La Faie de Cascagne

The history of Cascagne Faie beer.
In our quest to add a little more colour to Neufmaison and to offer a new product, we came up with the idea to give it a beer. Why a beer? Simply because it’s an appealing product of historic importance for Belgium. In the past, each village and almost every farm had its own beer because the owner had to offer its “seasonal workers” board and lodging. And as they say beer is bread, each farm made its own beer. Neufmaison has been a rural village since the dawn of time. In addition, there is no village beer in Neufmaison. By teading a book on the history and the birth of Neufmaison, I’ve learned about the history of chestnut and its importance for the village. We honour this village symbol by dedicating a beer to it: “The making of cascagne”. This is the Walloon translation of “chestnut leaf”. Therefore, it is made of two malts and hops, but also chestnut leaf and chestnut puree.

Production.
We sought a brewer near us. And the choice naturally fell on the steam brewery Pipaix. Jean-Louis and Vinciane therefore invited us to a brainstorming tasting session with several other people. Don't ask - it's a “compulsory” invention of Jean-Louis ;-). As a result, we ended a morning drinking beer and informed the choice with seven to eight people we know (it's hard creating a beer). The idea of the leaf was proposed and we therefore chewed leaves while drinking the beer selected... and it was a revelation. The idea was there and a thrilled Jean-Louis wanted to start the brew right away. This beer is brewed by hand by the last steam brewery in the world, located in Pipaix. Jean-Louis, the owner, offered us all his know-how. Ours is a slightly amber, sweet beer with approximately 7% alcohol content. In terms of raw materials, it is worth noting that almost everything comes from our region or is near it:
• The water is derived from brewing.
•The malt comes from the malt houses of Beloeil and has therefore been grown in the region.
• The hops comes from Warneton (Comines).
• The chestnut leaves come from our village chestnut tree

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