Italian "Artiginale" Beer Shop Grand Opening!

We arrived in Genova, coincidently on the day of a new beer shop chain "il Beer Shop Italy's" grand opening. This is a new beer shop chain in Italy that sells Artisan/craft beers from Italy, Europe & the rest of the worlds leading breweries. They also sell homebrew kits to get you started in your own beer making endeavors!

When we stumbled upon the shop, we just had to check it out and see what they were up to! We were met with big smiles from the Husband/Wife owners, Elisabetta & Mauricio, and were even given the grand tour as well as delicious beer samples! I decided to interview them because they were so passionate about the craft-beer movement, and thought they would be perfect to feature on the blog. They happily agreed, so here is the interview:

1.) What is the mission or purpose of the beer shop?

Elisabetta:  The mission of our shop "ILBEERSHOP.IT - GENOVA" is to raise awareness of quality products and knowing beers other than those that can be found commonly at the supermarket.

2.) Have you seen an increase in public support and sales for artiganale birra over the last few years?

Elisabetta: In the last few years, people are opening up to new things, to try different products from those they are used to, to seek the lost quality. Although the economic crisis has quite limited the purchasing power of people, they are speaking more strongly with there wallets than ever before.

3.) Is the community supportive of the shop's opening?

Elisabetta:  We're finding a lot of people and companies interested in cooperating with us and to organize events with our products.

4.) What kind of people have come in and what is there reaction to the beer shop??

Elisabetta:    People who attend our shop are of all ages, from young to the elderly, some are interested in beer bottles, but many are interested in the homebrewing kits and malts. There are many people who take a look just for curiosity, because of the particular theme of the shop. It's rare to find shops like this.

5.) What is your favorite artiganale birra producer in Italy?

Elisabetta:  My favorite producer of craft beer in Italy is Kamun of Predosa (AL). It offers a quality product and has won many awards for its beers. The last one was the gold medal at the Brussels Beer Challenge 2012. It's so great to see a wine country like Italy getting awards for beer!

6.) What is your favorite artiginale/craft beer of all?
Elisabetta:  My favorite beers in the world are Belgian beers, not one in particular. They are special and with a wide range of  variety, There is something for every taste. Belgium is the country with the largest number of styles. Some names of breweries I really enjoy are: De Dolle, Dupont, De Ranke, Dubuisson...

Check out some pictures from their shop....

 

There Is Nothing Like Brewing Beer Surrounded By Italian Vineyards!

Here I am, I've arrived in Tuscany and am already in a full homebrewing swing!! Here I am making a Simple Pilsner "Ale", With Pilsner grains, Green Bullet New Zealand hops, and an Ale yeast, as an experiment because ale yeast doesn't require refrigeration. So, we decided to call it "Pills N' Ale" as a play on words-description of this beer.  :-)

 We allowed this brew to ferment for 10 days, which brought the alcohol content up to 8%. Wow!! We then decided to experiment with dry hopping into secondary fermentation, using: cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, thyme and rosemary. We ground the herbs into a fine powder, and then added the spice/herb blend to the beer. Next, we added about a palm full of the New Zealand Green Bullet hops, and gave it a taster. What we found was that these additions gave it a scent, almost reminiscent of a winter ale! We found that this addition REALLY balanced the strong alcohol flavor that the beer previously had a strong taste of. So, we waited a few days, and then we bottle conditioned the "Pills N' Ale" with small additions of brown sugar and left it to bottle carbonate in a cool corner of our Tuscan stone house.

It has been long enough and has come time to drink our beer! First thing we noticed with this beer is that it carbonated beautifully!! It has a great foamy head, a nice spicey aroma, and a pleasant golden body. The taste is incredible, and is comparable to a winter ale, but it turns out to be just as tasty & refreshing of a beer for mid-summer drinking in Italy!! Ahhh, the many ironies of homebrewing beer in a famous Italian Wine region...no longer an unexpected endeavor since craft breweries in Italy are on the rise and new micro breweries are springing up in new places each year!

Ital

Craft beer options sprouting up all over the globe!!

I am so proud to be living in the times when one can go to a market or a liquor store, and find the most expansive options for craft beer! This really inspires me to keep working on my homebrewing to the point when I can start a brewery and add my beers to these shelves! Wherever I go, I repeatedly see that this is a well supported and fast growing industry. Cheers to the great beer of today!!

Brewing a Doppelbock beer at Watch City Brewery in Waltham, Mass!

 

These are some pictures from a Doppelbock beer I helped make at Watch City Brewery in Boston.