Few breweries can boast a more tranquil, rural setting than Brasserie Ste-Colombe. Just inside the southern edge of Brittany, amid the undulating fields of this wide-open agricultural landscape near the village from which the brewery takes its name is an old farmhouse where Gonny Keizer (one of France's, indeed Europe's, few lady brewers) started brewing in an ancient outbuilding in July 1996.

With the help of husband Henri she renovated the outbuilding and brought in old dairy equipment which was converted to suit their needs. Their farmhouse home opposite is around 200 years old, but the brewery building is closer to 500 years old and is built of local traditional stone and soil. Originally a farmworker's dwelling, it was more recently used as a milking shed.

Gonny and Henri moved to France from Overijsel in northern Holland in 1992. Henri is a farmer by trade and soon started work on a local farm. For Gonny, who is a nurse, it was far more difficult to find local employment as the region is so rural. It was in this scenario that she decided to take up brewing to supplement their income and to keep herself busy.

The plant has a capacity of 400 litres per brew and she usually brews every fortnight. The brewhouse is tiled and spotlessly clean but has little room for further expansion. A future improvement will be to convert the attic room above to take a grist mill - at present the milled grain has to be carried from the house to the brewhouse by the sackful. The chambre chaud, however, will still be in the house.

All Gonny's beers are unfiltered, unpasteurised and undergo a bottle refermentation. One week in the open fermenter is followed by one week of garde (quite generous, given the small amount of space in the brewery). After priming for the bottle refermentation (using the same yeast as the primary fermentation), the bottles then spend one week in the chambre chaude, then finally a period of maturation in the cellar - the Bière de Froment for four weeks, her other beers for eight weeks.

The Ste-Colombe range is adventurous and untypical of normal French styles. The Bière de Froment is exactly what it says - it is not a 'white' beer, it is a wheat beer. It has little in common with Belgian or French whites, and is best described as a farmhouse version of a German weizenbier, and the introduction of a new recipe has made it far closer to this style. The Ambrée is based on the classic Antwerp beer De Koninck (Henri's favourite tipple) with a distinct artisanal depth, and her Bière d'Hiver is a dark and complex brew which boasts 14 different herbs in the ingredients - one of which is hop.

Gonny doesn't market her beers as necessarily Breton, unlike the other breweries in Brittany - she prefers to be considered simply as an artisanal brewery rather than be given a regional tag. This is probably a wise decision bearing in mind the brewery is only just inside the officially-recognised Breton region and she is just as likely to attract sales from the region of Anjou just to the south.

Unfortunately the Ste-Colombe beers can be very difficult to find in bars and cafes, as most of its products are sold direct or to shops and at fairs. Thankfully there has been much positive local press coverage and we hope that increased interest will eventually result in these excellent beers becoming more widely available.

THE BEER RANGE

Bière Ambrée

5.5% Alc/Vol. Available in 75cl bottles.

An interesting beer that has a sweet start followed by a fruity caramel malt then a tangy bitterness turning dry. All this yet still light and easy to drink.

Bière de Froment

5% Alc/vol. Available in 75cl bottles

A very good beer that is decidely wheaty yet original. In spite of a strong wheat throughout, it is not allowed to dominate - there is an excellent balance and a wonderfully soft creamy texture.

Bière d'Hiver

8% Alc/Vol. Available in 75cl bottles

Immensely impressive winter warmer with all the right characteristics - full palate, fruity, dark, spicy, warming, moderately complex. Superbly satisfying, well rounded winter evening beer that is unusual for France.