Lucky Brews Brando American IPA, Vicenza, Italy at Il Santo Bevitore Venice

Date:  December 21, 2018

The Story—  We leave this 2018 European segment with another above average beer from Il Santo Bevitore, the best of several very good beer bars in Venice, Italy.   You’d expect an American take on ales from a brewery named “Lucky Brews” and you get it.

We visited Vincenza about a decade ago and had to pay a taxi a ton of Lira/Euros to take us to the brewery on the outskirts of town.  It was a good brewery with great atmosphere and it would have put Vincenza in our book on its own.   Vincenza is a lovely old Italian town with an inviting stroll through the old section,  We haven’t visited Lucky Brews, but they’re on our short list.

The Beer—  Lucky Brews Brando American IPA.    Lots of hops – most of them floral with a touch of berry fruit with a dry chalky finish. Flowers hold on into the aftertaste.

Value —  good.   another nice buck pint for good, if not world classic, beer.   But you get to sit at a window bar and see the boats cruising down the canal as you drink.  Come to think of it, it might be worth twice the price.

This week we feature a half dozen really good European beers that we’ve found on both sides of the pond.   We make pilgrimages to some of the best beer stores in Eastern America once or twice a year and we also just bump into incredibly good beer in places we don’t expect.  Not all of these are on the shelves, but beers much like them are.  A few of our European greats are from places you don’t expect to find great beer as we move closer to publication of our European guide to great beer in “bad” beer cities.   (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll begin our countdown to the New Year with a list of our ten best beers of the last five years.  We’ve found them on both sides of the Atlantic and even a few in our back yard.  We’ve been lucky to find some of our favorite beers researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

BAV Dritta, Pale Ale/ Session Pale Ale, Birrificio Artigianale Veneziano, Greater Venice, Italy

Date:  December 20, 2018

The Story—   We talked about the Enoteca Al Volto yesterday.   It’s an easy walk from Venice’s best beer store, Beershop Venezia, and the nearby Black Forest Pub.   Al Volto cut its teeth on wine, but is emerging as a first rate place to try beers as well.

Italian city space is expensive.   a startup brewery is better off finding space for a brewery on the outskirts and hoping there are enough good beer bars to enable it to thrive.  It’s similar in the US – there are good beer bars in NYC, but few brewpubs.   Get out of downtown, though, say to Brooklyn and Queens, and there are plenty of places where a brewery can make it.   It’s tough for a tourist to get to those spots, but even harder to reach the outer areas of Venice.   Happily good beer bars on both sides of the pond save us driving and cabbing and give us more time for drinking.

The Beer—   A full body that belies it’s 4.5% but it also sports early and lasting rich oily citrusy hops.  Some metal and lots of citrus and citrus peel with just a touch of raw sugar before the lasting bitter.  Ellie thought it was a very good drinking SIPA, and she’s pretty picky.

Value — Good.   No cheapies in Venice.  Just get out your card and soak up the atmosphere.   You’re going to grouse about a nine buck pint draft?   What did you pay to get here and stay here?

This week we feature a half dozen really good European beers that we’ve found on both sides of the pond.   We make pilgrimages to some of the best beer stores in Eastern America once or twice a year and we also just bump into incredibly good beer in places we don’t expect.  Not all of these are on the shelves, but beers much like them are.  A few of our European greats are from places you don’t expect to find great beer as we move closer to publication of our European guide to great beer in “bad” beer cities.   (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll begin our countdown to the New Year with a list of our ten best beers of the last five years.  We’ve found them on both sides of the Atlantic and even a few in our back yard.  We’ve been lucky to find some of our favorite beers researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

Mezzavia Nautilus, Selargius, Italy at Enoteca Al Volto, Venice, Italy

Date:  December 19, 2018

The Story—  “How do you find these places?” people ask when we describe some of the gems we’ve discovered in cities where “good beer” is said not to exist.   For starters, we don’t believe the staid restaurateurs when you point out the Peroni-only pitiful beer menu and they answer condescendingly “you know Italy is a wine country.”  Of course it is, but saying “Italy is a pizza country” to justify a menu devoid of complex entrees would be just as stupid.   The trick is to find a seam — some outlet somewhere that’s serving at least some good craft beer — maybe only Baladin or a range of Moretti’s commercial, but interesting beers.   RateBeer, though a magnet for beer snobs who may be far pickier than you are, is a great site to open the first door or two.

Settle in at the bar – not a table- where you can quiz the barkeep, who will speak English, on where (s)he goes to find good beer.   You’ll get two or three recommendations for places that are better than the one you’re in.  Go to the next, drink, ask, repeat.   In a few days you’ll have visited not all, but definitely most, of the best beer spots in town.

There’s a cost, of course.   If you’re in Rome, you’ll find fantastic drinking spots along the Trastevore and have a chance to try more really interesting beer than you thought possible.   Of course, you won’t have time to visit the Colosseum, or the Forum, or the Vatican.   Beer hunting takes time.

Which is why you need to look for our upcoming “Now we’re here dear, where’s the beer?” guide to great beer in “bad beer” cities.   [disclaimer: this is a shameless plug.   But wait, you’re on a publisher’s website.  Whaddya expect?]   We’ve spent countless hours all over the top tourist destinations in Europe hunting beers instead of art and architecture.   We have the advantage of having spent decades doing the normal tourist routes and in truth we do still see the sights before the bars open.

Perhaps the city where the pull between beauty and beer is greatest is Venice.   Ellie does more sight hunting, I do more beer hunting.   She’s grateful at the end of a long day, to be able to put her feet up on a bar stool rung and drink a beer that would be a contender at a good regional American beer festival.   Enoteca Al Volto is one of those — find it by recommendation only destinations that a friend of a friend pointed me towards.   It’s only steps from the nearest Rialto vaporetto stop — if you know which of the several Rialto vaporetto stops to step away from.   Best to get close and ask — it’s supposed to be Venice’s oldest wine bar, so plenty of people can direct you.

Here, you have a great opportunity to sample very good and very uncommon Italian craft beer in the atmosphere of one Venice’s oldest wine bar.  This Russian Imperial Stout seems right at home in a wine bar.   A tad edgy for the style but a good quick binge.

The Beer—  Mezzavia Nautilus is a big 9.5% abv Russian Imperial Stout.  A rich dark cocoa roast malt starts with a bit of dark fruit and a touch of booze climbing on the bus as it rolls. Perhaps a tad edgy for the style, but a good quick binge.

Value —  Close to nine bucks for a standard third liter bottle.  Hmm.  But you’re in Venice.  You want a bargain for a beer this good?   You might try Williamsport,  Pennsylvania.  For Venice, it’s a good value.

This week we feature a half dozen really good European beers that we’ve found on both sides of the pond.   We make pilgrimages to some of the best beer stores in Eastern America once or twice a year and we also just bump into incredibly good beer in places we don’t expect.  Not all of these are on the shelves, but beers much like them are.  A few of our European greats are from places you don’t expect to find great beer as we move closer to publication of our European guide to great beer in “bad” beer cities.   (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll begin our countdown to the New Year with a list of our ten best beers of the last five years.  We’ve found them on both sides of the Atlantic and even a few in our back yard.  We’ve been lucky to find some of our favorite beers researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

Belhaven Black Scottish Stout, Dunbar, Scotland

Date:  December 18, 2018

The Story— Belhaven’s Black Scottish Stout is a canned Nitro black stout brewed with locally sourced “triple malts” and Challenger hops.  It’s Belhaven’s first new product to hit the US Market in almost a half century.  Thicker and creamier than Guinness, but still only 4.2% ABV it’s part of a must do home Nitro comparison tasting.   The Nitro gives the beer a soft feel and an extra creaminess that Guinness has used for decades to make a slightly acidic and edgy beer pour with the smoothness of a baby’s blanket.

Belhaven is, by most accounts, Scotland’s oldest brewery dating to 1714.  It’s now owned by the British Greene King, but continues to brew at the original Scottish brewery.

The Beer— Creamy smooth with softly sweet roast and an end featuring a nice residual bakers chocolate.  Thicker feel than Guinness and nicely creamy.  Lots of flavor for a 4.2%.

Value — good to very good.

This week we feature a half dozen really good European beers that we’ve found on both sides of the pond.   We make pilgrimages to some of the best beer stores in Eastern America once or twice a year and we also just bump into incredibly good beer in places we don’t expect.  Not all of these are on the shelves, but beers much like them are.  A few of our European greats are from places you don’t expect to find great beer as we move closer to publication of our European guide to great beer in “bad” beer cities.   (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll begin our countdown to the New Year with a list of our ten best beers of the last five years.  We’ve found them on both sides of the Atlantic and even a few in our back yard.  We’ve been lucky to find some of our favorite beers researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

Stone Berlin with Dogfish Head and Victory Royale Imperial Saison de Buff

Date:  December 17, 2018

The Story—  Many of America’s pioneering and super star brewers hang around like Sinatra’s Rat Pack – laughing, drinking, and doing what they do best to make life for fun for the rest of us.  This magnum-bottled collaboration features the talents of three of America’s best craft brewers: Stone Berlin with Dogfish Head and Victory coming up with the really big and really complex Royale Imperial Saison de Buff.

See yesterday’s post for more on Stone’s “groundbreaking” series from its Berlin brewery.   Those guys know how to have fun, but also know more about beer….”since Jefferson brewed alone”.  Ellie’s comment said it all:  It’s either a brilliant collaboration or… too many cooks.  We decided it was clearly the former by the time we savored the entire magnum.

Saison du BUFF has a long pedigree.   “First brewed in 2010, this citrusy farmhouse ale was named Saison du BUFF in tribute to the ad hoc coalition that Sam (Dogfish Head), Bill (Victory) and Greg (Stone) formed in 2003. Called Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor (BUFF)*” and they’ve done it several times since.   It’s been a good spiced saison from the three breweries, but this imperial version soars above the rest.

The Beer— A big and rich body holds the herbs pretty well. There’s plenty of orange-tangerine and a slight hint of lemon zest.  The full body reclaims the center into the aftertaste.   Beautifully complex.

Value —  As with yesterday’s colab from Stone:   For us, very very good at the cut rate price of $20.   For you at $50 a bottle, still probably worth the money.   When they were bringing them out at Julio’s we struck up a conversation with a rep from Black Hog Brewery who knew his beers.   We agreed that $60 a bottle would probably be the asking price and even at that might be worth a bottle or two.   They’re brewed to cellar and are holding up beautifully after two years.

This week we feature a half dozen really good European beers that we’ve found on both sides of the pond.   We make pilgrimages to some of the best beer stores in Eastern America once or twice a year and we also just bump into incredibly good beer in places we don’t expect.  Not all of these are on the shelves, but beers much like them are.  A few of our European greats are from places you don’t expect to find great beer as we move closer to publication of our European guide to great beer in “bad” beer cities.   (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll begin our countdown to the New Year with a list of our ten best beers of the last five years.  We’ve found them on both sides of the Atlantic and even a few in our back yard.  We’ve been lucky to find some of our favorite beers researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

*from the Stone Website:  https://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/stone-collaborations/dogfish-head-victory-stone-saison-du-buff-