Welcome back Steemians to Week 3 of the Friday Craft Brew Series. This week is going to be a little different since I have been in Italy for the past two weeks and was only able to find one real craft brewery while here. So instead of focusing on a specific brewery I am going to go over three of the most interesting beers I had while in Italy, all Italian brewed of course.
NOW, ONTO THE BEERS
Peroni Gran Riserva
First up, Peroni Gran Riserva. Many of you have probably had or at least heard of what I would consider Italy's most famous beer, Peroni. I would consider this their most famous beer only because it was the only Italian beer I had heard of before going to Italy.
Gran Riserva is quite different from regular Peroni. It is what I would consider a Red Ale, although, calling it just a Red Ale doesn't do it justice. The flavor is more sophisticated and satisfying than most Red Ales I have had. It was refreshing like a lager or Belgian Wit, while still having a slightly darker taste on the back end. I only came across this beer twice while in Italy, and unfortunately only had it one of those two times. It is definitely a beer that I will stock up on if I see it here in the states! If you have a chance to try this beer I highly recommend it.
Mostodolce Martellina
The second beer I want to feature was actually from a craft brewery we managed to make it to, Mostodolce. Unfortunately, they didn't have hardly any of their beers available and we're extremely busy when we went in, so I wasn't able to get much information about the brewery itself. What I can tell you is this brewery in Florence also specialized in pizza...who'd have thought that?! All kidding aside, the pizza was delicious, but the beer I had Martellina, left a little to be desired. It wasn't that the beer was bad, it just wasn't a Belgian Style ale as they proclaimed it to be. It had an almost roasted, bitter flavor to it, but not the delicious bitter flavor of an IPA . It was almost as if the hops had been mixed with something that was roasted a little too long. Maybe that was the flavor they were going for, I'm not sure, but it wasn't exactly the right flavor for a Belgian Ale to me.
The brewery did have a fairly extensive menu of their own beers, but only two of them were available at the time. It was too bad because they had a really good sounding Saison on the menu I was really hoping to try. Guess I'll just have to make a trip back over at some point!
Menabrea Bionda
The last beer I want to highlight is Menabrea Bionda. This was one of the most refreshing beers I had while in Italy. It was light yet still had a light hop taste that went away and left you with a slightly citrus taste. It was somewhere between a lager and blonde ale in flavor, although personally I would say the taste is probably closer to a lager than a blonde ale. This was definitely a beer I could drink several of on a hot summer day. I would have done just that too if we didn't need to get to dinner the one time I saw this on a menu, damn food always getting in the way of beer!
I know this weeks post is shorter and a little less detailed than the first two, but I hope you enjoyed learning about a few Italian beers. I know I had a good time drinking them! Next week I'll be back to the normal routine trying to focus on a specific craft brewery. Thanks for reading! See you all next week for the next part in the Friday Craft Brew Series!
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