When boozers think of Italy, wine is generally the first thing to come to mind. Indeed, the Italian love for wine goes all the way back to the Roman empire, when the wine-god Bacchus had legions of followers, who liked nothing more than a raucous night of wine, dancing, and orgiastic excesses. I guess you could say that Bacchus was the original frat boy!
While the Italian love for wine has continued unabated for thousands of years, it has only been in the last decade or so that beer has been catching on.
Yes, gentle reader, even Italy has not been immune to the craft beer craze that has been sweeping the globe, and Italy is finally starting to develop a domestic craft beer industry.
Historically, Italy has always had Peroni and Moretti, a pair of pale and insipid lagers which have served as the Italian version of the Labatt Blue / Molson Canadian duopoly that craft beer drinkers have endured in Canada for so long.
The first recorded beer industry in Italy goes all the way back to the year 83 CE, when a Roman politician named Agricola was appointed as the governor of Brittania, now known as modern-day Britain. Governor Agricola eventually returned to Rome, and became Emperor of the entire Roman Empire.
Since Emperor Agricola picked up a taste for beer while governing what eventually became modern-day Britain, several master brewers were called to Rome from that corner of the empire, which led to the first beer hall opening in Italy all the way back in the 1st century!
Sadly, the rest of the Roman empire didn’t take too kindly to beer, suspecting that those who preferred beer to wine might be barbarian savages who should be thrown to the lions.
If we fast-forward to the present day, the Italian beer market is similar to Canada, with the two biggest Italian brewers also being foreign-owned, with Peroni part of the SABMiller conglomerate, and Moretti owned by Heineken International.
Luckily, Italy has thrown off the shackles of the insipid macrobrews, and has grown from nearly zero to almost 600 craft breweries in the past decade, most of which are locally owned and operated.
With the same attention as shown for wine and food, the small Italian breweries are making a name for themselves with their “birre artigianale”, much to the delight of the throngs of touring beer nerds, as well as a quickly growing domestic population of beer fans.
Many of the small Italian brewers are choosing not to pasteurize their beer, as most artisanal brewers feel that the heat treatment removes some of the essential flavour of the brew. This is a common trait of craft brewers, and you will find only unpasteurized beers from the small craft brewers like Wild Rose here in Alberta as well.
Unfortunately, beer that has not been pasteurized does not travel or age well, so we probably won’t be seeing an invasion of Italian birre artigianale on the shelves of our local booze merchants anytime soon.
The beer nerds of Italy have been throwing off the shackles of the bland macrobrews that have tarnished their palates for too long, and are embracing new and exciting styles like the hoppy and bitter India Pale Ales with great gusto.
Without centuries of brewing traditions, the Italian craft brewers are highly experimental, and many are applying skills learned in the vineyards to brewing beer. A common refrain is to age beer in used wine barrels, or use yeast from spent grape skins to ferment the beer.
Even the pasta barons are getting in on the act, by using heritage grains from the pasta plantations as a starch source for brewing.
Interestingly, most of the crafty Italian beers are being sold in 750mL bottles, either in an homage to the wine industry, or because Italians love pairing their beer with food almost as much as pairing wine.
The large bottle format generally means you should try to share a bottle with friends at a meal, with all the associated cheek-kissing and hand-waving that you would normally expect at an Italian dinner.
Your humble narrator has been on the lookout for Italian birre artigianale for some time now, and I have only found it at a single liquor store in Calgary. Hopefully we will see more Italian craft beer on our shelves soon!
