The French Department of Nord-Pas de Calais
From The Oxford Companion to Beer
The French Department of Nord-Pas de Calais is located at the “point” of France, the northernmost region that abuts the English Channel and not inconsequentially shares a border with Belgium. Nord-Pas de Calais is considered the unofficial center of specialty brewing activity in modern-day France. The region can also claim the highest per capita rate of beer consumption in France.
The area has a long history of brewing beer. The territory has been inhabited by Celts, Germanic tribes, and Saxons, all beer-drinking peoples. Geographically, the cooler northern location is well suited to growing cereal grains. As a result, beer-like beverages became, and still remain, a part of the regional identity.
Nord-Pas de Calais was once littered with small, independent farm breweries that served their own needs and those of a limited local population. Today this brewing heritage is evident in the density of breweries in the department. Most are small, consistent with history. The best known is Brasserie Duyck, producers of Jenlain Bière de Garde, with an annual production of 100,000 hl (80,000 US barrels).
Nord-Pas de Calais became the seat of a renaissance of specialty brewing activity in France in the late 1970s and 1980s. Spurred by the success of Jenlain Bière de Garde (and the growing popularity of Belgian specialty ales), other small regional breweries redefined themselves from producers of typical lager beers to guardians of French brewing tradition with noble intent and perhaps to ensure their own survival.
This definition is from The Oxford Companion to Beer, edited by Garrett Oliver. © Oxford University Press 2012.