APA
Birrificio Del Doge

A- This has a beautiful soapy white head that contains wee tight bubbles and excellent retention. The coloration below the white head is a yeast hazed orange/bronze with honeyed golden hues. The lacing is very well done, with plenty of sticky foam clinging to the side of the glass and there is moderate to aggressive carbonation rising to the top of the liquid. I am impressed with the overall look!

S- I am getting lots here....honeyed wheat, yeast/bread like creaminess, sweet citrus such as mandarin orange blended in with some subtle lemon zest and caramel malt sweetness. The finish is fresh and hopped, but not in an overbearing fashion.....balancing is probably the best word to use here. Perhaps there is some piney, resin like aromas happening as well here.

T- Mild citrus, nice bittering hops throughout the middle and strengthening upon the finish, balancing malt sweetness, honeyed apricot kernel, pine thorns, grapefruit zest, hints of juniper berry, grassy Belgian funk persists in the background and just overall a thirst quenching rounded flavor.

M/O- The carbonation is quite aggressive and becomes a little foamy on the palate upon the taste and swallow, so some slight improvement here would be welcome, otherwise, I love the medium body and sociability of this brew....didn't think the Italians had it in them, but I was wrong, and pleasantly surprised.....a true delight that I would like to enjoy again in the hot weather!

 

This is a very good Italian beer, although it is the least "Italian" beer I've ever had.
Most beer in Italy is pale lagers, and with the heat of summer there's a good reason for that.
This one is malty, slightly hoppy, and a whole lot of funky. It is more Belgian than "American Pale Ale", to my tastebuds, which confuses things even more.
Still; a decent offering and worthy of a try if you get the chance.

 

330ml bottle, day 1 of the 2016 Craft BeerAdvent calendar - a bit late due to the length of time it took to get this Italian brewery registered here.

This beer pours a hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, loosely foamy, and fizzy off-white head, which leaves some very sparse mitochondrial and sudsy lace around the glass as things eventually subside. Bottle conditioning for an APA - WTF?

It smells of musty pine resin, gritty and grainy pale malt, a lesser caramel sweetness, some muddled domestic citrus (basic lemon and orange), slightly phenolic yeastiness, and further leafy, weedy, and herbal green hop bitters. The taste is still rather musty pine forest floor detritus up front, with some chastened caramel malt, more orange, white grapefruit, and lemon citrus esters, persistent yeasty notes, and a testy leafy, herbal, and piney verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is obviously fairly active at the outset, but soon settles to an agreeably passive frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and mostly smooth, just a touch of earthy yeastiness taking things down a notch or so here. It finishes trending dry, the yeast and mixed hoppiness playing us out as such.

If I didn't know any better, I'd assume that this one was made at De Proef in Belgium, under the auspices of either Mikkeller or the like. The mirror world offsets are quite strong here, in the aforementioned sense - not nearly enough crisp green or citrusy character, and too much bloody yeastiness. Sorry, my once, twice, (but most likely thrice) removed Italian cousins - there is very little that is 'American' about this brew, in the final reckoning.