{"id":129855,"date":"2025-03-13T03:58:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T03:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/beer\/the-german-brewer-making-french-beer-in-the-caribbean\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T03:58:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T03:58:29","slug":"the-german-brewer-making-french-beer-in-the-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=129855","title":{"rendered":"The German Brewer Making French Beer in the Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Paul, Maxie, and Michel visited the Gwada Brewery in Guadalupe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We were wrong. Maxie, Michel and I thought we were going to a brewpub in the capital of Guadeloupe. As French language students, we probably misunderstood Gwada Beer\u2019s website. I was expecting a craft brewery with French and Caribbean influences, so were Michel and Maxie. What we encountered was unexpected and delightful.<\/p>\n

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Paul in the Gwada Brew House<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gwada Beer is a brewery\u2026 just not a craft brewery. It\u2019s the beer of the island; a sort of national beer, if Guadeloupe were a country and not a Caribbean territory of France. The only thing \u201ccraft\u201d about the brewery was its small size. Troeg\u2019s Brewery in Hershey, PA is larger, so is Ever Grain Brewing in Mechanicsburg, PA.<\/p>\n

As the three of us entered the brewery, we saw a very small bar area and couple of glass door refrigerators. Pretty standard stuff. But it seemed the three of us were the only visitors. We greeted the tall guy behind the counter in French. He asked if we were German \u2014 Maxie and Michel said they were; I said I was American. He then said speaking German or English would be better for him. He said that he was from Germany. He then explained that we were not in a craft brewery \u2014 they weren\u2019t serving beer and food. The place was strictly for producing Gwada Beer\u2026 sort of.<\/p>\n

The three of us had accidentally met Stefan Fascher, the head brewer of Gwada Beer. We had caught him and his coworker in the middle of working on some fermentation tanks. \u201cI just moved here a few months ago to take the position.\u201d Stefan mentioned that Gwada Original \u2014 the popular lager seen all over the island\u2014is currently made in France. The brewery in Guadeloupe had fallen on hard times and he was hired to raise its quality. \u201cSo, like a good German, the first thing I started doing was cleaning,\u201d Stefan said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

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Stefan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From behind the bar, he poured us three glasses of a silky, golden beer. \u201cTry these. This is Gwada Ice. It\u2019s tough to find around Guadeloupe at the moment.\u201d It was a delicious wheat beer. It tasted like a lager and didn\u2019t have any grassy notes of a wheat. I\u2019m not a big fan of wheat beer, but maybe it was the tropical heat because I loved it! He poured us another beer; this one was reddish and amber in color. \u201cThis is Gwada Magma with a higher ABV and tastes more like a pils.\u201d It was also delicious. \u201cIt\u2019s also rare to find around here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Gwada Beer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Stefan then invited us to take a look at the brewery operations. \u201cCome on back here. I can show you around a little.\u201d The equipment was familiar\u2014mash tun, boil kettle, fermentation tanks. As we paused by some of the equipment, I asked him if it bothered people on the island that Gwada Original wasn\u2019t brewed locally anymore. \u201cWell, to be honest, France is not a big beer culture. It\u2019s more wine. And on the island, it\u2019s more about rum. Beer is beer. Eventually, it\u2019ll return to be brewed here.\u201d<\/p>\n

We walked back to the small bar area and chatted over more beer. Stefan has been the United States a few times. \u201cMy brother lives in Wisconsin. I\u2019ve had a lot of good beer and great times there.\u201d And, thanks to Stefan at Gwada Beer, Maxie, Michel and I had good beer and a great time in Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n

More Information on Gwada Brewing and Beer<\/h2>\n

The following comes via Untappd.<\/p>\n

The Gwada Brewery proper is known as Les Brasseurs De Guadeloupe and is located at Baie-Mahault, Guadeloupe France and is labeled a micro brewery. They have 12 unique beers and over 3,000 ratings for a global average rating of 2.87 (as of 3.6.25). Their Untappd description is left as blank, and there are no links to any social media platforms or websites (from Untappd).<\/p>\n