Italian craft beer .. if only

I just come back from 2 days of Italian craft beer, I attended, once again, the Beer & Food attraction event in Rimini. Last year I came back after having seen the excitement, joy and passion of the Italian craft beer movement.

This year it was slightly different. I did not see the same excitement around me, but the joy and passion were still there. During the event, I tasted plenty of great beers and drunk awesome ones, more than last year, from 10 am till 5 pm no stop, met new and old brewers and friends, they were two long and exhausting days despite what everyone reading this post can think of.

And if last year I tasted some, not that great, beers, this year, I have to say that all beers I tasted were very good, I don’t think it was question of me being lucky, I believe that the Italian craft beer movement as reached adulthood, Italian craft beer is not a hobby anymore, making beer has become a serious business. The other aspect I noticed that makes me saying that, it was the lack of experimentation; if last year was all about creating unique beers and being different, this year was more about making beers that beer drinkers would understand and drink, possibly more than once, without extremes, familiar beers, moving from one stand to another, the beer styles encountered were very similar.

Different ingredients, different recipes, and a different brewer’s philosophy, but the same styles. And if last year I tasted plenty of IGA, Italian grape ale, almost every brewery was making at least one, this year I only tasted a couple, producing Italian grape ale requires more work compared to a normal beer and doesn’t sell as easy as the others, it is more expensive to produce and cost more, and not every brewery can afford to make it.

Talking to the different brewers, I discovered that in Italy, there are currently about 10000 breweries, and despite this huge number of breweries, Italian craft beers remain, very much, an Italian affair. Each brewery’s market is limited to their region at the most, with very few exceptions, and of this 10000 breweries, about 99% are microbreweries.

The Italian craft beer brand abroad is nonexistent, beer drinkers associate Italian beer with Peroni or Moretti, owned by Asahi, and more recently Ichnusa, owned by Heineken, they do not seem to be aware that not only these brands are not Italian but they are not drunk in Italy, Italian pub and bars sell only craft beer, mainly Italian.

Italian craft breweries are fighting a Goliath vs David fight, they are too small to be able to stand up against multinationals, they are still a niche and a beer lover and expert’s choice.

At Italyabroad.com we have always supported Italian craft beer, true to our philosophy and manifesto of importing only authentic Italian products, and we have been doing everything we can to promote them but we can’t do on our own, we are a small and independent company and we need your help in spreading the love for Italian craft beer, the only Italian beer.

If you want to help Italian craft breweries, next time you go out don’t ask for a Peroni or Moretti, ask for a real Italian beer, a craft beer, and if the bar or restaurant doesn’t have one, tell them about the Italian craft beer movement or to contact us.