The lightly fizzing, dark amber brew is the first brown beer produced by the brewery.

Brown beers are “a product that works well in France”, director of production Maurice Treinen explained at a press conference on Wednesday, adding: “The idea was to do something dark and stronger in alcohol.”

The team began experimenting a year ago to get the right recipe. The Brasserie Nationale in Bascharage, where Battin is brewed, wanted to use their own materials, ingredients and dry hopping system (putting the hops in during the fermentation when it’s cold). What sets the brown beer apart from the others is the brewing time and quantities of ingredients: the brune is brewed for two months as opposed to six weeks; it requires more malt and less water. At 7.2%, the result is a stronger beer, which has a shelf life of up to a year.

A waitress serves the Battin brune at the launch on 28 February 2018. Staff photo

Battin brune is the eighth beer produced in the Battin range and the newest produced by the brewery since Bofferding Hop, a low alcohol beer. For the launch, the brewery has turned out 500 hectolitres for the first batch.

“It has a nice rounded taste and it’s a dark beer which is usually very heavy. Here it’s easily drinkable,” brewery managing director Georges Lentz told Delano. He suggested the new product responded to one side of a diverging beer market. “I think the trend is very clearly going more for stronger and more light beers. In between, it’s going to change,” he said.

The Brasserie Nationale has recorded a constant positive evolution in Battin production since 2012, brewing 41,470 hectolitres in 2017.

The beer launch comes a week after Diekirch launched its first fully non-alcoholic beer.