Tag Archives: italy

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Birra del Borgo, Fruit Beer, Italy

Birra del Borgo Prunus

Monday, 16 May 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Birra del Borgo
Country: Italy
ABV: 5.8%
Style: Fruit Beer
Other Notes: 21 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website) Prunus (from the cherry’s bothanical name, Prunus Avium or Cerasus according to variety) is made adding to our spelt beer Duchessa about 20% of fresh cherries with their stones. Differently from the typical Belgian kriek, it is not too sour as it keeps some of the Duchessa’s smoothness. Yet it’s not sugary indeed, thanks to the well balanced bitter aftertaste.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.92
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of September 2017 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy orange golden colour with a thin white head that doesn’t stick around and only leaves some light lacing.
Aroma: Tart, sour, cherry, apple vinegar and light funkiness.
Taste: Like the aroma, taste is tart, sour cherry, sour apple and lemon.
Mouthfeel: Dry, crisp, light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice and easy to drink, but I preferred Rubus slightly more.

4 - Good (buy), American Imperial Pilsner, Beer Reviews, Birra del Borgo x Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Italy

Birra del Borgo x Dogfish Head My Antonia

Sunday, 15 May 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Birra del Borgo x Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Country: Italy
ABV: 7.5%
Style: American Imperial Pilsner
Other Notes: 76 IBUs. Continually-hopped Imperial Pils

Brewer Description: (from website) 10-28-2008 was a great day for me… Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewery, one of the most well-known American brewers, came to Borgorose to create and brew a special beer in collaboration with us. We chose a style: a Pilsner. But obviously not a regular one… we designed a something stronger, around 7% ABV and of course it had to be hoppy! We choose the malt: Pilsner and Cara-Pils. Easy! Sam chooses two hops, Simcoe and Warrior, I choose the third one: Saaz. Traditional and new ingredients together. We start the mash, then we lauter and start the boil, the crowning moment. Before the boil started Sam mixed the hops creating a wonderfully perfumed potion. Once the mix was ready we started hopping. A fistful of hops was added every minute for 60 minutes… The result? An intriguing beer, extremely perfumed, where floral and resiny notes mix together. The mouth feel is explosive but balanced at the same time. The honey notes form the malts and the peppery ones from the hops mix in a very elegant and precise finish. I can’t stop drinking it, it’s my new favorite…

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of October 2016 and poured into a Mikkeller pint glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy golden orange colour with a two finger slightly off white head that had great retention and left thick sticky lacing.
Aroma: Citrus lemon and orange, some pineapple and a hint of grass and herbs.
Taste: Sweet honey, lemon and orange with a hint of grapefruit and herbal bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light carbonation.
Overall: This was a great and refreshing Pilsner. Aromas were a bit weak but it looks and tastes good.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, Beer Reviews, Belgian Tripel, Italy

Tre Fontane Tripel

Friday, 15 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Abbazia delle Tre Fontane
Country: Italy
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Belgian Tripel
Other Notes: Unfiltered ale brewed with eucalyptus grown by the abbey.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) (in Italian) Questa birra, aromatizzata con foglie di eucalipto, rappresenta un prodotto unico nato da un’antica ricetta dell’Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. Dal 1873 l’eucalipto caratterizza I prodotti di questa Comunità di Monaci Trappisti.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.24
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of June 2016 and poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: It poured a cloudy dark orange golden colour with a two finger off white head that dissipates to a nice puffy layer and leaves nice curtain lacing.
Aroma: Eucalyptus, orange, honey, lemon, light olive oil, rosemary, sage and peppery spice. Very interesting.
Taste: Starts like the aroma with sweet eucalyptus, honey, sage and lemon followed by banana, clove and cinnamon. The finish is like bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a hint of pepper.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with mid to high carbonation.
Overall: A very interesting beer. Quite a mix of sweet and savoury. Its like eucalyptus and honey with bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Good flavours for food, but just ok for beer.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Birra Toccalmatto, German Berliner Weisse, Italy

Toccalmatto Dr. Caligari

Tuesday, 12 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Birra Toccalmatto
Country: Italy
ABV: 6.3%
Style: German Berliner Weisse

Brewer Description: (from bottle) An expressionist raspberry nightmare. Our own take on the traditional German style: slightly sour and loaded with lots of fresh raspberries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.23
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 1st June 2016 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy pinkish orange colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, sour, lemon, then a strong candy raspberry jam.
Taste: This was nice. Like the aroma it starts with some tangy and tart lemon followed by raspberries. Hints of cherry and lime.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with some medium prickly carbonation.
Overall: This surprised me as recently I’ve been having some pretty poor Berliner Weisse. This was so much better and was very refreshing. With no head and lacing, it was very juice like too. I would look out for this one again.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Birra del Borgo, Herbed / Spiced Beer, Italy

Birra del Borgo Etrusca

Tuesday, 16 February 2016 kitch 4 Comments

Brewery: Birra del Borgo
Country: Italy
ABV: 9.3%
Style: Herbed / Spiced Beer
Other Notes: Brewed with honey, pomegranate, hazelnut flour, pomegranate juice, raisins, natural resin and gentian root.

Brewer Description: (from website) A sip of history! Created together with our friends Sam Calagione and Dr. Pat McGovern from the States and Baladin’s founder Teo Musso, that’s really something unique: as we used unusual ingredients (for a beer) and most of all an unusual fermentation system (the amphoras!), the result is a real “archeological find”. The amber colour reminds the amphora-aged wines; the nose gives scents of honey and berries and quite uncommon mineral notes. When you taste it, sharpness is the main feature, and the honey notes are quickly followed by mineral ones, again. So, the few ones who will have the chance to taste this extremely rare beer (which has been made in a very limited quantity, of course) will be able to say that he had a sip of history!

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of March 2016, poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy murky dark orange colour with pretty much no head.
Aroma: Sour, tart, grapes, vinegar, woody and citrus lemon, maybe even a hint of apple juice.
Taste: Sour, tart, fruity pomegranate, apple, apple juice and apple cider vinegar with a minerally finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation but with a prickly feel.
Overall: This was interesting. The sourness was nice, but I did not really like the minerally finish and it was on the flat side for me.

words of another dreamy traveller