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A new venture is about to be launched in Barga
Our project received an unexpected boost last month with a spectacular publicity coup! The Mayor of Barga, Prof. Umberto Sereni, has been a supporter of the project from the start and on the 27th May, to coincide with his birthday, a grand concert was arranged at the Teatro dei Differenti, a beautiful 17th century theatre in the centre of Barga. As he has been Sindaco (Mayor) now for 10 years he must stand down at the elections on 6th June. He requested (no domanded!) that the first bottle of la Birra di Barga be presented to him on stage during the concert. We quickly bottled and labelled a few bottles and the first was duly presented to him in front of the gathered citizens of Barga. There is a report on Barganews.com. A further step was taken on 3rd July when the Comune agreed to the label design. As the design was inspired by the "Stemma" or coat of arms of Barga, a ship in full sail with a mast of a living pine tree, permission was needed from the Comune.
The first tasting of la Birra di Barga took place at Barga Jazz Club on the 6th June before their annual Cena Sociale. All the participants gave very favourable comments with 55% rating the beer Excellent and 45% rating it Good. The tasting notes recorded comments on the flavour, bitterness, head, mouth-feel (fizziness and texture) and colour. Many commented on the rich malty flavour and pleasant mouth-feel. There will be several more tastings before the product is launched onto the market.
Limited supplies of Barga Beer have now been provided to L'Osteria in Piazza Angelio, Colordivino, next door to L'Osteria and to Scacciaguai in Via di Mezzo for trial tastings.
Using the pure mountain water of the Appenine mountains, malted barley and aromatic hops, a microbrewery in the mediaeval hilltown will be producing lager, ale and special beers to traditional recipes. The Fontana Brewery has been established in Via del Pretorio in the heart of the mediaeval city. Barga Beer will be supplied to local bars and restaurants and will also be available for tasting at the Fontana Brewery
Until the 19th century most beer was brewed in the inn or alehouse where it was served, then industrial breweries became established and the craft of beer brewing was rapidly overtaken by industrial production. Now beer brands are global products and an alcohol factory in the US, Germany or UK will churn out tanker loads of "czech", "bavarian", "australian" or "belgian" beers, which are standardised throughout the world. The beer produced is generally pasteurised to extend the shelf life to several years and the "fizz" is produced by injecting carbon dioxide into the storage tanks. As a reaction to that globalisation a new type of small craft breweries has slowly grown up offering truly artisan produced, low volume beers. These beers are specific to their home and have not been shipped hundreds of miles to reach you. They are generally un-pasteurised and the "fizz" is a natural effect of the fermentation (just like true Champagne).
Ingredients
All beers have four basic ingredients: water, malted grain (barley or wheat predominantly), yeast and hops. The brewing process extracts the natural sugars from the grain and then in the process of fermentation the yeast turns the natural sugars to alcohol. The more sugars which are extracted , the stronger is the beer. The hops have two functions: the oils of the hops are a natural bactericide so protect the beer from going stale while also giving a flavour and aroma to the finished beer. The bitterness of beer is mainly determined by the type and quantity of hops used. Barga Beer uses the fresh pure water from the Appenine mountains, Italian grain and hops (pictured: fresh hops growing in Barga). The beer is un-pasteurised to maintain the fresh flavours and the "fizz" is all natural.
Progress Update: Italian bureaucracy is, justifiably, notorious and we are still waiting for formal approvals from the Comune. Despite that we have progressed with the building works and on 8th May reached a significant milestone. We got drains! For several months we have had a good water supply but no drains so we were restricted in what we could do. Now that we are finally collected we can start running some trial brews to make sure everything is working.
We had our first hop harvest last September (the first ever in Barga) and harvested enough for our first production of la Birra di Barga. The fresh hops will be dried before being added to the "wort" while it is being bolied. The first commercial beer will not be brewed until June 2009, but meanwhile we will be trialling different recipes using our Barga hops. This year we have planted more hops in our Hop Garden and given good weather should have a small crop of usable hops this autumn.
Barga is a Cittá Slow, that is a place where food is appreciated and is prepared and cooked from the best quality ingredients, mostly locally sourced. It is appropriate that Barga should be the home for a new artisan brewery producing "Slow Beer".
site by Ron Gauld
