Joe Sixpack: Italy - the next great brewmaster?

ITALIAN BEER - isn't that one of those classic oxymorons, like giant shrimp and Microsoft Works?

Moretti, Peroni . . . and then what?

Would you believe beer made with chestnuts? How about pineapple, tea leaves, licorice, carob or grapes?

Get ready for the next international beer frenzy. Small Italian beer makers are producing some of the most imaginative new varieties since American craft brewers discovered hops. So far, I've tasted only a small selection brought into Philadelphia by a couple of importers, but I'm hearing there's more to come, and I can't wait.

Yes, Italy - a nation that drinks almost twice as much grape as grain - has finally discovered beer.

Ten years ago there were, perhaps, five or six craft breweries in Italy. Today, according to Italian beer expert Lorenzo Dabove, there are more than 200.

"Of course powerful multinational companies producing mass-market lagers are still dominating the market," Dabove told me in an e-mail exchange. "But the slice of good Italian craft beer is increasing day by day."

"It's really exploded out of nowhere," said Matthias Neidhart of B. United International Inc., a Connecticut specialty beer importer with a new portfolio of more than a dozen Italian labels. "There's no real tradition of beer in Italy."

That explains all the bizarre ingredients. Compared with straight-laced brewers in Germany, where anything other than water, malt, hops and yeast is heretical, Italian craft brewers are raging anarchists.

La Fleurette, from a small brewpub called Birrificio Italiano near Turin, is made with roses and violets. The brewery's Cassissona is made with black currant and fermented with lager yeast at an unusually high temperature to produce an intensely sweet but complex flavor.

Seson, from Piccolo Birrificio near the French border, takes the classic Belgian saison style and turns it on its head with juniper and chinotto peel to give it a superbly bitter, fruity finish.

Another saison called Nuova Mattina from Birrificio Del Ducato in central Italy is flavored with licorice, green pepper, chamomile and ginger. Not surprisingly, it offers you a flowery, bitter kick.

Many of the beers seem aimed at the mealtime palate, to be paired with classic Italian dishes. For example, Te, from Birra Del Borgo outside of Rome, is light and delicately hopped. It would go well with raw oysters at lunch.

"Italy is very self-conscious," Neidhart said. "They believe they are the center of the food world. The brewers might have been inspired by Americans and Belgians, but they are very confident that they can do their own style, with Italian spirit."

Increasingly, that means paying homage to the strengthening slow-food movement, which emphasizes craftsmanship and the use of local ingredients. Thus, several Italian breweries make beer with chestnuts - unheard of in America but abundant in the Piedmont. Strada San Felice from Birrificio Grado Plato is made with chestnuts dried over a wood fire, giving it a smoky finish.

And, this being Italy, there is no avoiding wine.

Panil Barriquée, a sour brown ale aged in Bordeaux barrels, is comparable to Burgundy (or more precisely, Belgium's Rodenbach Grand Cru). No surprise, it comes from a brewer who was raised by a winemaker. In Sardinia, Birrificio Barley uses wort made with Cannonau red wine in BB10, a dark ale with a dry finish.

"Some of our brewers live and work in wine-growing areas," Dabove said. "They love the wine, so it was natural for them to be inspired [by] winemakers' technologies."

Now that Italian drinkers are getting their first taste of full-flavored beers, Dabove said he believes they won't turn back. "They are eager to improve their tasting skills, becoming more and more demanding, pushing brewers to experiment and research new, original beers."

I've never visited Italy (my Italian grandfather is turning in his grave), but I can vouch for those enthusiastic beer fans. Travel to any European beer destination - especially Germany and Belgium - and you're bound to bump into Italian tourists in search of new flavors.

Is Italy the next great beer nation? It has a long way to go, but its astoundingly unique selection of artisan ales certainly deserves some attention from U.S. beer lovers. In fact, some smart restaurant owner down on Passyunk Avenue would do well to ditch the house wine and start chilling some of these bottles. *

"Joe Sixpack" by Don Russell appears weekly in Big Fat Friday. For more on the beer scene in Philly and beyond, visit www.joesixpack.net. Send e-mail to joesixpack@phillynews.com.