Birra Venezia Rossa Doppio Malto
Birra Venezia

 

Bought in Venice. Pours copper in color with one inch head. Taste is dark wheat bread and toasted malt. Medium bodied, low carbonation and sweet. One of the better Italian beers I have had. Complex and malty.

 

 

A- Pours basically red in color with very prominent copper and burnt orange notes in the body of the beer. The head that forms is small to average sized and a very light tan in color. The retention and lacing is adequate. The body of the beer is fairly translucent as well.

S- Big caramel malts greet the nostrils up front in a big, malty nose. Quickly, after the caramel maltiness makes an appearance, a brown sugar sweetness overtakes the scent. There is an almost cane sugar-like flavor to the scent and this profile takes over the rest of the smell of the beer. This really smells like a sweet, enticing brew.

T- The beer hits the tongue with mild, caramel malts being prominent right up front. The candy sugar sweetness from the scent kicks in right after the malts subside, but in a subdued fashion in comparison to the smell. The back end of the beer is a sort of combo platter of mostly mild caramel malts and just a light bit of the sweetness. There aren't any hops to be found and the lingering flavor is just a bit of the red malts.

M- Carbonation level is fairly high on this beer, bordering on a stinging sensation. Outside of that, everything else feels in line with a normal red ale, but pretty light for a "dopplebock." The beer isn't especially smooth across the palate and is of average weight, so nothing to write home about there. It is still a very drinkable beer.

Overall, this feels like a brewery's flagship red ale more than a dopplebock. For a red ale, it is solid, but nothing special. The pour and scent of the beer are pretty appealing, but the taste and feel are fairly one dimensional. Nothing special, but also not a bad brew on the whole.

 

Poured from a 33cL bottle. Best before 4 November 2011. From notes. Reviewed 5 June 2011.

A: A finger of pretty nice head fades fast. A yellow-brown-red (sienna??) beer. Some bubbles. Faint cloudiness, but otherwise quite clear.

S: Quite malty-sweet. Definite raw (brown) sugar/molasses. Candy sugar? In the background an oddly sour graininess.

T: Hrm. Not sure the Italians have quite figured out brewing. I certainly can't figure out what to make of it. The beer is sour, then sweet, then alcoholic fruity-sour again, then sweet malts for the end. Hops make nary an appearance. It's not bad...just clumsy. I could rate this beer anywhere from a 2.5 to a 4.5 depending on the current flavour profile, but overall it's so jumbled, I'll give it a 3.5 -- it's more good than bad.

M: Boring and nondescript. A bit drying.

O: An interesting effort, and better than most of the Euro lager schlock available around here (Venice). Still, not particularly recommended if you can find better (non-Italian) options around.