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The Rise of Italian Beer
This year's Great British Beer Festival featured Italian beer for the first time.
Without doubt the world of Italian craft beer is experiencing exciting times. Thanks to the improving level of quality of the beer on sale in Italy's increasingly popular pubs, and the growing number of fairs and festivals, the media has begun to treat craft beer as a drink to be taken seriously. This renewed interest in the products of Italy's craft brewers is beginning to spread across Europe; the cultural association Unionbirrai (Union of Brewers) became a member of the prestigious European Beer Consumers Union only two years after its foundation.
For Unionbirrai, the warm welcome given by Terry Lock, President of EBCU, means that Italian brewing has joined the European family of nations, including those with the richest beer cultures such as the UK and Belgium. More importantly, the EBCU membership ends a sense of Italian isolation brought about by cultural traditions and a climate more suited to cultivating vines and producing wine. In Italy, prejudice about beer is both widespread and deep-rooted. Beer is usually expected to be served ice cold and with little or no head. It is more often than not treated as a thirst quencher during the summer months and with the exception of pizza, is considered unworthy of partnering Italy's fine cuisine. Last but not least, Italian drinkers believe that drinking beer makes you fat (surely not! Ed). The success, therefore, of craft beer of a high standard is an auspicious sign of positive, though gradual change.
Nothing is harder than trying to change people's mentality. It requires a lot of time and patience and more than a little tenacity: Italy's young enthusiastic small brewers are proving to have these qualities in abundance. The final accolade was our experience during summer 2001 at GBBF. For the first time, Italian products were included in this world celebration of craft beer. Expectations were high and both English and Italian TV dedicated programmes to our participation. Customers passed the most important judgment, pronouncing the beers as 'excellent'. Unavoidably, after only one and a half days all the beer at the Festival sold out. GBBF 2001 has confirmed our success. We were represented by seven beers (five bottled, two on draft) from five small producers.
Lorenzo Dabove
Cultural Director of Unionbirrai
(Adapted by Keith Mapstone from an article submitted by e-mail ).
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 13.
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