When I think of craft beer Italy isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind. I have drank some excellent bottles of Panil Barriquee Sour-Version ( a Flanders Red) but that was sort of a fluke in my mind. On a recent visit to Milan my perception of the Italian beer scene was seriously altered.
I arrived on Friday at midday and promptly sought out the best place in town to taste some beer. All the usual sources pointed towards Birra Artigianale di Qualita.
This bar is in a very non-desrcript location and has a humble street front. I would easily pass-by without cluing in that this is a killer spot for beer. The inside is also simple and to the point. Long beer-hall-like tables, a small bar lined with tap handles, a massive board with an amazing list of bottles, another board with the on-tap selection and a cabinet full of some rare and hard to get brews. To be honest, I don't think I have ever seen a selection like this outside of Northern Europe.
The hands down best part about BQ is their tasting options. Plenty of Italian craft beer and you can get a selection of 100 ml or 250 ml samples served in marked wine glasses. I cannot remember which Italian beers I tried (I apologize to those brewers) but they were all excellent. I particularly enjoyed the IPAs; just as hoppy but with a little more balance than some of the beers being pushed today. Who would have guessed? Italian IPA.
They also had some Cantillon on tap. I had the 2007 Iris, which I consider to be one of the best lambics out there. All in all a very stellar beer tasting night.
One of the more usual aspects of this bar is the bottle menu. Now this may have been a communication issue but as far as I am aware the bottles are for take-home only. I'm not sure if I have ever been to a beer bar where this was the rule. Is this just an Italian thing?
Nevertheless, I grabbed a beer to take back to my hotel room; Abstrakt 1 from BrewDog. On first impression AB:01 seemed like a pretty hyped-up product. One of those 'lets make it seem fancy so it sells' beers. AB:01 is described as a Belgian Quad brewed with Westy 12 yeast (harvested from the bottle) and aged on vanilla beans. So it must taste good....right???
My conclusion is that this actually is very good beer worthy of its fancy bottle. My suspicion is that given another 6 months or year it would be truly amazing. The head was nice and bright and fluffy. The lacing was sticky as hell. The smell was very complex and rich. The taste was a little sweet but the soothing mouthfeel made up for it. I'd suggest trying this one....if you can find a bottle.
All in all I was highly impressed by my experience in Milan. I think we have a lot more to see from the Italians in the future.
If in Milan go to BQ...
Milano, 20100
Italy
390234691006
http://www.letseat.at/bqit/
No comments:
Post a Comment