ITALY!!!! As promised this is part 2 of 3 of my Italian beer escapades. In much contrast to the elegant and expectedly fashionable vibe of the Milan beer scene, Rome presented a host of weirdness, language barriers and a somewhat grimy but visceral experience.
I feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to visit Brasserie 4:20 / Revelation Cat and particularly so during their Mikkeller Single Hop Festival. Did someone say mad hops?....I'm there, big time.
This joint from the outside looks like a grade A, top choice, dive bar. The stoner name does not help rectify any first impressions. Walking up to the place I really questioned the advice I had received that this was the locale to hit up for hops when in Rome.
Fortunately enough, I was greeted with a massive and colorful sign proudly pronouncing that that no less than 19 different single hop beers were available on tap inside; all fresh and recently shipped from Mikkeller in Copenhagen. Damn Son, I'm game.
Walking into this place was a bit of a shock. The grimy, low key exterior does not do the sharply designed and beer-geeky-perfect interior justice. Really nice lighting, if you are into that kind of thing; and I am. A decent amount of seating and lots of hops strung up everywhere. Big chalk boards display the daily beer choices and the pretty killer food options. The staff were super helpful and really knew their beer well.
This bar is well known for its cask ales and overhead dispensing system. Zack Avery recently did a video regarding this bar and even confessed to drinking Brit cask beer when in Rome. When in Rome...but I totally understand. 4:20 has a certain lack of compromise that makes something local seem exotic.
The obvious first choice once seated at the bar was the house brew. Revelation Cat, the company that owns 4:20, is well known to craft some really amazing ales. My better-half and I decided to spit 2 glasses of beer; a Revelation Cat IPA and a DIPA (double IPA).
As you can probably see from the photo above, these beers looked awesome and perfect to style. Both were an absolutely perfect IPA copper orange with eggshell white, soapy head that stuck around the whole glass. The DIPA (right) had quite a bit of haze to it, but I almost prefer that in a double...Visual verification of serious alpha acid content.
Smell-wise these beers were similarly phenomenal. The single presented big grapefruit and orange with a really dank piney / herbally smell.....very 4:20 indeed. The double was all tropical and pit fruits. Big time pineapple, mango, peach, apricot and even a little hit of cherry. Fucking amazing.
The taste of the single was very citrus forward with a nice mix of lemon and pine bitterness that hit the tongue hard but cleared off swiftly and left a clean somewhat fruity but also herbally finish.
The double was ultra rich. Tropical fruit dominant with a super juicy mouthfeel. Tastes like drinking mango nectar mixed with sour red grapefruit and a touch on pine soaked in gasoline...but in a good way.
The double has to be one of the best, if not THE best, DIPA I have every tried. Right up there with Hopslam and Pliny the Elder. Awesome beer.
I also indulged in some Cantillon Iris (one of my favorite lambics) that they just happen to have on tap. I'm not going to review it now because I have a large write-up pending about my experience at Cantillon which includes this beer. However, it should be noted that having this beer on draft in Rome is simply amazing.
Next step was to head upstairs for the single hop beers.
The menu was really overboard. Every hop from ordinary Cascade to "you made a single hop with that?" Super Galena.
I decided to try the Challenger, Simcoe, Nugget and Super Galena just for the contrast. I had already enjoyed several of the other Mikkeller single hop beers in their bottled form (namely Warrior, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo and Nelson Sauvin), so these ones were new to me.
The fellow serving up the samples could speak very little english but managed to give me a good laugh when he insisted on making a spectacle every time someone order the Super Galena (see above).
I'm not going to go through a review of each, but it likely goes without saying that they were all very hoppy and also quite tasty. I will say that my favorite of the night was hands down the Simcoe (pictured below). Each beer was very well balanced and I thought the simple, yet flavorful, malt base provided a nice canvas to display each particular hop.
In short all I can do is reiterate what I have said before. Italy is quickly becoming a haven for awesome craft beer and the people and food there are amazing. Well worth the trip for any hardcore beer geek.
ZG
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