Italy at full speed: it is not a government slogan for the latest surveys on employment, investments, growth in GDP or exports. But the sense of an event that celebrates craft beer throughout the country. From 7 to 13 March, pubs and breweries, but also beer shops, restaurants, bistros, wine bars, sector associations, e-commerce sites will give life to 419 events in all Italian regions to spread and support the beer culture, that of author above all, that is the artisanal one, but also of the whole sector which has started to grow again for some years now.
And yes, because, with the 2010 crisis behind us, beer is experiencing a moment of great favor and fervor in Italy: national production stood at around 13 million 410.000 hectoliters with an increase of 4,7 percent over 'last year. In short, we are very close to the historic record of 2007 when our country produced 13.461.000 hectoliters of beer.
Above all, exports drove the growth. A detection of Absorb beer informs that 16,3% of the total produced last year (equal to 2.086.000 hl) went abroad, with an increase of 11,6 percentage points (equal to 200.000 hl more). Suffice it to say that in 2006 the volume of exports represented just one third of the current one (781.000 hectoliters). For the record, and also for reasons of Italian pride, it is interesting to note that the primary destination market for Made in Italy beer is a country with an ancient brewing tradition, Great Britain, which absorbs 60% of the total exports (1.250.000 hl).
The Craft Beer Week which opens on Monday 7 March, now in its sixth edition, was conceived in 2010 by Andrea Turco, founder of the blogzine Cronache di Birra (www.cronachedibirra.it), judge in national and international competitions, lecturer on the subject, who has always believed in the quality of Italian craft beer which boasts glorious historical traditions. “Craft beer in Italy says Turco – is experiencing a moment of great popularity. Every day there are many curious people who discover the productions of microbreweries and approach this fantastic world. Craft beers, Italian or foreign, are increasingly available in breweries, specialized shops and websites.
La Craft Beer Week – he adds – stems from the desire to support this moment of strong growth with an event that promotes the sector organically and throughout the national territory. The margins for growth are still enormous, however – now that the first pioneering phase has ended – it is necessary to support the movement with initiatives capable of involving a large number of different realities”.
In Italy the brewing tradition is millenary but for an industrial production of bottom fermented lager beers to establish itself we had to wait for the second half of the 1845th century when the first factories were born on the initiative of entrepreneurs from beyond the Alps. The names say it all: Dreher, Wuhrer, Paskowski, Metzger, Von Wunster, etc.). But soon other all-Italian industrial realities came forward: in 1905 Peroni, founded in Vigevano by Francesco Peroni then moved to Rome in 1857 as the "Società Ghiaccio e Birra Peroni". The following year Menabrea arrived in Biella; in 1859 Forst, in Lagundo (Bolzano); in XNUMX the “Moretti Beer and Ice Factory” in Udine.
Alongside industrial production, the reality of craft breweries has established itself in recent years and with incredible development data, a phenomenon that has surprised everyone, established thanks to the great imagination of the Italian genius and the great variety of raw materials offered by the our territory. We are talking about "an unpasteurised beer, whole and without the addition of preservatives with a high content of enthusiasm and creativity - according to the definition of Unionbirrai - produced by artisans in always very limited quantities".
The 2014 edition of Beer statistics, published by the Brewers of Europe association, has drawn up a ranking of European nations based on the number of active microbreweries, i.e. companies that have an annual production of no more than 1.000 hl per year. And Italy ranked third in Europe behind Great Britain which can boast 1.440 producers and Germany which has 668. Followed by Switzerland (363), France (345) and Spain (203). It is this reality that the Craft Beer Week aims to bring to the attention of public opinion so that this heritage is increasingly discovered and appreciated by the Italian consumer.
The event is aimed at both enthusiasts and the simply curious and in general at anyone who wants to learn about the brewing wonders of artisan producers. In Rome on Sunday 6 March, a great preview at the local Luppolo Station in Trastevere. The evening will be called "The Debutante Ball" because there will be 10 or more new beers to be tasted in absolute preview, proposed by the best Italian breweries such as Birra del Borgo, Birrone and Foglie d'Erba.
And finally, some numbers: the Italian beer sector produces and distributes around 2.000 brands of beer, worth over 2 billion euros, moves investments for 1 billion euro and, with about 400 production units (of which 14 industrial plants for beer, 2 for malt and about 400 micro-breweries and brew-pubs), offers employment to over 4.500 people given that if we consider the enlarged associated companies rise to 144 thousand units.
