Bières Sans Frontières at large in Milan, a preview

     One of the beery highlights for many of GBBF volunteers who work on the Bières Sans Frontières

bar is the annual planning meeting. Over the years we have graced such varied venues as The Melborn in Bradford, Cantillon Brewery in Brussels, Bernard Brewery in Humpolec, Brugs Beertje in Bruges and many more in between. As the specialist International Beer Bar we think it responsible to travel to the Countries that we get our beers from, so far we've managed Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and The Czech Republic as well as regular meetings in England & Scotland, so this year we're off to Italy.


     Long in the planning stages our intrepid Italian volunteers have put together a program to whet the lips of any serious beer lover. According to Thrillist Italy ranks as the 10th best brewing Nation, and few could deny that the rise up the ranks is well deserved. A glance through guida alle birre d'italia and you'll find an astonishing number of Breweries that have sprung up in the past ten years or so. No longer do you have to settle for standard euro pils when you have such choice before you.
 Luca Giaccone, one of the Curatori of the guide, has been a regular of the BSF Bar and his knowledge of the Italian Beer scene is unparalleled, together with the inimitable Lorenzo Dabove, Allesandro Meroni, Anna Borrelli, Barbara Boero and other volunteers they have  ensured that we are set for a first class weekend.

     Our Italian odyssey begins in Milan where our intrepid organisers will attempt to herd cats, or rather shepherd BSF volunteers who will have traveled from USA, The Netherlands, Sweden, UK and Italy to immerse themselves in the wonderful world of Italian Craft Beer.
     We start with a Friday evening visit to Birrificio Lambrate for a Brewery tour with Giampaolo Sangiorgi then drinks at the BrewPub before heading across the City to Antonio Maiorano's Lambiczoon. Anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting The Sherwood Pub in Nicorvo will certainly look forward to visiting this bar.

     Of course the main purpose of our trip is to review last years BSF @ GBBF and see where improvements can be made and whether we have new markets to explore as more Breweries contact us wishing to get their beers into GBBF. We are thrilled to have been invited to host our meeting at Birrificio Italiano in Como where head brewer and founder Agostino Arioli will lead a tasting of some special beers.
So looking forward to this as Tipopils is one of my favourite beers. We have regularly featured Birrificio Italiano on the BSF Bar.

     Following our meeting and refreshment we will hit the road to Carate Brianza to visit Birrificio Menaresta, a return visit for me, to sample some beers partner and founder Marco Rubelli. On my last visit we joined the team for lunch at a cafe around the corner. Not your average cafe though as I noticed a well stocked beer fridge just inside the door which even had Westvleteren in. But the biggest surprise was seeing a Hand Pump on the counter with a  beer from Moor on offer, apparently Justin was due to arrive the next day.

     A further journey will take us to Monza and Birra Del Carrobiolo where head brewer and founder Pietro Fontana will host our final visit of the day.


     It's a tough job, planning for a Beer Festival, and we are happy to take on the onerous task so that you can enjoy GBBF 2015

     Our thanks go to the Breweries and Bars for opening their doors to us, we are really looking forward to our visit and we will do our best to ensure that Italian Craft Beer gets even wider recognition.

Salute

Italian Beer Oddysey. Part 3 Milan

Arriving in Milan we already had a couple of places to hit, the recently opened Baladin and the long established Birrificio Lambrate, there was also the promise of a couple of Brewery visits and the highly anticipated pilgrimage to Sherwood Pub.

Having already sampled the delights of Open Baladin in Rome we knew that a short trip on the Metro and a five minute walk would be the perfect end to our first day in Milan. When we arrived we were somewhat dismayed to see that every table had a reserved notice on it, not a good start. But, as if by magic, first one sign then another were removed as the staff realised that it looked rather silly to have a half empty bar with people looking for somewhere to sit.
I opted for a Nazionale to accompany a tasty Chicken Burger whilst Louise opted for an Isaac to go with her salad. Excellent food and excellent beer, we sampled a few more including Leon, Elixir and Nora.
Service was attentive and friendly, and by the time we left the place was full. Leo certainly knows what he's doing.

Lorenzo

The next day we caught an early train to Lecco to be met by Allesandro, one of the many Italian BSF volunteer staff, who had promised to show us a little of where he lived and take us to a couple of local Breweries. After a coffee and visit to a local cheese shop we were heading off to Birrificio Rurale to meet Lorenzo, the brewer, and to sample a couple of beers. As with the brewers we met at the Beer Festival in Rome we found Lorenzo to be a passionate advocate of Italian Beer, insisting that copying a style of beer without putting your own twist on it to make it Italian was not something he wished to do. As an example we sampled Seta and Seta Special, essentially the same Belgian Style Wit Bier but with the Special having Bergamot to give it a distinctive twist.

Marco

long way from home

Time to move on to Birrificio Menaresta and a few more beers to sample. Unlike Rurale where Lorenzo was working on his own most of the time there were a few more staff in evidence and a nice little bar to entertain guests. Marco, the brewer, was a generous host trying to get us to sample as many of his beers as possible in as short a time as possible. It was approaching lunch time, hence the rush. Needless to say the beers were excellent, and despite the contradictory name 'Hoppy Double Kolsch' I rather enjoyed that one. But in Italy everything stops for lunch and we were invited to join everyone as they walked round the corner and into the local restaurant. The first thing I noticed on entering, apart from it being full, was the well stocked beer fridge which even had Westvleteren in it. The next was a rather incongruous hand pump, what was that doing here? It turned out that Marco and Justin are friends, and Justin would be visiting the next day.
Following a leisurely lunch we headed back to Milan thoroughly exhausted by our whirlwind tour and needing a rest before heading out in the evening.

Call it serendipity, but again I had managed to book a Hotel in walking distance of a Brewpub, Lambrate was about ten minutes walk away and the newer Lambrate on Via Golgi, which we were assured served good food, was another five minutes away. Sorted.
The Brewpub was heaving and it took a while to get served, one of the first Italian beers that I remember having at GBBF some years back was Ghisa and I was looking forward to sampling it again, delicious. We decide to move on to the new place but found that to be equally heaving and some local Radio show being broadcast from there. All tables reserved, not a chance of a seat, so it was a good job it was warm outside. Also a good job we weren't particularly hungry, and after sampling three or four beers we decided to call it a day.

On Saturday The Sherwood Pub beckoned, first we had to get a train to Novara where we would be met by Nino who showed us around this beautiful City before taking us to a new bar that had opened recently. There we met up with a couple that I had previously met in Braustelle a few years back. It was part of the plan to ensure we got back to Milan that night! The bar was simple and looked more like a transport cafe, but it's early days and the beer was good.

Nino

The Sherwood Pub is in the small village of Nicorvo, there's not a lot else there, it's small and out of the way and why anyone would open a beer bar there is probably beyond most peoples understanding, but Nino did and it's wonderful.
The pub is a converted barn and on entering you notice the array of taps on the bar, the murals on the walls and the generally welcoming atmosphere. Beer appeared as if by magic. A fine Gran Cru Bruscella 2006? was carefully brought down from the special store to whet our appetites, this was followed by more beer and plates of Antipasti and the best Pizza I've ever had, and more beer. A visit to Nino's cellars left me drooling, so much fine beer. For desert a Birramisù, coffee then a bottle of Xyauyù was produced and it was a fitting final beer of the evening. Happy and contented we were taken back to Novara to catch to train back to Milan, a truly wonderful evening and one we won't forget.

 So that's it, three Cities in Italy which have great beer and great pubs. And there's to be another bar in Milan as Nino is opening one soon in his home City.