Table of contents:

(Italian) Sour Ale: beer styles explained well
(Italian) Sour Ale: beer styles explained well

Video: (Italian) Sour Ale: beer styles explained well

Video: (Italian) Sour Ale: beer styles explained well
Video: Italian Grape Ale Explained - BJCP Style X3 Breakdown 2024, March
Anonim

I imagine you covered in tanning oil, spread on a sunbed by the sea to brown yourself in the sun. I can't think of themselves locked up in the office, in the traffic on the ring road or in line at the post office.

But if this were the case, this piece is for you to tickle the only neuron left operating. Craft beer explained well, style guide with lots of advice for purchases, he greets Belgium for a moment but continues the acidic path inspired by Lambic and by-products, and returns to rummage in Italian productions in search of (Italian) Sour Ale.

The history of (Italian) Sour Ale beer

sour beer
sour beer

Synthesize? The rediscovery of Lambic (and derivatives) and traditionally acid styles (such as gose and berliner wiesse) has so enticed us to induce us to acidify whatever.

I seem to have mentioned it on other occasions (oh my, Alzheimer's): the artisan revolution had, among others, the great merit of making us rediscover an infinite number of stories in the glass.

Some have become true sensory trends, it happened with the amaro (APA and AIPA styles which we will talk about) and subsequently with the acid. Even in this case, intuition speaks volumes. There are some Italian pioneers but the viral ferment has those roots.

The characteristics of the (Italian) Sour Ale style

sour beers
sour beers

Has anyone written style? I think in this case it is as inappropriate as in the case of the Lambics. We could say that they share the acidulous, lactic, acetic component or both, or that sometimes they are brettate (of the brett, diminutive of Brettanomyceto, or a yeast, we have already spoken here).

The whole is usually obtained through the inoculation of suitable microorganisms, or the fruit of spontaneous fermentations.

Sometimes they are the acid version of known styles, others are real specialties in which the brewer's signature is placed on the bottom of the glass.

*Fruit, grapes and grape musts can be great allies in these beers, but they are certainly not the rule. The passage in wood is also a viable but not mandatory path.

Appearance, alcohol content, attenuation (dryness) and carbonation (fizziness, bubbles, CO2, always lei) are variable. Bitter tends to be not a characterizing element. The fil rouge is in short acid component and sometimes bretted and the methods used to obtain them.

The tendency to characterize the most disparate beers in this way is a practice that is also spreading in Italy.

Someone else defines them as wild beer, I more than wild (indeed wild, referring to spontaneous fermentations), I would speak of sour, or rather of productions united by the presence, introduced or naturally encouraged, of the microorganisms responsible for such freshness.

*[The use of fruit, grapes or grape musts would place them in other categories at the same time, we could call them fruit ale in one case, e IGA (Italian grape ale) in the other. In both cases, the sour component may not necessarily be necessary (very clear, huh?). In summary, the categories useful for memorizing what we have in the glass are sometimes more of a pint nerd exercise than a useful tool.]

The best Italian artisan sour ales

Although the cauldron admits practically anything, completeness and enjoyment are concepts that are not as easy to reproduce. The price spread is also decidedly variable. Our list tries to keep these aspects in mind.

1. Spontaneous fermentations

Beerbera - Loverbeer

beerbera
beerbera

Valter Loverier is among the alchemists that the world (of sour lover) envies us. Complexity and completeness are a constant leitmotiv in his productions that certainly do not wink at everyone's palate, but they know how to give great enjoyment to those who are in tune with these sensory profiles.

The Barbera grape spontaneously activates the fermentation of this meta-beer where the vinous component characterizes the nose and adds acidic imprint to the sip, which is dry and slender in the body, despite the alcoholic component certainly not that of a schoolgirl.

The divine - Torrechiara Panil Brewery

When I spoke of Italic pioneers and first spontaneously fermented productions I was thinking of Renzo Losi (former alchemical soul of the brewery) and his reality in the province of Parma.

Since 2012, his sister Patrizia has held the reins of production (not without difficulty). Impossible not to mention the divine, light beer with spontaneous fermentation with a strong acidity and a nose characterized by bretted scents that alternate with citrus and vinous notes.

2. Sour

BeerBrugna - Loverbeer

Insertion of lactic bacteria, brett and the important contribution of a local plum (Damaschina). Of great balance and complexity, it retains the dangerous drinkability associated with the concept of freshness. I like it very much.

The Mummy - Montegioco

Site under maintenance (yes, let's keep these blessed sites updated, there are people here who are trying to do evangelical work, by God).

I was saying, I will advance two things to you. The local Belgian clear (la Runa) goes to mature in barrels that have housed Barbera, and here it remains for about 3 years to mature, spontaneously referment and enrich itself thanks to the action of time, oxygen, vinous past and bretted scents.

Complete and complex enough to deserve special mentions everywhere.

Dr. Caligari - Toccalmatto

The sour side of beer has long been embraced in that of Fidenza and there are now several themed productions of the Beer Freak Show. I take for example this strong version of berliner weisse, characterized by a generous contribution of raspberries and lactic inoculum, (almost) sure you can find it easily and you don't have to, go and get it in Norway.

Birramadre - Menaresta Brewery

There are Davide Longoni's (mother's) yeasts in this production of the Brianza brewery. The story is well told in the link above and there is no need to add anything else other than to invite you to taste it ('Lambic type', however, cannot be read).

Framboise (raspberry sour) - Pasturana

We grant a semantic license (I always explain it HERE) to this greedy sour with mixed fermentation, embellished, as in the case of Framboise, with raspberries.

And you? With which sour fetishes do you prefer to quench your thirst?

Recommended: