Brazilian craft beer in the other Golden Valley

Marco Falcone founder of Brazil's Falke Bier in the Belo Horizonte area
ceremoniously pops open a bottle of Brazilian-style Tripel, called
Monasterium.  All photos by Charlie Papazian

“I have made beer my life and now I am a very happy man.”

Long ago in the Valley of Gold Belgian Trappists established the brewery Orval, named, literally translated as Golden Valley.  In Brazil a small brewery has emerged from its own humble beginnings in the Vale do Ouro, an area just outside the city of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minais Gerais.

They say Minais Gerais has over 8,000 cachaça distilleries and 7 microbreweries. Cachaça is a Brazilian style rum made with unrefined cane juice, rather than refined sugars.  The art and diversity is astounding. Eight thousand is not a typo error, though a majority are said to be “not official” (wink-wink) if you know what they mean, if not, then never mind.

New microbrewers are relatively well received in this mountainous, hilly state, rich in minerals and a thirst for alcoholic beverages.  Marco Falcone is one of a tight knit group of brewers, having founded his brewery, Falke Bier Cervejaria Artisanal  (Brewery) in 2004.  In the Vale do Ouro he claims it is the highest brewery in Brazil at an elevation of 1,200 meters (about 4,000 feet).  His beers are creative, exquisite, innovative and worth savoring.

Photo right: There are over 8,000 cachaça distilleries in the state of Minais Gerais.

An electrical engineer by profession, Marco worked in power plants for many years.  He first homebrewed in the early 1980s, brewing batches for weekend beer drinking at the family’s country home.  He lost interest and stopped brewing in 1988.  Fatefully he visited Germany 6 or 7 years ago.  He realized German beers he enjoyed tasted as he remembered his homebrews.  His one week visit turned into a 3 month beer-intensive, visiting breweries and learning everything he could traveling throughout Germany, Belgium and Denmark.  Falke Bier is now a full family affair.

“I have made beer my life and I am now a very happy man.” says Marco.

In the brewery’s tasting building I sample various Falke beers with Minais Gerais artisanal cheeses. On each beer’s web page music is harmonized with each choice and worthy of click-throughs

Estrada Real English-style IPA with Minais aged Parmesan

Falke Pilsner with soft Minais Queijo Canastra

Ouro Preto Dunkel with Minais Gorgonzola.  For his dark beers he roasts his own malt in a coffee roaster.

There is always music playing, a beer video play on the monitor, the lawn and forest outside are a brilliant green.  His 1 square meter barley “farm” provides a sense of agricultural connection.  I hear the sound of another beer being poured. Marco is distracted, his phone ring tone is a recording of one of his beers being poured into a glass.

Photo left: Local artisanal cheese blesses a variety of Falke Biers.

A clock in the brewery warns that there can be no beer drinking on the grounds of the brewery until 19:00 ( 7 p.m.).  The clock hours are all at 19.  

The stairs leading down to the Monasterium cellars are overseen by a monk with his beer.

His 9% Brazilian-Belgian inspired tripel is Monasterium. It has hints of coriander and citrus and it is much discussed beer among Brazilian beer enthusiasts with access to the small batches he produces.  In 2008 he won first  Brazilian Food & Beverage Award (Tecno Bebida, Produto Mais Inovador) for “most innovative new product.”

The sensory experiences are non stop.  Another beer emerges and a story precedes its place on the table before me.  “This beer is not for sale, because I don’t think the government will know how to classify this next beer you will have, so I just give it away to friends as a gift. There are only 300 bottles of this beer.”

It is his Vivre pour Vivre.  Before he opens the bottle he plays the appropriate music, from the film Vivre pour Vivre and then smiles as he pops the corked bottle.  It is a blend of Brazilian jabuticaba fruit juice and his Monasterium tripel.  It is not just any old Monasterium.  Of course by now you can anticipate another song and another story.  The Monasterium from which Vivre por Vivre is brewed is unique.  Read on.

Several years ago he discovered that a bottle batch of Monasterium had gone lactic and sour, that is to say it had an unexpected lactobacillus contamination.  Rather than sell or dump it he kept it for 3 years.  After that time it tasted very very good.  Painstakingly opening all of his aged bottles into a fermenter he then added more than an equal amount of jabuticaba juice, fresh yeast and refermented for 10 days, after which he rebottled.  The resulting 4.5% alcohol beer is gloriously magnificent.  

Jabuticaba fruit is a very unusual fruit growing directly off the trunks and main branches of the low bushy tree.  Its black/brown/purple fruit must be consumed or used immediately.  It does not travel well at all.  [See photos in slide show.]

Vivre pour Vivre has a bright child-like red fruity color, a refreshing well balanced lactic acidity and a complex subtle Szechuan peppercorn-like flavor and aroma as an undertone.  

I asked Marco “You are a very creative person – what is next on your horizon?”  His answer was instantaneous, “My longer vision is to help make Brazil a beer country.”

He goes by the name of "Falke."  He is an honorable man and brewer with an honorable goal.  

There are others who share his vision.  More on this in a future story.

Also of interest: Imprisoned beer - Brazilian craft brewers fight almost insurmountable odds