the essential
Three agricultural engineers have launched a craft brewery, following in the footsteps of their family playground at the very end of the Aude. Nature and its biodiversity are their privileged neighbors.
Deep in the Aude Valley, above the old spa town of Escouloubre and at an altitude of 1,000 m, the small village of Counozouls and its fifty or so inhabitants are home to a mountain craft brewery: Sylvatica. You don’t come here by chance, not even on the road leading to the Pyrenean winter sports resorts from Carcassonne. However, Lucas Santucci took the gamble of returning to the land of his ancestors and settling there with his little family, Pricila and their young children. The two met at the agricultural engineering school in Purpan and initially practiced scuba diving. For 18 months, they led a scientific mission to Greenland exploring the Arctic Ocean. And Lucas, a photography enthusiast, took many photos for French and international magazines. This only lasted for a while and our Nicolas Vanier from Aude then remembered the summer holidays where he traveled in the wilderness, fields and forests with his cousins. He ended up convincing his Mexican wife to make him know and appreciate his “country”. It was still necessary to create an activity allowing them to both live there and to energize a village far from everything. A daring challenge that pushed them to set up this brewery.
A participatory budget of 60,000 euros granted by the Region
Quentin, the cousin who is an agricultural engineer like the couple, supported them in the process, having worked for a number of years in the brewing industry in the Netherlands, then in Barcelona. The opportunity to be selected by the Occitanie Region for an allocation of a participatory budget of 60,000 euros launched the small business in stride. Alas, scheduled for the summer of 2020, Covid put a stop to it and the start was chaotic with an outsourced brewing in the Catalan capital. The first 100% Coumozouls beverages were postponed and celebrated with great excitement by the local population on New Year’s Day 2021. Guided by the ideals of the three founders, an activity that makes sense, bringing this small isolated corner to life through job creation, Sylvatica was set up as a SCOP. This cooperative includes both the brewery and a grocery store transformed into a bar restaurant “La Souche” open in fine weather, with tasting of different beers.
The business strategy has developed around entirely organic production at affordable prices. Within the family of craft breweries that is growing a little more each year, Sylvatica’s great originality lies in the presence of ingredients picked in the mountain, grown on site or purchased nearby.
A white beer with melted snow in brewing water
The range is based on four beers: CounoZale, a blonde with elderberry, Révolutionnaire, a white with thyme, Breisha, a red with fir syrup, and Cîmes Houblonnées, a blonde with juniper (Indian Pale, very fashionable today). Limited editions also complete the offer with touches of marjoram, lemon balm, honey, mint, oak, and rousquilles (Catalonia obliges). A white snow beer is obtained after melting snow from the mountain into brewing water, giving it a lemony and tangy taste. The approximately 50,000 bottles produced annually (in 75 cl and 33 cl) are distributed under a triangle Toulouse, Marseille, Barcelona in the Biocoop chain of stores, delicatessens, restaurants and bars. Quentin, now sales manager of a Spanish bottling equipment factory, brings notoriety to the brand in Europe, which he crisscrosses throughout the year.
Twice a year, Lucas triggers sales to individuals from online orders of boxes. A blessing in disguise, these thirty-somethings now look to the future with serenity, although their current success forces them to think bigger and the obligation to move from this rented workshop, owned by the village forestry union.
