Month: November 2023

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.  

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 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.  

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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Main photo credit: Fabbio Galatioto

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. 

See more: The mighty Mareterra to become a reality sooner than expected 

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.  

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. 

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.  

See more: ‘The Prince’s Vision’: the tale of Rainier III and his First Minister Jacques Rueff 

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. 

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 

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.  

Read more: 

The mighty Mareterra to become a reality sooner than expected

Join the Monaco Life community – the largest English media in the Principality.  

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Main photo by Monaco Life