Team & The brewery
“What would you like to do when you grow up?”
For this question, neither of the two founders answered with something beer-related when they were kids. But you never know what your future may bring you as an adult. Just follow your path and enjoy the ride.
The story of Oriel goes back to 2010 when curiosity met passion. More precisely, the founders discovered that they have in common the passion for Belgian-style beers like Orval, Rochefort and other Trappists and decided to join their forces and brew beer as a hobby. For five years, Oriel, back then Uriel, went through all the stages of amateur brewing, from beer kits in a can, to partial mash beers, all-grain beers and even wood barrel aged beers. Twenty liters of beer, the same recipes brewed and improved over time and out of nowhere the acknowledgement appeared. The amateur beers began to win prizes at amateur, but important, competitions all over Europe, in countries like Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
Ioana Coca and Laurentiu Mandrila, back then with totally different professional backgrounds started to lay the foundations of the plan of a microbrewery.
Both with a diploma in economics and management, but with jobs in high-end fashion sales and music production, Ioana and Laurentiu decided in 2015 to register Oriel as a trademark and began to build from scratch what was to become the future Oriel microbrewery.
The inspiration for the name came out from the seven archangels, Uriel is one of them. It doesn’t matter if someone is a believer or an atheist, Oriel is the proof of guidance, patience and creativity. Uriel is the archangel of light, wisdom, illumination and sun, he is a patron of arts and science for his ability to inspire and he inspired these two souls in crafting their extraordinary beers.
Since the end of 2017, Oriel has been proud to be an independent brewery, fully operated only by the two founders, brewing small-scale batches of unique beers and creating an enticing experience for all those eager to discover the world of craft, artisanal beer.
The Equipment
From the 20 liters amateur all-in-one kettle, the brewery is proud to use in the present times a 500 liter kettle for its brewing days. The entire equipment was produced in Europe and purchased brand new, establishing a quality model for all the brewed beers.
500 L lauter tun – Plevnik – SI
208 L hot liquor tank – Blichmann – USA
2 x 750 L fermentation tanks – Speidel – DE
1000 L bottling tank – Speidel – DE
Cooling group Chilly 35 – Kreyer – DE
2 x Centrifugal pumps – B-Tech – SE
Bottle filler with 6 heads – Spagni – IT
Wort chiller SST – 1000 l/h – ELMEGA – ES
Malt mill 200 kg/h – Engl Maschinen – DE
Pneumatic crown capper – Pillan – IT
