As one half of the two-person team responsible for creating 1664 Blanc, the French wheat beer, Sylvie Lienhart has stories to tell. In this double series, we talk to her about how she trained to do this job (she didn’t, per se) and her inspiration for this groundbreaking wheat beer.
SOMETHING’S BREWING
Though born and bred in Alsace, the beer brewing region of France, Sylvie Lienhart, Development Manager at Kronenbourg, was raised with a dad who liked beer and a mother who never touched it. Neither did she study brewing. Her only early tie to the craft is a nebulous one, she tells us with a smile in her voice. “When my mother was pregnant with my older brother, all she craved was chocolate. When she was carrying me,” Sylvie continues, “she had an inexplicable craving for beer. Of course, she didn’t satisfy it – she was pregnant – but when I came to work at Kronenbourg after I left high school, my mother took all the credit for having predicted my career path while I was in the womb.” It may not be scientific, she concedes, but mothers are always right.
FIRST UP
With the company since 1982, Sylvie’s first job at the brewery was in the lab – but doing quality control. She then moved into other departments. But her dream job – and one that initially intimidated her – was always development. “At school I studied biochemistry,” she recounts. “So I really learned this craft by doing, which is a good way to hone the different skills one needs for this intuitive work.” Yes, Sylvie’s job today is her dream job from way back when.
BUILDING BLANC
Alongside her boss at the time, Sylvie was tasked with developing a new wheat beer. Emphasis on the new. “The goal was to reinvent wheat beer, to come up with something really different from the traditional wheat beers on the market,” she remembers.
Sylvie was charged with getting samples together. “I made all the kitchen samples. But we developed the 1664 Blanc recipe as a team. We decided which beer base was best...and we knew we needed to add a hint of flavor to bring a twist to the recipe.” So that subtle hint of citrus, the coriander spice...no accident.
Stay tuned for the second installment in this interview with Sylvie Lienhart, when we discuss the role of women in brewing and her favorite way to enjoy a cold 1664 Blanc.