Theakston
10-23-2003, 04:01 PM
Just got back from a 2 week trip to Italy. Starting in Piedmont (barola) and finishing up in Tuscany.
While we weren't there primarily for the beer ( wine and truffles beckoned ) it was not as much of a beer desert as I had thought.
The beer highlight of the trip was to a little village not far from Barolo called Piozzo. It was there that I found the Brew pub Baladin (in the main square of this very pretty village).
We managed a Sunday afternoon sampling all of the draft selection:
Nina - a british style bitter,
Brun - a chocolatey stout,
Wayan - an organic pale saison style ale with a sweet and sour taste,
Blonde - a refreshing light ale similar to a kolsh with lemony notes,
isaac - a witbier - sweetish with lemon coriander tastes,
And the best 2:
Nora - a unique belgian style ale made with Kamut grains.
Super - a rich and malty belgian style with a lot of complexity.
I got some bottles of these last 2 and a couple of another Italian craft beer:
panil barique -- this last one is superb - a barrel aged belgian style triple. (although the first one I opened, on my balcony in San Gimignano, was a little too warm and gushed out of the bottle and half was lost over the heads of a German tour group below..... Oooops!)
The only other beer I enjoyed was the Birra Moretti La Rossa which is a malty double bock. quite tasty.
Here are some links for the Baladin and Panil breweries.
If you are ever in the area you must visit the Baladin brew pub!
http://www.birreria.com/index.html (link for the Baladin brewery)
http://www.panilbeer.com/ (link for the Panil brewery)
While we weren't there primarily for the beer ( wine and truffles beckoned ) it was not as much of a beer desert as I had thought.
The beer highlight of the trip was to a little village not far from Barolo called Piozzo. It was there that I found the Brew pub Baladin (in the main square of this very pretty village).
We managed a Sunday afternoon sampling all of the draft selection:
Nina - a british style bitter,
Brun - a chocolatey stout,
Wayan - an organic pale saison style ale with a sweet and sour taste,
Blonde - a refreshing light ale similar to a kolsh with lemony notes,
isaac - a witbier - sweetish with lemon coriander tastes,
And the best 2:
Nora - a unique belgian style ale made with Kamut grains.
Super - a rich and malty belgian style with a lot of complexity.
I got some bottles of these last 2 and a couple of another Italian craft beer:
panil barique -- this last one is superb - a barrel aged belgian style triple. (although the first one I opened, on my balcony in San Gimignano, was a little too warm and gushed out of the bottle and half was lost over the heads of a German tour group below..... Oooops!)
The only other beer I enjoyed was the Birra Moretti La Rossa which is a malty double bock. quite tasty.
Here are some links for the Baladin and Panil breweries.
If you are ever in the area you must visit the Baladin brew pub!
http://www.birreria.com/index.html (link for the Baladin brewery)
http://www.panilbeer.com/ (link for the Panil brewery)