From fashion to architecture, art to wine, coffee to beer, Italians are perfectionists in every trade. And while Italy has long been known as a country producing some of the world's best wine, many have often overlooked its impressive craft beers.
Just fifteen years ago, microbrews were nearly impossible to find in Italy. Instead, the country's beer reputation was built on major brands and, in comparison to their American commercial counterparts, they were palatable but nothing to write home about.
Relaxed legislation in Italy actually supports brewers, especially in Tuscany and Piedmont, to experiment with local ingredients like chestnuts, ancient grains, farro, spelt, wild honey, seasonal fruits, wine grapes and Italian spices, which all add their own decidedly Italian flair. But Italian craft beer production has been around for longer than many believe.
Menabrea is Italy’s oldest brewery (founded even before Italy was a single country) in a small town called Biella in Piedmont, 1,400 feet up in the foothills of the Alps. It all began in 1846 when Giuseppe Menabrea travelled to the town and discovered an underground cave system, with ideal conditions for the traditional process of lagering. Combined with the incredibly pure water and cold, fresh air of the region, it was the perfect location for a brewery – 150 years later it has remained in the family’s control, brewing remarkable birra using their own recipe and only five simple ingredients: water, barley, hops, yeast and brewer’s maize.
I visited the brewery to discover what makes Menebrea so special and to meet with Franco Thedy, the family’s fifth generation owner, to talk about how the brewery continues to be an iconic brand and how it has adapted over the years.