Sardinian Brewing Adventure
Collaboration Brewing & Sardinian Beers
Last summer at XT we brewed a
Belgian Wit Beer, the ‘Animal Donkey’, with innovative and eccentric
Italian Brewery BBBirra from Bosa. The beer was made with wheat and
loads of potent Sardinian orange zest brought over by our brewing friend Carl
Fitzpatrick.
This year I headed out to the
idyllic Sardinian coastal town of Bosa to join Carl again and get our brewing
heads together for round two of our international collaboration.
Carl runs his brewery and
farm in the medieval town of Bosa on the banks of the river Temo in NW Sardinia.
The two ventures are built on very strong environmental and sustainable
principles close to Carl’s heart. The farm grows all the barley, wheat and hops
for the beers, and his well provides all the brewing liquor; the yeast even
comes from the local wine producers. Both ancient and contemporary varieties of
grains are grown to ensure a diverse culture on the farm and remove the need
for chemical assistance. The by-products of brewing are fed to the farm
animals. Unusual these days – even the used beer bottles are returned by Carl’s
drinkers and refilled. The locals are so used to this now; he doesn’t even need
to charge a deposit! The whole process from field to glass takes place all
within walking distance of the farm.
The first beer we worked on
in the four storey brewery, tucked away in the narrow, winding streets of old
town Bosa, was based on an Italian speciality – “Doppio Malto”. This very high
gravity beer is made with a unique double mashing process. The super strong
wort is then munched away by yeast which had been cropped from actively
fermenting Malvasia wine. To balance the massively chewy malt flavours, high
alpha hops are added for a citrus bite.
If the beers travel further
than Bosa, Carl takes them in his mobile pub – an amazing, converted German
fire engine. With hand pumps, a bar and a bespoke chilled cellar; the beers are
enjoyed in perfect condition while drinkers rest on old wine barrels. One day,
between brews, we collected an old oak foeder from an ancient and crumbling
wine cellar. The cellar tucked away in a tiny narrow street was an Aladdin’s
cave of amazing old wine casks resting unused for many years, I wish I could
have brought one home for a bit of whacky fermentation of my own.
As a balance to the Doppio,
we turned our attention to a beverage made from the oldest strain of grain
grown by man – Einkorn wheat which was originally cultivated in ancient Egypt.
It’s a tough little grain and takes a lot to get it to give up its sugars for
brewing. To help the process, our grist needed to be blended with some
contemporary malted wheat. The flavours of this hazy, refreshing “Pharaoh’s
Ale” perfectly matched the heat of the Sardinian sun.
Sardinia has a hot,
Mediterranean climate and the beer culture has grown accordingly – with the
locals and visitors preferring lighter and fruity beers, softer IPAs, wheat
beers and lagers. The craft beer craze has swept across the whole of Italy and
now even Sardinia has over two dozen local breweries.
The beer market is still
dominated by Ichnusa – a classic Euro fizz lager. As with many similar
brands this brewer is now a part of the giant Heineken, but a raft of small
independent producers are making many inroads.
My pick of these new kids on
the island include:
Marduk from Orosei on the east coast – this is one of the
more commercial of the independent producers and their beers include American
style IPAs, Czech Lagers and a Munich Alt Bier. But as with BBBirra they also
follow a sustainability field to grain principle and have their own farm and
maltings.
Birrificio Cagliari, based in the capital, produce a very wide range of
styles –and all packaged in beautiful bottles with very stylish labels. Worth
it just to enjoy the Italian designer look.
Birra Lara from Tertenia on the south eastern coast is a very
modern brewery creating beers using barley grown on their own farm. The owners
enthusiastically support the traceability of their ingredients throughout the
process.
Sambrinus from Sassari in the north is the oldest craft brewer,
operating since 1999. Beers follow a more classical style of traditional brews.
Birrificio 4 Mori based in the south western town of Guspini, the
brewery is housed in old mine workings and uses an excellent numbering system
for their beers.
Most of the beers are
available in bottles – generally I found these to be bottle conditioned, the
locals expect ‘craft’ to be cloudy and preferably with lots of foam. Finding
the beers on draught was a little tricky, but when you do find them, they are often
‘keg conditioned’ in key-keg or other bag type disposable systems. Many of the
beers I tried were unfiltered and unpasteurised. In order to enjoy a really
good range look out for one of the many beer festivals around the island. These
tend to be laid out in the ‘market street’ style where you can meet and talk to
the brewery teams on their own stalls.
It was a pleasure to work
with Carl again this year, and get an insight into beer and brewing in Italy.
Travelling for beer – what could be better?
