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Tag: microbrewery

  • Microbrewery Croce di Malto

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    Croce di malto, a clever pun on croce di malta, which is a mechanism for driving film projectors and also a Maltese cross, while malto in Italian is malt in English, points to someone who knows his game and leaves nothing to chance. The owner, Alessio Selvaggio, studied food science before his partner made him start making beer instead. Beers of optimum quality, are made at this microbrewery, characterised by appealing tastes making them unique. This has been confirmed by winning first prize for best beer together with a platinum medal at “Mondial de la Biere 2009″ in Strasburg with their beer TripleXXX.

    Some of the beers which are made at this micro brewery are as follows:

    • Hauria: inspired by beer from Cologne in Germany and characterised by a bitter taste
    • Triticum weizen: distinguished by a fruity flavour and a high gas content
    • Magnus: taste derived from malt and spices
    • Acerbus: a bitter ale whose taste derives from a diverse selection of hops
    • TripleXXX: a doubly malted beer
    • Temporis: a fruity, spring beer
    • Platinum: a Christmas beer
    • Umbra: characterised by wheat which has not been malted together with oats

    Alessio told us that beermaking is constantly changing and new varieties are made continuously. It should be safe to say that he’s a purist as regards beermaking due to that he doesn’t pasteurize or filter their beers and only the cold is used as a preservative. Besides, he’s very meticulous and fussy regarding the expiry date of their beers, which varies from beer to beer, but shouldn’t exceed 3-4 months, in general.

    More information about their beers can be found at the web site of Croce di Malto, with supplemental advice on what type of food should be eaten with what type beer, and also what type of glass with which to drink the beer.

    They are also arranging informal beer evenings, and they are providing technical assistance to would-be brewers. Besides, they are thinking about selling their beers in bottles at various shops.

  • Turin Brewery

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    The first brewery in Italy was founded in 1845 in Turin. Unfortunately, after more than 100 years of producing beer in Italy, micro and mini breweries disappeared during the economic boom during the 1960s. For the next 50 years, beer consumed in Italy was either imported or produced on an industrial scale in Italy.

    The first microbreweries started reappearing in 1997. A modest number of 30 existed 10 years ago, while now there are about 300. In general, the Italians know all about wine, while they know next to nothing about beer.

    By happy chance, the sense of taste is changing. Formerly, beer in Italy was drunk with pizza only, while now you can find beers suitable for drinking with fresh and mature cheeses, starters, fish, desserts, etc. In fact, there is a beer for every course. Even restaurants are starting to offer a varied selection of beers.

    Turin Brewery or “Birrificio Torino” in Italian is located near Mole Antonelliana, the major landmark of Turin. Being originally a candy factory, the present owners, Mauro Mascarello and Claudia Fertino, have turned it into a combined brewery and restaurant.

    When this combined restaurant and brewery was opened, the owners didn’t make any publicity at all, just being a pub and brewery quite out of the ordinary and using word of mouth among beer lovers, was enough to fill up the premises from day one on.

    Mauro, went to Bavaria, the Czech Republic, Belgium and northern France, in order to learn how to make beer from local master brewers. From each and every one he received advice and experience which he brought back to Turin, in turn making excellent beer for his customers.

    In order to make prime beers, Mauro has first to select the best ingredients. First, using Turinese water having a medium hardness and being well adapted to making beer, Then, depending on which type of beer he wants to make, for instance, light or dark, he selects a certain kind of malt, while depending on the amount of bitterness he wants to obtain, he can select from various types of hops. Finally, in order to turn sugar into alcohol, he also has to add yeast.

    Beers, being live products, are neither pasteurized nor filtered at this brewery, making them keep their flavours and tastes like a fresh product for a limited time. In addition, no artificial preservatives are added and the only method of conservation is done by cooling the beers.

    The following beers are produced year-round:

    • Birra Torino – a doubly malted, light, lowly fermented beer
    • Birra Rufus – a doubly malted, bitter, lowly fermented beer
    • Birra Clara – a light, lowly fermented beer
    • Birra Sahara – a light, highly fermented beer

    In addition, the following seasonal beers are produced:

    • Birra di Natale – Christmas beer scented with honey and having a high alcoholic content
    • Birra di Primavera – spring beer enriched with flowering hops
    • Birra Aurora – ginger beer

    Cooling the beers excessively will change their tastes, meaning that every beer should be stored and served within a specific temperature range in order to enjoy the individual characteristics of each beer together with an accompanying meal served at the restaurant of Birrificio Torino.

  • Lillehammer brewery

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    Lillehammer brewery was closed down in 1983, but fortunately, some ardent souls with a taste for good beer and local, cultural history restarted the brewery in 2006.

    We arrived early one Sunday morning in order to watch beer being made, take photos and ask the brewers about brewing in general.

    Ingunn Veitberg and Randi Dahlum Johansen had set aside the whole Sunday for brewing beer. The first batch was started at about 7 in the morning, while the next one would be started at 1 p.m., Ingunn and Randi told us. The two female brewers have developed 4 types of beer together with master brewer Arild Tandberg, who is Norwegian champion in brewing beer. The ladies have graduated as diploma brewers from the Scandinavian school of brewing in Copenhagen, Denmark.

    The brewery is located in the same premises as a pub meaning that it’s possible to enjoy your beer at the same time as you watch the workers making the stuff you are drinking. All the brewing equipment consisting, among other things, of tanks, pipes, devices for stirring together with a computer for controlling the brewing, have been imported from Austria.

    First, malt is poured into a tank filled with water and heated up to about 50 degrees C. The mixture of malt and water is called mash and the stirring and how long the mash should stay in the tank is computer controlled. This process is used to release sugar from the malt. Water, which is safe for drinking, is taken directly from the mains supply. In due course, hops has to be added to set the flavour of the beer, while yeast also have to be added in order to turn sugar into alcohol. Lillehammer brewery is following the Norwegian purity law, which states that beer should only be made of water, malt, hops and yeast. However, this law has been revoked and it’s certainly possible to buy Norwegian beer with added flavours from, for instance, juniper berries. We visited the Hand brewery some time ago where we could watch insertion of juniper branches in the mash.

    The following beers are made at Lillehammer brewery:

    • Lillehammer Wieses ale (amber ale)
    • Lillehammer Vinterøl (dunckler bock)
    • Lillehammer Pipe Larsen Hveteøl (German hefeweizen)
    • Lillehammer Hammond Pils (pilsener)
    • Lillehammer Bues Stout (stout)

  • The Bianchi farm

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    After having driven in the countryside of the Marches for some time, we arrived at the Bianchi farm, situated on the top of a hill from which a beautiful view can be enjoyed all the way to the Adriatic sea. Having cultivated barley at this farm for four generation, the present owners, Luciano e Simone Bianchi, decided to use most of their barley as an ingredient in their own beer. Thus, 80% of their barley is sent to a maltery in Rome, where the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then quickly halted from germinating further by drying or heating with hot air.

    In addition to malt, they are only using water, hops and yeast in order to make their beer, which is called Boccale d’Oro meaning Golden Mug of Beer.

    Hops are female flower clusters of the humulus plant and they are imported from Germany and the Czech Republic. The hops are used in order to obtain the following:

    • flavouring
    • preservative agent
    • contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malt
    • an antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer’s yeast over less desirable microorganisms
    • aid in keeping the froth for a longer time

    Yeast are the microorganisms that is responsible for fermentation in beer. Yeast metabolises the sugars extracted from grains, which produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, and thereby turns wort into beer. In addition to fermenting the beer, yeast also influences the character and flavour of the beer.

    In order to produce beer, the malt is immersed into hot water, where the action of certain enzymes present in the malt because of the former germination, the starches in the malt are converted to sugars creating the wort. Then, it’s possible to add all sorts of herbs, fruits, and berries in order to add flavour to the beer, although it’s most common to add hops.

    At this brewery, they are keeping the mixture of water and malt at 78°C for 3 hours turning the mixture into a mush, while the starches of the oats are turning into sugars and the hops are added. Then, the mush is filtrated in order to remove solids. Finally, it’s applied to a separator which will remove the rest of the solids.

    Then, yeast is added to the mixture which is allowed to ferment for 6 days at 10-12°C, alternatively for 2 months at 1°C. Afterwards, the beer is allowed to rest in large tanks creating a high pressure due to the carbon dioxide which is produced by fermentation. Finally, when the beer is mature, it’s bottled.

    One production consists of 300 litres of beer and it lasts, in general, for 6 months.

    This farm only produces light and bitter beers, having an alcohol level ranging from 2.5% to 5%. The beers are only sold in the Marches meaning a very small distribution. There is a pub next to the brewery where customers may enjoy the Boccale d’Oro beer together with their friends.

    550 hectolitres of beer are produced annually at this combined farm and brewery.

    After having made beer, the wort is used as fertiliser for the oats, while the residues, containing no alcohol, are used as chicken feed.

  • Haandbryggeriet

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    Haandbryggeriet or the Hand brewery was founded in 2005 by 4 middle-aged men who had been making beer on their own for many years. Instead of complaining about the selection and taste of beer made by commercial breweries in Norway at the time, they decided to found a craft brewery. At first, the brewery was situated in a an old hosiery factory from 1874 where they installed a new set of equipment in order to meet the requirements to producing beer commercially.

    In order to make beer, they get water from Glitre lake, the same body of water from which drinking water for the town of Drammen is obtained.

    Malt  is bought from various high quality producers in the UK and Germany, while they grind the malt themselves in their own mill just before mashing. Depending on which type of beer they want to make, different types of yeast are used. Naturally, they also have to buy hops  from abroad since there is no commercial cultivation in Norway.

    A wide range of beers are made at Haandbryggeriet including India pale ale, which has a bitter taste due to a large amount of hops, via wheat beer to porter, which has a round, mild taste. However, a quick count of their beers resulted in 23 types in the core range, 12 seasonal, which are brewed at, for instance, Christmas or other special occasions, 14 barrel aged and some retired ones. The whole range of beers, which are produced at this brewery can be found here. After having grown out of their premises at the former hosier factory, the brewery was moved to a former railway workshop. In order to celebrate the move, the brewers made an India black ale called Sundland kreosot, where Sundland is the name of the railway works, while kreosot means creosote which was used to impregnate wooden beams supporting rails. They also make a beer called Norwegian wood, a traditional farmhouse ale spiced with juniper. The photo on the top of this page shows the brewer sprinkling juniper branches and berries before they would be put in the mash tun.

    Haandbryggeriet arranges visits for groups regularly where they talk about how their beers are made and finishing with a menu of about 6 small courses together with a beer adapted to each course. For instance, they serve India pale ale to hot courses with chili pepper and curry, while they serve Norwegian wood to smoked salmon.

    Drinking beer from this brewery afterwards should make it taste different since it now has a history and an identity in addition to its delicious taste.

    Note that the beers made at this brewery are not filtered or pasteurised resulting a live beer with a finite shelf life. It may be a good idea to let their bottles rest some days before opening them, to pour out the contents carefully and not drink the remains at the bottom of the bottle.