Italian
Beer Dinner
@ Chick’s Café and Wine Bar
Historia
The history
of beer in Italy
goes back at least 2000 years to the days of the Roman
Republic. Beer, or cerevisia in
Latin, was reputedly Julius Caesar’s toast of choice to salute his troops upon
crossing the Rubicon. Even such an imprimatur
could not save beer from garnering a reputation as a low class drink, best fit
for barbarians. The historian Tacitus, in speaking of
some of the Germanic tribes in noted, “their beverage
they prepare from barley or wheat, a brew which slightly resembles an inferior
quality of wine.”
This disdain for beer may have
sprung from several different sources. Europe is divided
by climate into the northern spirit, central beer and southern wine “belts”.
Wine had the benefit of being familiar and tied to the belief systems which bookended Rome.
Bacchus, the Roman god of wine was seen as a promoter of civilization and lover
of peace. The blessing Christ bestowed on the wine at the Last Supper is an
enduring one, and the view of wine as a sacred beverage is a similarly
persistent one. On the other hand, beer was seen as the drink of choice of the
great unwashed, unshaven and uncivilized hordes. Eventually, many of those
selfsame barbarians would invade and decimate Rome’s
agricultural base. Brewing would lie mostly fallow in Italy for centuries, up
until the period known as the Risorgimento (Italian Unification 1815-1871) when
conflict with Austria also brought with it aspects of the northern European
brewing tradition, albeit in an often antagonistic context.
The first
modern breweries in Italy
date from this period, with Spluga, in Chiavenna, most likely being the
earliest in 1840. The first wave of breweries were
founded by Austrians looking to expand their markets. They were soon followed
by Italian brewers, some of whom, like Peroni and Menabrea are still active.
Most of the beers from this time period were lagers in the Austrian style.
The real
beginnings of a wider range of brewing in Italy
began in the 1980’s and 1990’s when craft brewers, such as Teo Musso, brewer at
Le Baladin and Agostino Arioli of Birrifico Italiano began to open brewpubs. In
contrast to the prevailing style of lager beers which had held sway in Italy
for more than a century, the new generation of craft brewers created Italian
viewpoints on more international beer styles such as saisons,
triples, ambers, sour cherry ales, double-malted stouts, barley wines and
spiced ales. The vibrant culinary experience in Italy
has helped to generate more than 90 craft breweries unafraid to create beers specifically
designed to accompany food, often utilizing spices from as far as the Himalayas
or Egypt, and seasonal
agricultural additives as varied as chestnuts, white peaches black cherries, and
citrus bee honey, to name just a few.
Over the
last twenty five years, beer consumption in Italy
has more than doubled (while wine consumption has dropped by half) with
non-lager craft beers leading the way. Italian
beer now represents a very respectable 8.2% ($9.7 billion) of the European
market. Internationally, Italian craft beers are earning plaudits from
aficionados di cerevisia as
they become more and more available at festivals, through distributors and at
bars and restaurants (like Chick’s, yeah!).
Curriculum di
Birra
Moretti’s Birra Moretti (4.6% abv) - Founded in 1859
in Udine by Luigi Moretti. Today
the brewery is owned by Heineken. Birra Moretti is a slightly hoppy (Hallertau
Magnum and Spalt Select), golden pilsner style lager. Its delicate malt flavor
serves as a base of comparison for all the beers to follow.
Birrifico Italiano's La
Flourette (3.8% abv) – Located in Marinone outside of Como, Agostino Arioli and his brother
Stefano founded the Birrifico Italiano brewpub and restaurant in 1997. La
Fleurette utilizes pilsner and rye malts, combined with Kent Goldings hops and
augmented with whole roses, violets, citrus bee honey, elderberry and black
pepper. A light yet wonderfully complex, multi-layered beer
with delicate floral notes.
Paired with: Oysters on the half shell, elderberry mignonette.
Birreria Baladin's
Nora (6.8% abv) – The Baladin brewpub and
microbrewery in Piozzo, right outside of Torino, was
opened in 1986 by Teo Musso. A Baladin is a traveling
minstrel, bringing both news and entertainment. Likewise, the beers from this
brewery bring both innovation and enjoyment. Nora (named after his wife, who
has some Algerian heritage) is derived from an ancient Egyptian recipe
featuring unmalted kamut (an ancient relative of modern durum wheat ) which was used in ancient Egyptian beers. This
triple style brew uses a bare minimum of hops as a preservative, instead
utilizing ginger, myrrh, and orange peel for its spicy character.
Paired with: Grilled swordfish with an orange and ancho chile
glaze, micro arugula salad.
Birrifico Montegioco’s
Demon Hunter (8.5% abv) – A recent
and welcome addition to the Italian brewing ranks, Riccardo Franzosi founded
the Birrifico Monttegioco microbrewery in 2005.
Demon Hunter is a malt-driven, dark amber, strong ale using barley and
wheat malts redolent of plums, caramel, toffee and chestnuts, that finishes on decidedly dry hoppy note.
Paired with: Slow braised wild boar, porcini mushrooms, creamy
polenta.
Birrifico di
Como's Malthus Baluba (8%
abv) – A stylish brewpub in Como
with a penchant for double malted beers. Malthus Baluba uses pilsner, munich,
caramel and roasted malts in collaboration with Kent Goldings
hops. On top of that sturdy base rue, apricot, pineapple and ginger are all
added during the primary fermentation and into the maturation tank, commencing
a second round of fermentation. The result is a dark, sweet(ish),
medium bodied, double-malted stout with tart fruity undertones and a nutty and
pleasantly bitter finish.
Paired
with: Chocolate and cherry tart, pistachio crumble.
Avanti! Text: David Cohen Sources
consulted (and starting points for further research):
http://www.bunitedint.com/, http://www.allaboutbeer.com/features/216italbrew.html,
Running Press Pocket Guide to Beer by Michael Jackson (7th
edition, 2000)