ItalyBrews

A Walk in the Mountains

Despite the recent cold weather in Northern Italy the mountain flowers of the Maritime Alps are blooming! Time for a closer look, so we decided to strap on our hiking boots for a trek through nature followed by a visit to Birrificio Troll in the small village of Vernente, south of Cuneo. Yes, there’s beer in those there hills! Thanks to the work of mountain man Alberto Canavese the local flora, fauna, herbs and spices are delicately folded into the various beer styles he brews at his surprising small brewery, located off site in Robilante; just a stones throw from Troll’s brew pub.

Straddling the border of the Piedmont and Liguria Regions, along Italy’s border with France, the Maritime Alps are a hiker’s delight featuring treks through high mountain passes scattered with ruins of small farming villages dating back to the 1650′s. Along the way streams from mountain snow run off, rolling green hills, snow capped peaks and bright colored spring flowers lead you along the well marked trails.

After a good 6 hour hike along the La Via di Tèit trail we built up quite a thirst. Luckily for us the brew pub was open and willing to meet our needs. Troll came into being in 2003 with a brewery on site at the brew pub and a small kitchen churning out local delights. Upon entering the pub the welcoming aroma and warmth of the wood burning fire created the perfect mountain cabin retreat for us to kick up our heals and ponder our excursion over a few craft brewed pints.

The chalk board reads, Beer of Spring: “High Fever” and IPA on Pump….ok, you’ve got my attention, but who’s that man that just stoked the fire and is coming to talk to us? Well, it’s the guy behind the beer; what great timing! Alberto tells us his English is not good, but what he knows he’s learned from Pink Floyd and the Beatles causing me to whale out, “Money…it’s a hit. Don’t give me that do, do good bullshit…”. We all break into laughter.

During our tasting we tried the following selections from draft:
Troll IPA: As good as they get from the pump. No bubble, plenty of hoppy bitterness and a surprising 6.2% alcohol. Good enough to statisfy even the most discerning English Cask fan.

Patela: A sweet honey nose, sweet citrus palate, 7.2% alcohol, crisp and refreshing to boot!

Febbre Alta: Brewed with mountain flowers, herbs and spices and appropriately named for Spring Time it’s no wonder this was the beer of the year in Italy when it was first brewed in 2005. Fantastic amber color, floral nose and sweet herbal palate. And I see an on going trend of high alcohol brews, this one’s 8.7%; definately giving me a fever after a couple glasses!

Panada: Ok, so not all the beers at Troll are high alcohol! Troll’s Blanche beer, Panada, is only 4.7% and boasts an almost neon brightness in color, little bubble and a slight mountain flower palate. It was the perfect thirst quencher following a 2,000 descent from La Via di Tèit trail.

As an avid “beer traveler” (I’m coining this term for someone that seeks out beer during travel) I find my inner peace through chance meetings with the people behind the breweries and brew pubs we visit. Yes, we do plan visits in advance but those that happen organically are extremely special. During our visit to the small mountain village of Vernante I only had slight recollection that Troll was near by. It wasn’t until after our hike that we can across an empty bottle of beer laying on top of the trash can in the parking area; it was a Troll beer! From this clue we figured out that the brew pub was just up the road. Upon arriving we met Alberto Canavese, the man behind the beers at Troll; some of my favorite beers do date from Italy’s burgeoning craft beer scene. This is la dolce vita!

Drinking with Hogwarts

I am not a fan of fantasy books and movies. Especially when it comes to Hogwarts and Harry Porter. Yet the thought of a pub based on this blockbuster series of books and movies intrigued me. I give credit to Giratempo Pub in Sant’Albano Stura, CN for creating one of the most unique, and bazzar, bar visits of my life. We first found out about Giratempo Pub when we met Lelio and Marco whom were representing Birrificio B&C during our visit to Sapore Rimini. B&C’s beers are simple, easy to drink and pair well with pub grub.

Lelio Bottero, a former marketing executive with Baladin and author of Bevo Birra, opened Giratempo Pub in March, 2011 and as a fan of all things Harry Porter he turned the space into the kind of place that makes any broom toting witch or warlock feel right at home. A rock grotto come bat cave paired with novelty items such as posters, broom sticks, floating candles suspended from the ceiling, even a manican dressed in a Hogwarts robe.

Decerning beer drinkers, fans of live music and fun promotions (like a Harry Porter look alike contest) are welcome here too! On the beer side Lelio works with Birrificio B&C of Narzole to produce his own recipes for a Chiara and Ambrata, both brewed with the skins of moscato grapes; reminding us again of the importance of wine to the Piedmont Region and Italy’s brewery scene. The list also includes a good selection of international microbrews from Belgium and beyond. For the music lovers, Giratempo Pub is complete with a stage and on the night our visited a live band keep the room entertained.

The food as well was a good match. Typical pasta dishes were available but also this unique specialty of the pub, stewed meat cooked with Nimbus beer on skewers with fries that pair wonderfully with the Amber beer.

In an upcoming post we will be highlighting some of our travels across Italy, providing recommendations on other beer influenced bars and restaurants that are promoting artisanal Italian beers, so stay stay tuned! Thanks again to our friend Lelio Bottero, we salute you!

Beer Smuggling

I’ve always admired smugglers. No, not Johnny Depp in his white suit and sunglasses moving cocaine from South America to the United States in the movie Blow. I am talking about alcohol bootleggers. Captain Bill McCoy is a personal favorite for his rum running from the Bahamas to South Florida during Prohibiton. Some smugglers would water down their alcohol to get more volume & profit, but not Bill! He’s the reason for the phrase “The Real McCoy” because of his reputation for providing his goods without adding water.

Moving Champagne from France, Gin from London and Whiskey from Canada; it’s all been done. The reason? In recent years, taxes. The tax, for example, on Italian craft beers is 21% if the product is purchased and sold in Italy. If a business wanted to buy in Italy and transport to another non-EU country, the Italian tax is waived and the only tax owed is that of country where the goods are being sold. At least this is my understanding. Their are lawyers that deal with these situations as a full time job!

It’s all still a little unclear to me, but we figured we’d give it a try anyways. A good friend recently opened a bar/restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland called Fork & Bottle. The concept is based on providing unique food and drink to an otherwise non food focused culture. Macro production beer in Switzerland is the norm and no one is doing anything to deviate from this, so we decided to promote artisanal beers from across the Swiss/Italian border. This is the story of what we believe to be the first Italian beer smuggling operation! Smuggling more in the sense that we didn’t work with a distributor, instead choosing to buy direct from the brewers. It’s funny, and sad at the same time, that most beer in Italy is produced in the Northern part of the country, shipped to Rome and then can head right back to the North for sale! Talk about a not reducing your carbon foot print, ouch!

Our missions started with a late night pick up on Thursday at Birrificio B&C where we met with a father and son wine makers come beer producers, Ezio and Marco. Before the hand off of 72 – 75cl bottles of their Amber and Weiss beer we sat at the tasting table to sample their version of a sour beer; brewed with cherries. Unfortunately, plans had fallen through to borrow a friend’s car that would have provided more storage capacity, so we relied on a Saab convertible as our transportation. Not the best option for an attempt at picking up over 1,000 bottles of beer!

With a careful eye on the road Mike Goguen, Chef & Owner of Fork & Bottle, plotted our course across the Piedmonte & Lombardy Regions with an eventual border crossing into Switzerland. Our plan was to visit 7 different breweries picking up a variety of beer styles along the way in order to build an ever changing collection of artisanal Italian and Swiss made micro brewed beers for Mike’s restaurant and beer garden.

Our second stop, Loverbeer. Where we were met by Valter Loverier, the man behind the 2011 Beer of the Year in Italy. We ordered Valter’s BeerBera and Madamin, loaded them in the car and headed off to our next stop, Grado Plato.

With mid-day upon us it was time for a tasting. Grado Plato’s 2012 Christmas beer was in a tank and primed for a preview of what is to come in December. We tasted and liked! Can’t wait to try the end product later this year. We were escorted to our delivery vehicle by our friends at Grado Plato who commented that this was the first delivery they have received in a convertable Saab! None the less we managed to squeeze the boxes into the car and head on our way to San Paolo in Turino.

The traffic in Turino was chaos! Bridge closures and stop and go lines of cars kept us from reaching San Paolo Brewing on time. I’ve visited this Brewery & Brewpub on numerous occasions, each time arriving late. Funny how punctual North Italians are; contrary to popular belief an early arrival is appreciated! 96 – 75 cl bottles later we were ready to hit the road for Brew Fist in Codogno.

By about 5PM we reached Codogno and we were thirsty! Luckily the tasting room at Brew Fist was well stocked allowing us to sample what we were purchasing: the only Extra Special Bitter I’ve found in Italy – Jale, along with Brew Fist’s Milk Chocolate Stout. Time to rearrange a few bottles to maximize the storage capacity! Look at that back tire under the weight of the beer in the backseat and trunk!

Milan in rush hour traffic is hell! We were hard pressed to get to the border in the small town crossing that would lead us into Switzerland to claim our invoices and pay the Swiss tax, a mere 8% versus Italy’s 21%. The traffic combined with having an additional 2 pickups was sure to bring us to the border after hours. This did indeed turn out to be the case, so in true bootlegging fashion we cruised through unabated with plans to pay the tax in Zurich.

Just one more stop before stocking the cooler, a visit with our friends Marcos and Alessandra in Stabbio from Bad Attitude and Piccolo Birrificio! They were quite impressed to see our mission was accomplished. After a quick tasting of Piccolo Birrificio’s Barric we headed off to Zurich to stock the cooler and write Fork & Bottle’s beer menu from Italy’s first beer smuggling operation.

Over The Line! A Bowling Party with The Dude.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a huge fan of the movie, The Big Lebowski. So when we visited the brewery at Bad Attitude in January I was stoked to find out that someone was capitalizing on “The Dude”, by creating a beer based on this cult classic.

I, like most Americans I know, did not realize that over in Europe another beer was in circulation based on a TV show with a similar cult following; a beer called Duff. Yep, that Duff…like “mmmm….beer“. Some say this Belgian beer (now brewed in Germany for some reason) pays royalties to Fox and the Simpsons, but who knows. I did find this about a legal battle that Fox apparently lost on the matter.

I know that if you tried that in the States you’d get slapped with a Cease and Desist from some hot shot lawyer with the quickness! Take the example of Moe’s Tavern in Chicago

Yet, I digress. After Sapore Rimini we were invited to an after party sponsored by Bad Attitude to celebrate their launch of “The Dude” an amber colored IPA. The setting, a bowling alley – of course. Having never been inside a bowling alley in Italy, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Italians bowl? Yes, the do – STRIKE!

    
It seemed only appropriate, when creating teams, that we name ourselves after characters from The Big Labowski and I gladly garnered the name “Walter” and made sure Marcos, Owner and Brewer of Bad Attitude was “Jesus”. After plenty of “gutter balls” and a few strikes the bowling party came to an end but the beer was properly introduced to the Italian market with a splash.

A Tasting Experience in Rimini

It’s the end of February and still cold in Northern Italy, but we’re visiting Rimini anyways. This beach town located along the Adriatic Sea in the Provence of Emilia-Romagna plays host to millions of sun worshipers during the warmer months, but on this occasion the visit is a quest for more knowledge on Italy’s burgeoning artisanal beer scene. Sapore Rimini is the equivalent of the National Restaurant Association show, taking place each year in Chicago, IL (U.S.A.), and the sprawling convention center (una fiera in Italian) is well equipped to handle the 90,000 plus attendees. Restauranteurs and Publications from around the world can meet with wheeling and dealing vendors pushing anything from bottling production systems to frozen fish sticks; oh and an ever increasing presence of artisanal beer!

                      
This year, the Italian Microbrew section was chaulked full of 60 different breweries, a significant increase from last year. This isn’t a surprise based on the data provided by the planners of the event, showing some interesting statistics regarding wine drinkers versus beer drinkers. Keep in mind that Italy is second only to France for wine production, with a staggering 40 million hectoliters in 2011:

• In 2011, approximately 7 million Italians tried beer for the first time, increasing the number of enthusiasts to approximately 36 million.
• Beer is appreciated by sporadic drinkers (+40%) and habitual ones (+20%), as well as an increasing number of women. In fact, there are already 16 million lady beer drinkers (62.7% of Italian female adults) choosing beer for taste lower alcohol level (versus wine) and due to the recent trend created by Italian microbreweries.
• Beer is enjoyed by a younger population of Italian adults up to the age of 44 while habitual wine drinkers are, on average, over 50 years old!
• 35% of Italian consumers only drink beer once a week.

Specific to Artisanal Breweries, in 2011 there was a rise in the share of microbreweries, which reached 2% of the market with approximately 350 small enterprises offering high quality, unpasteurized suds.

How do you define “artisanal brewing” versus ”microbrewing”? For me artisanal brewing is any independent brand with a small group of people doing the day to day, producing a small production that’s most definitely not under the umbrellas of SAB Miller, InBev or any large production like Moretti or Corona. I mean, I’ve had the Moretti Gran Cru, but to call it “artisanal” would be ridiculous. Microbrewing on the other hand can include large scale productions, but with different styles of beer, for example Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada and Birra del Borgo.

Some standouts from the artisanal brewers included the following:

Birrificio B&C:
Located in the Piedmonte Region in the Provence of Cuneo these easy drinking beers include a Blond, a Weiss and an Amber. They’ve recently opened a Gastropub called Giratempopub which celebrates it’s first anniversary this month.

Vecchia Orsa:
Not only is “The Green Bear” from Bologna a great artisanal brewery, but they also support a greater cause by working with the mentally disabled community through a project known as Fatturiabilità. Their Saison took home top prize as Italy’s Beer of the Year in 2012. This crisp and well balanced Saison is brewed with coriander along with red and black pepper.

Birrificio Indipendente Elav:
Bergamo based Birrificio Indipendente Elav boasts edgy packaging, a cool liquid story and some mighty tasty beers. Favorites are “Punks Do It Bitter“: a hopped up bitter ale, “Celtc Mater”: a cross between a kolsch and a Belgian Strong and “Indie Ale”: an amber colored ale with the sweetness of Pilsner malt and 7 hops from around the world. I think it’s worth a visit in the future just to hit their two Brew Pubs: Clock Tower and Osteria della Birra.

Piccolo Birrificio:
Originally established in 2005 in the Liguria Region, bordering France, this artisanal brewer is the same behind Bad Attitude in Stabbio, Switzerland. During Sapore we tasted their Barric, a mild sour with a caramel color and surprising 6% ABV. This beer was worth the price of admission to the event.

Special Recognition to our favorite label at Sapore:
Tripping Flowers: a floral and high alcohol content just about made us go psychedelic!

Don’t be fooled by the fact that 60 artisanal breweries were present because some big boys were there too (micro & macrobrewers) including Birra del Borgo, which I am told is Italy’s largest microbrewer with a production of over 1 million hectoliters in 2011. These larger brewers were ironically relegated to an adjacent hall and included the likes of Chimay, La Trappe, Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn Brewery. It’s my understanding that both Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn Brewery are actually producing their beers in Italy now, to take advantage of this growing market! If you have information otherwise on this matter, please feel free to comment below.

How The Blackbird Became Black

The story goes that in the cold months of the year certain birds in Northern Italy do not leave for warmer climates, instead seeking refuge from the freeze by hiding out in chimneys. The result, a warm yet soot covered bird. When these birds fly the coop to look for food they are therefore black. To celebrate this fact Italians get together on the coldest day of the year in the Commune of Sarezzano, Province of Alessandria, Region of Piedmont for Birra della Merla, or the Beers of the Blackbird, and these are some thirsty birds indeed!

Now in it’s fifth year, the event takes place outdoors at La Locanda del Grue, a rustic road side pub specializing in regional fare and uber local beers, such as Birrificio Montegioco. This year’s brewers also included Orso Verde, Bi-Du and Extraomnes, all from the Lombardy Region, north of Milan.

Upon entering Locanda del Grue observe the darkened Budweiser neon sign above the bar. Not illuminated perhaps just for the event, given the audience? It’s a subtle irony I suppose. Inquire at the bar for beer and food tokens, called mèrel, beer bottle caps boasting the moniker of the event; the blackbird!

The scene in the courtyard behind Locanda del Grue is quaint with a gazebo comprising the taps from the breweries, a small grill where you can order sausages with polenta and several outposts surrounding the gazebo boasting small fire pits to help shake off the cold from your extremities.

Step inside the pub to catch a number of events sponsored by Movimento Birra including tastings and the announcement of the contest winners for the best home brewer. If you are stressed out from all the action, step over to Locanda del Grue’s anti stress machine and turn the crank while tipping back another craft beer!

Standouts from the event included Donker from Extraomnes, a rich and dark Imperial Coffee Stout and Rebelde from Orso Verde, a hopped up brew that’s proves just how hopped it really is by moving the beer from the keg thru a bar top chamber filled with wet hops!

Hop Smuggling & Beer Brewing

I’ve always believed that the climate of North Italy is perfect for growing hops. All I need to do is visit the Pacific Coast of the United States, Kent in England, Spalt in Germany and maybe make a quick trip to New Zealand; each time smuggling a small harvest of hop plants! Well, looks like Graziano Migliasso – Master Brewer at Birrificio San Paolo beat me to it, at least on the Pacific Coast of the United States! He brought back a plant from the Yakima Valley and is growing hops in Savona for his brews at Birrificio San Paolo in Turino! Kudos!

Turino isn’t a beer town, despite being surrounded by breweries and brew pubs throughout the Piedmont and Lombardy Regions, yet Birrificio San Paolo has thrived here. Located on the outskirts of Turino in the San Paolo Neighborhood, Graziano brews well balanced styles of beer; each named after a type of wood. We visited him to learn more about his beer and the operation at the recently opened San Paolo Brewpub.

Photos by http://kunalchandra.com

Graziano began brewing beer at home, a passion which quickly lead to the creation of his brewery, located in the space next door to the Brewpub. During our visit we tasted 7 different beers:

Photos by http://KunalChandra.com

Pecan: A Kölsch style brewed with Styrian Golding hops and German pilsner malt. A light and easy drinking beer with a soft hay colored hue and flavors that rival anything produced in Köln, Germany and beyond.

Jatobà: Also known as “Brazilian Cherry Wood”. This amber colored 5.5% ABV German alt style easy drinker is brewed with 4 types of hops and 4 types of German malts giving it a slightly bitter herbal flavor with a malty toffee finish.

Photos by http://kunalChandra.com

Ipè Celebration: Another tree reference to South America, this time referring to the National flower of Brazil, Ipè Celebration is brewed with six types of hops and Crystal malt giving it a foamy head, hoppy nose and a lingering sweetness of mango.

Photos by http://kunalChandra.com

Frakè: If my notes and translation skills are correct this wood type was used to make the front door frame at San Paolo’s new brewpub. None the less, frakè wood is used for furniture and wood flooring and the tree comes from Central and Western Africa. It’s a lager, made with lager yeast and American and German hops. The nose is citrus and the hoppy finish of the beer lingers.

Photos by http://kunalChandra.com

Ipè Harvest: This is were the smuggling comes in! The first Cascade hopped beer with Cascade Hops grown, harvested and brewed in Italy! It’s a wet hopped beer with a full body, 6.5% ABV and a great IPA flavor that is bound to be popular with our Italian friends who can’t seem to get enough bitterness!

Hemlock: They call it a Belgian Strong Ale, but I disagree. Not because I didn’t like it, this was actually a standout for it’s unique taste! 8% ABV with a nutty nose and palate of chinato tree bark and corriander seeds. Those don’t seem to be characteristic of a Belgian Strong Ale, but again a wonderful brew.

After the tasting we toured the spotless brewery next door to the brewpub. Meticulously maintained and thought out, with a keg cooler backing up to the wall that separates the bar from the brewery. My personal favorite, Robina, was not available for tasting as it was a couple days away from bottling. None the less, Graziano allowed us to taste from the holding tank without carbonation. Even without bubbles this beer is wonderful. Made with organic honey of Monte d’Alba in portions equaling 20 kilos of honey in each batch this 7% ABV beer has a toasted nut and honey nose, dark citrus fruit and slightly hoppy finish!

Photos by http://kunalChandra.com

If you can’t make the journey to San Paolo’s modern styled and airy new brewpub then a visit to Eatly is in order, most of their brews can be found there.

The House that Cocchi Built

Roberto Bava, is a modern day Renaissance man. A believer in the finer things in life: chocolate, aromatized wines and principles of futurism. Along with his brothers he continues the lineage to a family tradition in the wine and spirits industry using the fruits of some 6,200 hectacres of vineyards around Piedmont.

From this lineage comes the likes of Barolo Chinato, Americano and Vermouth di Torino, all of which date back to 1891 at Cocchi. You might be familiar with the uber presence of “the spritz” in bottles that’s served in cafes and bars across Europe. The marketing dollars behind these bastard children of aperitivi made with aromatized wines have moved a product that’s so far off from the original recipes that they are often made with more water than wine! The use of the likes of tree barks, spices and aromatics with DOC and DOCG grapes (not water) are what make a true apertivo, and Cocchi’s tasting room does an excellent job at leading you through these scents by presenting jars of dried ingredients and extracts used in their products.

Several stories exist regarding the creation of Italian Vermouth. These include Giulio Cocchi, a Florentine man with an entrepreneurial streak that relocated to Asti and began production of wine. Giulio Cocchi is also known for his creations Americano, a muscato di asti grape blended with herbs and spices, and Barolo Chinato, made with DOCG Barolo grapes, rhubarb, ginger, quinine; previously discussed here.

Recently, we visited with Roberto Bava in Cocconato to learn more about the products and history of Cocchi, and of course to do a tasting! Contrary to what you might think, Vermouth of Turino, Americano and Barolo Chinato can be drunk neat, simply with soda or tonic water and citrus twist, or used as ingredients in cocktails. When asked about cocktails using these spirits Roberto referred to a classic method adopoted by the Futurists in the 1920s. Futurism was, and it seems – still is, a mostly Italian movement that promotes separatism, art, gastronomy, industrialization, movement away from traditional Italian cuisine (like pasta) and creating new forms of expression in Italian for globally known words; such as cocktail (polibibita), bar (quisibeve) and dessert (peralzarsi).

In the 70′s the Bava Family took over Cocchi and through Roberto’s work in pairing the great chocolates of Turino with Barlo Chinato from Cocchi the idea of drinking this aromatized wine after dinner was rejuvinated.

Today, Barolo Chinato is a staple in specialty wine stores, not to mention a rediscovered addition to craft cocktails, across the world. The Futurists used Barolo Chinato in a cocktail called Decisone:

• 1 part dark rum
• 1 part Barolo Chinato
• a dash of Mandarin Liquor

A more popular recipe is a negroni:

• 3/4 oz barolo chinato
• 3/4 oz Cointreau
• 1 1/2 oz London Dry Gin

As for Americano and Vermouth di Turino, below are some recipes we’d recommend.

The Americano:

• 1 oz Vermouth di Turino
• 1 oz Campari
• Club Soda
• Garnish with lemon twist or orange wheel

• 4 cl. American cocci
• 2 cl. orange juice
• 0.5 cl. sugar syrup
• 7.5 cl. tonic
• Garnish with an orange slice

Next time you find yourself in a bar or cafe in Italy or in your local liquor store back in the States, get inspired and try some of these products for yourself! You won’t regret the decision.

Student Orientation: A Look Into A Slow Food Internship

Artisanal Cheese, beer and cured meats: a match made in heaven! Especially considering these three practices are being combined into an internship for University of Gastronomic Sciences Masters Student, Dr. Doug Hiza. Doug allowed me to accompany him on his first visit to Montegioco (AL) where he will spend the next few months learning of both ancient and newly established traditions in the world of artisanal food and drink.

Riccardo Franzosi and Doug Hiza

Riccardo Franzosi, Master Brewer and Owner of Birrificio Montegioco, describes Montegioco and the surrounding area as a no mans land; as it lies on the border of three Italian Regions: Piedmont, Liguria and Lombardy. It’s a rugged land without the benefit of tourist visits yet its people, culture and landscape keep Riccardo from leaving. He says that he would never leave the place he has lived his entire life. This great pride has led him to entrepreneurial endeavors including opening his own brewery 7 years ago and planning to develop a shop that sells and promotes locally produced items such as cheese, wines, meats and of course his amazing beer.

From outside the unassuming brewery blends in with the countryside, however when you step inside you see production in every corner. Some 22 different styles, 450 hectoliters of annual production in 75cl and 33cl bottles; 30% of which is imported to the United States. Riccardo tells us, “It’s not difficult to make beer, it’s difficult to make good beer.”. A self taught homer brewer, Riccardo has been running the show at Birrificio Montegioco for 7 years, oh and yes; he makes good beer!

After a quick tour of the facility we were off to see the first part of Doug’s internship, a producer of local cured meats just a short drive away from the brewery. It was a nice looking operation complete with pig pins, processing room and on site restaurant. It doesn’t get much slower then this, check out these guys!

Now onto the best part, whiskey and beer infused cheeses and a cheese and beer tasting that puts a No Reservations episode to shame; eat your heart out Anthony Bourdain! Meet Luca Montaldo of Vincenzo di Maria. Nothing like combining the craft of a tradition with art! Luca has accomplished this by using cheese recipes of the region and then taking it to the next level by infusing these cheeses with whiskey, and yet others with beer! Robiolla cheese is aged for two months and then dosed with whiskey, beer or grappa and then aged in liquid for another 6 months. The result, a deliciously boozy cheese that packs a punch!

After visiting with Luca we hopped into Riccardo’s truck and headed for Vallenostra Agriturismo e Caseificio, a Farm, Dairy, Osteria and Agriturismo, located in the Curone Valley; a seemingly wild and uninhabited land dotted with ancient Medieval lookout towers and endless wilderness.

Roberto Grattone is a great story. He has brought a local cheese back from near extinction! Montèbore cheese, made from cow and ewe raw milk, dates back to the 12th Century. The shape of the cheese was inspired by an ancient tower located in Montèbore and shaped like a wedding cake. As the cheese ages, it falls or melts into the next tier. Eating it is as easy as cutting a slice and popping the whole piece into your mouth. The taste is milky and buttery and perfectly paired with Montegioco’s beers!

Now, onto the beer!

Rurale: a very well balanced beer, with an amber color, hopped nose, malty palate and hopped finish that doesn’t linger. Rurale is made with Crystal and Amber malt and Cascade and Fuggle hops. I love bottles, labels and brands. Montegioco wraps there bottle in paper to help it stand out from a distance when line up next to other bottles, say at a bar or at a beer festival. I was surprised, however to peal away the paper bag only to find another label on the bottle. Apparently, this is due to some silly Italian law that requires the bottle to be labeled!

Tibir: A beer brewed with the wort of Timorasso Stefano Daffonchio, a locally grown white wine grape. It has the nose of a Belgian beer, a golden color and a fruity and vinious palate. Tibir paired very well with the unaged and fresh Montèbore (picture), bringing about a nice sweetness from the beer paired with the creamy texture of the cheese.

Mac Rune: If you’re a fan of Islay produced Scotch then this beer will blow your mind! It’s brewed with peated malt creating an amazingly smoky palate. This is one of the most unique beers I have tasted to date in Italy, buy it and pair it with something spicy!

Tenta Triple: Meaning a “try at Triple”, is a new offering from Montegioco paying homage to the Beligan classic. Who needs Belgium Triple when you can have Tenta Triple? The nose is equal to the best Belgian Triples, but what’s unique about this beer is the peppery sweet finish. Breaking news from italybrews.com, Tenta Triple will make its debut at Birre Della Merla on January 27, 28 and 29! See you there!