Best Italian Brewery?

Uffa! Well I would personally choose between Baladin and Birrificio Del Ducato. Baladin has such a bold, yet elegant approach. Birrificio Del Ducato makes my personal all time favorite of any beer international or American regional.

 

What are best beers from Del Ducato in your opinion? I havent had any yet, but just bought really big amount of them: Verdi, L'Ultima Luna, La Luna Rossa, La Prima Luna, Krampus Reserva, Black Jack Verdi, Nuova Mattina, IPA, Golden Ale and Winterlude.

 

Went to open baladin in Rome last year, one of the highlights of my trip thru Italy. Diverse offerings and I remember liking all I tried. I also had a beer called Ducale by Birra del Borgo. Reminded me of an abbey dubbel, and I rather enjoyed it with dinner.

 

Don't know which is the best; there are over 400 of them and I've only tried a handful. Craft beer production in Italy is very regional as the breweries tend to be so tiny, but breweries like Toccalmatto and Revelation Cat make some really impressive stuff.

 

Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head.

 

Sam is the East Coast Italian brewer, Vinnie Cilurzo is the West Coast Italian brewer.

 

Peroni.

Kidding.

 

I second Ducato! Nuova Mattina is one of my favorites. Now if we can lower the cost.....

 

Birra del Borgo Duchessic is bomb diggity

 

Overall it is Toccalmatto.

Baladin non-Belgian stuff is some of the most phenomenal beer ever made.
Montegioco, Amiata are also quite good as is Extraomnes.

 

Toccalmatto and Birrificio Italiano.

 

BrewFist, del Borgo, Baladin, Ducato...so many great ones, the Italian brewing scene is awesome!

 

“Birrificio Del Ducato makes my personal all time favorite …”

Which beer is that? I will add it to my bucket list.

Cheers!

 

Verdi Imperial Stout!

 

Italy is really doing great things craft beer wise. I give them a decade before they will have developed a [much smaller of course] United States-like brewing tradition. They aren't limited by the age old nationalistic traditions of other European countries, and they import from (and are thus influenced by) every major beer-producing country. The whole month I traveled through Italy I never had a local offering that wasn't solid.

 

Verdi is great as well as Nuova Mattina! I have not tried Krampus yet, but I have had panettone made with it that was amazing!

 

Of the ones I've tried - Toccalmatto, Extraomnes, Menaresta and Birrificio Italiano are very good.

Another favorite is Birrificio Carrobiolo in Monza. Very small operation with limited distribution. Excellent Pils, Tripel and their summer seasonal Estiva is awesome.

http://www.birradelcarrobiolo.it/

 

Thanks, I have the Verdi Imperial Stout on my list.

A funny story, a few years ago I was at a beer event at a local beer bar (TJ’s Everyday in Paoli, PA). I ‘won’ a bottle of beer which happened to be Nuova Mattina. At that time I knew zero about Italian craft breweries (I am not too much smarter today). I saw that the beer was a Saison/Farmhouse style. I thought to myself: a Belgian style beer brewed in Italy!?! I will readily admit that I was a tad nervous about drinking this beer. I suspect I had it in my refrigerator for a long time before I popped the cap. I was greatly pleased as I drank this beer; it was very, very tasty!

I look forward to trying the Verdi!

Salute!

 

The Italian brewers have a lot of respect for the Belgian brewers and actually are great friends with them.

Cin Cin!