The largest international craft beer exhibition in Italy opens its doors next Friday at the Salone delle Fontane dell'Eur in Rome: 800 craft beers from all Italian regions, fine malts and hops, processed by craft and agricultural breweries, will be able to be tasted at 'EurHop - Roma Beer Festival' in a three-day "full beer" event from Friday to Sunday 8th. For this year's edition the Show is transformed into a journey through Italian beer production, a meeting point for enthusiasts from all over the world ready to taste the creations of Italian master brewers.
Two 45 meter counters to travel through Italian regional productions
Two counters of 45 meters each, with over 400 taps, will see the best national brewing proposals alternate - from Veneto to Sicily, passing through Lazio, Liguria, Umbria and Tuscany - selected by Manuele Colonna, one of the leading experts of the Italian and international beer sector, and a well-known Roman publican. The range of beer styles and processes will also be vast: in fact, like fashion, beer also has its own trends that change from year to year. After several seasons marked by IPAs and APAs, the American-style lagers, the most recent productions are marking a return to less bitter, more drinkable beers with a medium-low alcohol content such as Pale Ales, Bitters, Milds, Sessions English-style IPAs or German-style Kellers and Helles. “Giving space, in the main hall of EurHop, only to Italian breweries and microbreweries – explains Luca Improveti, one of the promoters of the Festival – means extending a helping hand to our local brewing entrepreneurs, already put to the test by the energy and raw materials crisis; but he also wants to underline that Italian beers have absolutely nothing to envy of the more well-known English and German productions, for example, which boast a centuries-old brewing tradition. Italian craft beer and its raw materials now have a very high quality and are appreciated throughout Europe, as demonstrated by the awards constantly won by our brewers at festivals around the world."
Limited number sessions for a dive into foreign beers
Anyone who would like to take a 'dive' into foreign beer will be able to take part in the 'Sessions', with limited numbers, lasting 4 hours each and upon reservation, during which it will be possible to taste around 50 beers produced by 15 breweries from all over the world. world, with a particular focus on the United States, present at the event only in these dedicated spaces and moments.
The Italian craft beer sector has a production that has grown exponentially over the last twenty years and has exceeded the threshold of 500 thousand hectoliters per year, with a market share equal to 3,3% of the overall beer market. Data which - despite the economic and energy crisis, in addition to the pandemic - attest to the notable growth of this sector which today has over 1200 microbreweries and employs over 93 thousand workers, both direct and indirect. Craft breweries have suffered the repercussions of the increase in energy costs (+180%) and packaging materials (+30%), with the aggravating circumstance of the deadline, on December 31st, of the reduction of excise duties for microbreweries (Italian Beer Consortium data).
The added value of agricultural breweries today represents 23% of the total
Farm breweries are a 'subset' of craft breweries; their added value, compared to a traditional craft brewery, is that they are also producers of the raw materials used to make beer and today they represent 23% of the total. The growth of these breweries is linked both to an economic issue - the tax breaks have a positive impact on company accounts, in addition to the lower costs that Italian raw materials, such as barley, have compared to those found abroad - and to a identity address, since using products grown on Italian territory can give beers a specific identity dictated by aromas, flavors and scents, making it recognizable even abroad. Furthermore, in recent years, Italian barley has reached excellent quality, so much so that it has no longer become a second, but the first choice for many Italian brewers, to the point of becoming very competitive even compared to that of other countries, which has always considered the largest producers and exporters in the world (Italian Birra Consortium data).
The impact of climate change on the craft beer sector
Climate change is also impacting the craft beer sector, not only at an Italian but also global level. For the fifth consecutive year, in fact, we have witnessed the crisis of barley and some varieties of hops: temperatures that are too high and rains, which are not frequent but too abundant, are putting the production of some varieties of hops at risk. Inevitably, therefore, beer styles will change over the next few years: some types will no longer be able to be produced given the absence of the original raw material.
