The 7 most likely sour beers of Italy according to Slow Food

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20

When we talk about sour beers, spontaneously fermented beers to understand each other, the risk that the brewers want to surprise us with special effects is very high.

Because beers are on everyone's lips; it's as if kriek (Belgian beer to which whole cherries are added) were the new chic.

If you ask someone what type of beer they prefer, there is a fair chance that they will answer Lambic, spontaneously fermented, acidic and complex beers, the missing link between wine and beer.

There are two cases: either the coming and going with Belgium was intense and left our hearts (Belgium is the world of Lambic, in particular the Pajottenland region, i.e. the production area), or he is a braggart in the mood for smargiassate.

To find out if there are likely sour beers in Italy, to do the dirty work in short, we turned to Eugenio Signoroni, editor of Slow Food's 2017 Birre d'Italia guide together with Luca Giaccone.

Likely in the sense of credible, not the kind I wish-but-I-can't-be-a-Cantillon (Cantillon is the Brussels brewery effigy of Lambic production). The criteria are these: pleasantness (the effect "the first Lambic disgusts you" quite mitigated, in short) and balance (unbalanced on the acetic).

Among the seven suggested by Slow Food, chosen from those present in Saluzzo at the super tasting with the best of the Birre d'Italia guide, you found two in the ranking of 10 craft beers to buy according to Slow Food, namely:

7. Frambueza - brewery 'A Magara in Calabria

6. Supertramp n.3 - Decimoprimo brewery in Puglia

Then, to report:

5. Nadir (10%) of the Il cloostro brewery in Campania

(24 months of fermentation in oak barrels)

4. Sixteen degrees in Amphora (16%, in fact) of Beer from the village in Lazio

the beer with which Leonardo di Vincenzo renews his desire to experiment with craft beers despite the sale of the brewery to the multinational InBev: "A very soft acidity and interesting earthy notes", comments Eugenio Signoroni.

We have tried the other three for you:

3. Saison Ouvrieur (5.8%) of the LoverBeer brewery in Piedmont

Of the series of wild fermentations signed by the master brewer Valter Loverier is perhaps the best known BeerBera, that is, with the addition of Barbera grape must. Here, this Saison Ouvrier is born from the isolated yeasts of that beer.

Small engraved on the label (no, the brewer of the year 2010 has not grown to the point of feeling like Antonio Vivaldi), this beer is the basis of four other Saison de l'Ouvrier: Cardosa, Griotta, Serpilla and Violetta.

Delicate, fresh. In the guide Beers of Italy 2017 they speak of a slight spiciness. It will be the almost imperceptible bitterness, it will be the citrus acidity but while I was drinking I imagined a parfait variant of the lemon delight, the typical dessert of the Amalfi and Sorrento coasts.

2. Open Mind (8%) of the Montegioco brewery in Piedmont

We are in the valleys of the Tortona area, a gastronomic niche of Montèbore, the cheese with the steps, a Slow Food presidium, and of the Croatina grape, not to be confused with Bonarda. It is the same grape variety as Walter Massa's Pertichetta wine, a key figure in the revaluation of this territory.

But even this Slow Food spiral brewery looks promising.

In the Open Mind, the contribution of grapes (not the must, in this case) gives a light tannin, the one that dries the mouth and makes you forget the number of glasses poured. While I was tasting, I thought aloud “sweet amaretto” and Riccardo Frazosi, the master brewer of Open Mind, nodded yes.

The opinion of the Birre d'Italia 2017 guide is more credible: "It glides on a fine carbonation, from the classic method"

1. Dama Brun-a (6.5%) of the LoverBeer brewery in Piedmont

Well yes, if you are tired of doing it with wine, you can give yourself to the craft beers barricaded for good.

This, for example, has many facets, despite the obvious barrel (even one who has just drank coffee would notice it: it spends twelve months in cask after fermentation in oak vats).

Very elegant acetic flavor and caramel intertwine in the mouth to the point that you wonder if what you hear is raisins or unripe fruit. Because you know, they are two different things and assembling similar contrasts in one beer is rare.

Great Beer for Slow Food, first place for us.