22/9/99 Oktoberfest has started
The world-known beer ferstival started on September,18 and will end on October,3
More details here:
www.oktoberfest.de
16/6/99 Menabrea: not the Champion any more!
It is a few month that the news came out that Menabrea, tiny and old brewery from Piedmont, Italy, won the title of World Champion Beer.
There were a few things to be pointed out though: it was not a competion or festival, but a testing held all the year around by a Chicago Institute; the beer was the best not in absolute but in a specific category (pale lager excluding hell and pilseners) and the competitors were limited to beers available in USA (so including some but not many of the german lagers, for example)
The result was and is nevertheless very good, and the
site of Tasting Institute of Chicago (that performs these tests) besides the ratings gave quite a few news about the little italian brewery.
Now, if an appreciator of the brewery of Biella visits the site, he/she would be a bit disappointed: it is now at the second place, the score is not changed (90-100) but the first place has been taken over (by one point) by the Grolsch lager from The Netherlands.
In another category, it is worth of attention the good performance of Moretti's La Rossa.
For the less informed beer drinker these may seem uninportant news (beers and labels are coming out and disappearing every day), for the Belgium Beer lovers it is a big event!
In fact "Trappist Beer" (opposite to the generic "Abbey Beer") is one of the very few "Demonation of Origin" in the beer world, and only the ales that are produced directly by monks (not under licence) can have this title.
Starting from early this year, to the six breweries whose names the beer-enthusiast know by hearth another one has been added, that is Achel.
This monastic brewery started production at the begininning of 1999 under the supervision of Pater Antoine, brewmaster of Rochefort.
The new beers are two golden ales of 4% and 6% ABV. Right in these days a new beer, a Dubbel of sligthly higher gravity has been added to the family.
These ales unluckily are not available for export in bottles, but only on tap in a pub adiacent to the brewery.
The abbey is located near the border with The Netherlands, and used to brew until the begininng of this century
But there are other news. The best known trappist brewery, Chimay, has added to its range (up to now including the Red, White and Blue "labels", with other names for different bottle sizes)
a fourth beer, the Doree'.
It is a golden ale, of moderate strength (4.8% abv); it is not actually a new product; I mean, most trappist breweries produce a "meal" beer for the internal consumption, but not always this kind of beer is available for sale. In this case, Chimay decided to bottle and sell the beer, but it is only available at the "Auberge de Poteaupré", a tavern near the abbey..
At this moment, it looks like Westvleteren ales are not any more the "rarest trappist beers"!
[source:alt.beer and rec.food.drink.beer]
26-03-99 Birrissima 99 to be held on May, 16th
The third edition of Birrissima will be on May, 16th by the St. Johannes Bräu microbrewery in S. Giovanni di Casarsa (Pordenone).
As in the past, it is organized by the well known homebrewing supplier P.A.B. Sas together with the University of Udine.
Among the lecturers also the english beer writer Roger Protz.
The program is available at this page of the organizer web site:
Mr.Malt:Birrissima 99
Sign up is possible up to May, 10th and must be addressed to:
P.A.B. SAS Via R. Battistig 51/53 33100 UDINE
Tel. 0432/511450-505511 Fax 0432/26938
E-mail: pab@mr-malt.it
The fee to partecipate to this event is: £ 70.000
[as usual, thanks to Carlo and Eliano for the informations]
30-01-99 1998: Pianeta Birra (Planet Beer) Fair in Rimini
It's the most important italian Beer Fair. It features the best-know names in the beer market; you can also taste very good and well kept beers
-Op. days: 20/23 February '99
-Op. time: 10.00 - 18.30
[thanks to Carlo and Eliano for the informations]
10-01-99 One year of beer:1998. Editorial by Max
Well, really it's just some comments about the beer year 1998...
Let's start right from here, from MaxBeer site: born at the end of 1997, it grew during 1998 with its moment of celebrity (it has been on Repubblica online and on the Panorama magazine). It had almost 4500 visitors during the year, and the target of making the site one of reference point in the italian beer world has beeen at least in part achieved, looking at the contacts (in the microbreweries and homebrewing world) that have been made possible not only between me and the visitors, but also between visitors themselves. I say "in part" because I wish I had time to update the site more frequently and add more contents, and at the same time to be able to let it more widely known... a task for the 1999!
Other important event in the "virtual" italian beer scene has been the creation of the newsgroup it.hobby.birra (proposed by myself with the support of other homebrewers).
Moving now from virtual to... "real" beer, 1998 has been an "explosive" year both for homebrewing and microbreweries.
2000 HB kits sold only in Turin (at least 20000 in Italy), that means as much new homebrewers, taking into account the ones who will not go on brewing but also the other people who got the equipment in other ways. Now also in Italy it is possible to find a selection of homebrewing supplies. And more: for example, why not an HB competition in 1999?
About micros, the first release of this site had maybe 4 or 5 of them listed... with the last update they are more than 30!
Sure, some of them did exist before, but many have just started in 1998, and I myself received many requests of information from people interested in opening thei own microbrewery.
If now we have a look at the italian and international beer market, the trends are both positive and negative.
In Italy the new wave of micro's has started, and the tiny but old established Menabrea wins international awards... at the same time Moretti, also internationally well appreciated, is often changing ownership and has to close some plants, including the historicalone in Udine (now owned by the ex-employees).
Worlwide, the microbrewery expasion started in USA a few years ago has firmly taken place also in UK, and old specilatties comes back to life - among them, for example, bottle conditioned ales, almost disappeared only 2 or 3 years ago. But other classic beers are in danger and at risk to meet the same end of Samichlaus, and it is important (but often not enough) that beer consumers are constantly watchful.
Thanks for reading these lines up to here and...
Best wishes for a Great New Beer Year!
Max
Created by Massimo Faraggi rosamax@split.it