. Partners such as MIMA Club Monaco, Rencontres Littéraires de Monaco, Associations Les Virtuoses, Belcan’Arts, and The Cannes Cinéma Academy have all contributed to making this concert a reality.
The organisers extend a warm invitation to all, hoping to draw a crowd that appreciates the beauty of music and the spirit of Christmas.
The event is scheduled for Saturday 16th December at 8pm at Espace Prince Jacques in Beausoleil.
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Photo supplied. This article was originally published on 13th November.
Prince Albert and Princess Stéphanie unveil ‘Avenue Rainier III’
Prince Albert II and Princess Stéphanie of Monaco have unveiled a plaque that marks a street in Peille that has now been officially renamed after their father, Prince Rainier III.
On 7th August, the Peille Municipal Council unanimously voted in favour of Mayor Cyril Piazza’s proposal to name the road leading to the Monte-Carlo Golf Club ‘Avenue Prince Rainier III’.
Numerous dignitaries from Monaco and the Alpes-Maritimes were present during the unveiling of the inaugural plaque on Saturday 25th November, which has been placed in front of the entrance to the club.
In 1957, Prince Rainier III established his family’s second home in Peille. He was very attached to the town and donated an organ from the chapel of the main Palace to the parish.
Relations between Monaco and Peille date back to the 12th century, at a time when the Grimaldis had not yet established sovereignty in Monaco, and when the consuls of Peille had ceded their rights over the Rock to the commune of Genoa.
In 2019, in memory of ties strengthened over the centuries, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco unveiled the commune’s plaque belonging to the network of Grimaldi Historic Sites of Monaco. Mayor Cyril Piazza is the current president of the French national association of Grimaldi Historic Sites.
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With Monaco’s newest district Mareterra to be delivered within the year, Monaco Life explores the history of land reclamation in a nation with an ever-changing landscape.
Monaco is the second smallest sovereign state in the world, and is the most densely populated, meaning that space will always be at a premium.
But the Principality, despite its diminutive size, is a creative, innovative and inventive place that doesn’t let itself be held back and has been toying with the concept of land reclamation as far back at the 1880s.
Over the years, Monaco has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that there was enough room to accommodate all who wanted to live within its borders, but it wasn’t until the 20th century, and the rule of Prince Rainier III, that this approach really took hold.
Photo of Larvotto beach, the Grimaldi Forum and the new Mareterra district, by Monaco Life
LARVOTTO
It’s hard to imagine Monaco without Larvotto Beach, but until the late 1950s, it was little more than a stretch of rugged coastline. Seeing the need for more housing and amenities if his nation was to continue to attract the kind of residents and clientele he wanted, Prince Rainier, who was quickly earning his later moniker of the ‘Builder Prince’, embarked upon an audacious plan.
Between 1954 and 1961, the government’s Larvotto reclamation project added an impressive 54,000m2 to the country’s eastern end and 35,000m2 to the Portier section, which is now merging with the Mareterra development.
The project included the creation of the large artificial beach that is still enjoyed today, as well as the future sites of the Grimaldi Forum, Le Sporting and the Auditorium Rainier III.
It was Prince Rainier’s own vision to take the railway underground; a dream he achieved over four decades. Photo by Monaco Life
UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
A smaller, but still significant recapturing of space came when Prince Rainier and his minister of state, Jacques Rueff, decided to take the railway connecting Monaco with the rest of the Riviera underground.
Digging began in 1954 and was completed in 1964. In a speech officially opening the new track, Prince Rainier told the crowd gathered: “The tunnelling of the railway was an absolute necessity if we wanted to trigger and carry out major urbanisation and development operations in the various districts of the Principality.”
Three decades later and Prince Rainier had fully realised his dream for the travel network, with the completion of the train station below ground in 1999.
Fontvielle as we know it today. Photo credit: Remo Hellequin, Unsplash
FONTVIEILLE
Almost immediately after the Larvotto district was finished, Prince Rainier’s eye drifted to the west of the Principality: the neighbourhood we now know as Fontvieille.
This was to be another land reclamation project on the coast, but there were some considerable challenges facing the Prince and his engineers as here, unlike in Larvotto, the seafloor fell to a depth of up to 40 metres.
In 1965, a pioneering French-Italian-Swiss group called SADIM began cleverly constructing dykes to contain the sea and then the interior space was drained. The project, which was completed in 1971, created over 220,000m2 of usable land and a 55,000m2 marina, which was all protected from storms and swell by a vast one-kilometre seawall.
The new district not only gave Monaco a massive canvas for constructing new housing, but it also gave the Principality the opportunity to bolster its economic activity. The quartier became home to the Fontvieille Shopping Centre, the Stade Louis II and numerous businesses and hotels. Today it continues to be the economic hub of Monaco.
Mareterra is due to be delivered within the year. Photo by Monaco Life
MARETERRA
Fast-forward to today and the Principality is on the cusp of completing Prince Albert II’s own great land reclamation scheme, Mareterra. When finished in 2024, it will increase Monaco’s size by 3%, adding nearly six crucial hectares of terrain to the nation.
Mareterra will be, according to the developers, “A largely pedestrianised district that encompasses a lushly planted park, an elegant waterfront promenade, a small port, underground parking and both residential and retail offerings.”
It is also to be wildly eco-friendly in design and construction to add to the cool quotient.
Helping people achieve “better ageing” from the inside-out is Anna Lunhu’s mission. As the founder of Glam Medi Spa and Glam Monte-Carlo told Monaco Life, today’s trends are all about ageing gracefully, naturally.
Anna says she was charmed by the beauty of the French Riviera when she arrived here in 2010; inspired by the region’s glamourous women like Princess Grace and Brigitte Bardot, and bolstered by the seemingly endless possibilities to enjoy life to the fullest, in style and in luxury.
She wanted to capitalise on the way Monaco and the French Riviera made her feel, so she created an elegant, state-of-the-art beauty salon, which offered luxury treatments and impeccable service.
But it was Anna’s personal journey with infertility that steered her focus to engineering optimal health, performance and state of mind through a 360° approach.
“I think it’s more beautiful for women or men not to hide their age and pretend to be someone else, because it’s fake. It’s so nice to say ‘I am this age’, and to show that you feel good in your skin, and to be the best you can be at your age, to feel and look the best.”
It is just over a year since Glam Medi Spa was launched in Beausoleil. It came after the birth of Anna’s second child, a “miracle” baby one could say, because traditional doctors had told Anna that, 16 years after the birth of her first child, she would not be able to conceive naturally again.
“Then I happened to meet a doctor and fertility specialist in Moscow who looked at my blood work and said it was no wonder I couldn’t get pregnant because I was lacking the basic minerals and vitamins,” Anna tells Monaco Life. “So, I changed my lifestyle habits and nutrition, underwent detoxification, and took the vitamins and minerals that I needed. Two months later I got pregnant naturally.”
It is the driving force for Glam’s “inside-out” philosophy to achieve “better ageing”. At Glam Medi Spa, aesthetic medicine meets cutting-edge preventative medicine, with dermatologists, cosmetologists, plastic surgeons, nutrition experts and specialists in endocrinology and biohacking on hand to prevent and reverse ageing externally, but also internally.
“I realised that by optimising and balancing our internal systems, we can already achieve so much.”
In a situation that rarely exists outside of a hospital, collaborating doctors at Glam Medi Spa are able to delve deeper into the workings of the body by conducting blood, saliva and urine tests.
“There are some things that normal beauty treatments can not address,” says Anna. “Beauty often comes from the inside. If someone has problems with their skin or weight, for example, it is often related to hormonal issues or health problems, but it can also be a a lack of vitamins, minerals or nutrition. So, a doctor can contribute to achieving the best results”.
After analysing the tests, the experts devise a personalised plan to achieve detox, weight loss or an energy boost, for example.
The rising popularity of IV drips
Favoured among celebrities such as Rihanna, Chrissy Teigen and Simon Cowell, intravenous treatments have become hugely popular for people suffering everything from a hangover and jetlag to vitamin and immune deficiency. Across the globe, IV has become a mainstream option for consumers and is no longer just associated with celebrities or jet-setting executives.
IV drips are popular because they bypass the digestive system and deliver a high dosage of vitamins and nutrients straight into the bloodstream.
A doctor’s consultation is mandatory at Medi Spa in order to receive an IV drip and, suggests Anna, should be selected as part of an overall health programme. Possibilities include an After Party Drip and Stamina Drip.
Treating hair loss after 40
Many people think of hair loss as a male problem, but it also affects at least a third of all women. As women enter their 40s, their menopausal phase begins and oestrogen and progesterone levels decrease in the body, causing hair thinning.
Some of the trending treatments today are Glam’s platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. Popularly known as vampire therapy, it uses one’s own blood cells to stimulate hair growth. PRP has also become a popular treatment for many conditions in sport medicine, regenerative medicine and aesthetic medicine. PRP is also used by Glam practitioners in natural facelifts.
Hormone therapy
Ageing and reproduction are intrinsically linked, and studies show that menopause may quicken the pace of ageing.
According to Anna, the specialists at her clinic are able to delay menopause and therefore slow the ageing process by testing bio-markers and genetics, and applying natural treatments for women in peri-menopause.
Hormone therapy also has a whole range of added benefits, including increased energy and improved sleep, mood stability and the reduction of fat levels.
Alternatives to botox
While botox is by far the most popular cosmetic nowadays, there are other options for those looking for a more natural facelift. They include face lifting massages, facelift acupuncture, microneedling collagen induction therapy and luminotherapy.
“People today really want to go back to natural treatments,” says Anna. “Many people do botox – which relaxes the muscles – and the natural way to relax face muscles is the face massage. I’ve had clients who came out crying because they could see such a big change after the treatments.”
What does the future hold?
It’s only been a matter of months since Anna opened another Glam Monte-Carlo, this time in the Fairmont Hotel. While medical treatments are not available here, traditional hair and beauty spa treatments collide with other aspects of the Medi Spa to offer clients treatments like hair botox and hair nanoplasty.
With a Glam Medi Spa and Glam salon also now in Cannes, one could expect Anna to continue rolling out the Glam franchise in other key areas.
But longevity is Anna’s new buzzword, and discovering the best “better ageing” therapies is her mission.
“I am very passionate about it, I am following my dream,” says Anna. “My purpose is to find the best therapists so I can guarantee the quality of the treatments to our clients, and maybe I can help them to look more beautiful, more glamourous, by helping them be the best version of themselves that they can be.”
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Nearly a dozen innovative start-ups from South Korea headed to the Agri Food & Green Tech Innovation Expo in Monaco last week to discuss and present their ideas for sustainable meat alternatives and packaging solutions that could transform the consumer experience.
With demand for eco-friendly and sustainably produced meat alternatives at an all-time high, the race to produce the best – in terms of flavour and cost, for the producer and the consumer – is on.
On Thursday 23rd November 2023, the Agri Food & Green Tech Innovation Expo was held in Monaco’s Le Méridien Beach Plaza. Organised by White Castle Partners, the one-day event featured the latest innovations from nearly a dozen South Korean start-ups, with at least three focusing exclusively on the urgent matter of providing advanced alternatives to meat.
Sustainable meat alternatives
Foody Worm is leading the charge in the insect protein market, advocating for a shift towards insect-based alternatives in protein consumption. The company’s approach focuses on zero-waste agriculture and aims to lessen the environmental impact of traditional meat production by presenting insects as a viable and eco-friendly protein source.
In the cultured meat space, SuFab, a new R&D company, is making strides with its third-generation alternative meat. SuFab’s technology, still in the early stages of patenting and investment, produces a product similar to whole cuts of beef in just a month; a timeframe considerably shorter to the year-long process of traditional beef production. It is hoped that the company’s innovative range will ultimately offer the taste and texture of real beef with a reduced environmental footprint.
Meanwhile, another company that attended the event is trying to target environmentally-conscious meat eaters with a wholly plant-based product. Millennial Flavor Town’s Hanwoo Steak Dish is the first of its kind, and combines mushroom fermentation technology with beans and coconut oil to create a product the company says replicates the unique flavour and marbling of Hanwoo steak.
Other start-ups present
Alongside meat alternative innovators, other start-ups at the event showcased a diverse range of environmental solutions.
Repla, for example, presented a plastic recycling technology that hopes to enhance recycling rates through plastic purity improvements, while Roots Lab introduced an eco-friendly product range derived from upcycled pear waste, which is supporting farmers local to the business.
FutureSense offered a digital transformation platform for the food industry, which focuses on blockchain and AI to manage food regulations and reduce waste. Neuro Pack demonstrated a natural extract-based packaging material that can extend food shelf life as well as achieve carbon-neutral packaging goals.
Sweetnswitz introduced Makji, a low-gluten and high-protein ingredient from upcycled rice wine by-products alongside a Fine Food Lab product called Purrot Hemp Milk, which is a plant-based milk alternative that balances taste and nutrition while addressing environmental concerns.
Collectively, the companies involved highlighted a range of innovative approaches to the sustainability challenges faced by multiple industries and simultaneously demonstrated the support for these developments and advancements that is to be found in Monaco.
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