Italian beer 2012

Is it just me or is the Italian beer scene completely insane? I was at Max’s in Baltimore tonight for Italian beerfest. I sampled quite a few Italian beers and they were all pretty much a mess. Seems to me like you take a Moretti Doppio and add nonsensical spices, fruits, barrel treatments and hope for the best, hoping you created a Belgian-esque thing. I really like the experimental nature, but just feel they are making some horrific beers, at horrific price points, and should be the laughing stock of the craft beer world.

Id still love to try every single one of them, and was completely blown away by the selection available.

Any defense for the Italian beer scene?

Defense: Toccalmatto, LoverBeer, Amiata, Extraomnes,... The pricepoint is high & some stuff doesn’t work but some are definetly making some very solid & good beers.

There are a lot of other good ones: piccolo birrificio, birrificio italiano, panil.

Tipopils is a classic. The ones mentioned above can be extraordinary. They may be hit or miss, but I love their experimentation with Cantillon and 3F lambic. The Duchessic is awesome along with Beersel Morning. And the Piccolo Birrificio Geuze is unreal, though very difficult to find and blended at Hannsens.

Strangly one of the best American Pale Ales I’ve had was Italian. Opperbacco EiPiei. It was incredible. And now there is Tipopils Extra Hop that I’m dying to try.

If it’s any consolation, Italian beers are very expensive in Italy, too.

Originally posted by nuplastikk

Any defense for the Italian beer scene?

Originally posted by 77ships
Defense: Toccalmatto, LoverBeer, Amiata, Extraomnes,... The pricepoint is high & some stuff doesn’t work but some are definetly making some very solid & good beers.

Btw: I am not to fond either when or for instance Italian or American breweries brew a so called Belgium style beer. (Belgians brew with yeast, English with malts and Americans with hops). Not saying all Belgium style beers from out of Belgium are bad, there are enough bad ones in Belgium too, but I think for instance Americans are better with new styles or extreme hoppy beers.

Prices for Italian beers are expensive in Europe as well.

I think the Italian beers are the best surprise of 2012. A lot have come a long way from the ugly gushers from years ago. Spain is the next country to watch as well as France, a lot of interesting beers are being brewed there, especially a lot of hoppy ones.

Ive got to try more, admittedly lame to paint in such broad strokes. Pretty much was just looking to see what are considered the better Italian breweries or ones to avoid, as I seemed to be in a rut of ordering loser after loser. They still fascinate me and Ill still be back, sampling more!

The majority of the Italian beers at Maxs were actually relatively priced pretty tamely, which was nice. They were also cracking open 750s and giving single servings from them, which I havent seen done before, and was very cool. Again, sorry to make such an ignorant generalization.