FUNK & PUNK IN THE MOUNTAINS
THURSDAY OCTOBER 24, 2024
l'horta ferments
Cervesera del Montseny veteran Ferran Boix had long harbored ambitions of starting his own brewery in Catalonia, but gradually found himself tinkering more and more with fermented foods instead. During the COVID-19 lockdown he finally approached local chef and friend Jordi Coromina about the feasibility of creating a natural fermentation workshop. The idea sunk in, and very soon after, the two officially launched l’Horta Ferments at Jordi’s old family farmhouse in the remote, rustic village of Cabrerès.
Ferran and Jordi harvest their own herbs and vegetables, likening the process to that of Belgian lambic brewers as they utilize wild yeast and bacteria while also cultivating their unique in-house vinegar and kombucha cultures. The company’s kombuchas are particularly mild and accessible; guests at the tasting room frequently comment that L’Horta’s version is the first they have actually enjoyed! L’Horta also has a Michelin Guide restaurant where award-winning chef Jordi presents his unique creations based on organic ingredients from the farm.
LA CALAVERA
Originally a homebrewing project in the modern-day Catalan tradition, “punk” brewery, La Calavera was founded in 2012 in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains as part of a work co-operative shared with a local restaurant, La Barricona. The brewery-restaurant partnership sadly did not survive but La Calavera itself remains strong, and has for several years been expanding its reach into the international market, thanks to its reputation for bold flavor concepts and a fierce dedication to a substantial and ambitious barrel-aging program.
The name Calavera — ‘skull’ — reflects the founder Marc Bautida’s anti-fascist punk leanings, and La Calavera’s branding suggests a strong aesthetic association with these movements (there is indeed a rather huge image of iconic punker Johnny Rotten imprinted on the main brewery building for all to see when they arrive on the brewery grounds). The small brewhouse, set in a remote and placid wooded area a couple of miles from the French border, produces a typical dual range of clean traditional beers for the local market and an increasing number of experimental and/or barrel-aged specialties for export. La Calavera’s brief venture into the American market was successful, leading the brewery to continue to seek a deserved international presence.
COMPANYIA CERVESERA DEL MONTSENY
“CCM” is among the most well-established of the Catalan craft breweries. Following its humble beginnings as a hobby for a group of dedicated beer fans in northern Catalonia’s wild mountainous countryside, it offered its first, ahead-of-the-curve commercial products in 2007, well before there was any serious market for non-industrial beers in Spain. Just two years later, CCM became the very first Catalan craft beer company to export regularly to the United States.
While the American market was just beginning to be dominated by the explosion of local producers, sales for Spanish craft never gained much traction, but in its home country CCM’s tenacity saw the company go through a period of expansion amidst a steadily-rising recognition for quality and mainstream visibility. In 2016 CCM was voted Best Artisanal Brewery at the first Barcelona Beer Challenge, where it also was the top medal winner. Since then the brewery has gone from strength to strength, regularly racking up awards and also building a beautiful tap room adjacent to the brewhouse.
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