What does it take to relaunch a Parisian brewery from the 1890’s? After finding success in its hometown, Gallia is making its way in Hong Kong.
Born in the 1890’s, Gallia was the largest brewery which started in 21 Rue Sarrette on the 14th district in Paris. In 1900, Gallia took home a gold media for winning the Exposition Universelle International Fair. At its peak, the brewery produced more than 150,000 hectolitres of the amber nectar, which included four types of beer namely the Forte, Double, Bock and Petite.
Sales were soaring, and business was good for the Parisian brewery until 1940 when the strain of the war took its toll and production began to slow. With fierce competition arising from the new multinational breweries, Gallia was eventually forced to shut down and destroyed in the 1960’s. Fast forward to 2009 where two school friends decided to revive this great part of French history and bring back Gallia beer to the capital city, at this point the only capital in the world without its own beer.
With the help of a descendant of the original owners of the Gallia brewery, Guillaume Roy and Jacques Ferté set off on an adventure brewing beer from their small apartment in Paris to hand delivering crates in an old Renault car.
Today, with four recipes under their belt and selling across many bars in Paris, they have now reached further afield and started to distribute in Hong Kong 5 months ago. They have a range of 6 beers but they only feature 4 types at the Hive Central and limited edition co-branding partnership beers. We can’t wait to try out the new Bière (as they say in French)!
Related Articles
