Beer Around the World Panel

While there are going to be many events during the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), one in particular marks a little shift in how American the GABF has become.

One thing to take note is that the entire world is now looking to our movement in craft beer. When we began our craft beer movement at the beginning of the 1970s, it was truly a handful of pioneers with exceptional willpower that made it all happen. Men like Fitz Maytag who rekindled the old Anchor Brewing Company and would launch a movement that would influence the world 40 years later, or Jack McAuliffe, who would be an influential persona that would be imitated for his engineering and passion. Of course, Ken Grossman, creator of Sierra Nevada, who would put the US on the world beer map as perhaps the father of hoppy American beer. But more locally and very much the global kick starter is Charlie Papazian.

Charlie Papazian moved to Boulder in 1981 and would bring the entire show into one ring, the Great American Beer Festival. All these men and many more have created a beer industry and culture that has never before been seen in world beer history. This influence is now being imitated around the world. As Italy, with all its history dating back as far as 900 BC, adds a new chapter in 1996 with beer. Or Germany, whose long standing brewing laws is now being scrutinized to keep up with craft beer. The American craft beer culture has brought longtime and legendary breweries from Belgium from the brink. Now they too are enjoying the resurgence of their beer as many craft American brewers have imitated their styles. But new beer cultures like Italy are emerging. Japan imports so many beers from around the world that they are now a big part of the movement. Brazil, Mexi-Cali, Peru, Argentina and Spain all have begun their craft beer movements.

So it’s no surprise that during this great celebration of American craft beer there will be a panel of diplomats from around the world discussing their craft beer scenes here in Denver. Some of the attendants from 3 pm to 5 pm, October 2nd at Jazz@Jack’s, located at the at the Denver Pavilions on the 16^th Street Mall, will be government representatives including top ambassadors/diplomats from Belgian, Cananda, Japan and Mexico. Representing Italy will be locals Bryan Jansing and Paul Vismara who wrote the first book about the Italian craft beer movement, Italy: Beer Country. The event will be moderated by Ed Sealover, writer for the Denver Business Journal and author of Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorado Breweries.

It’s certainly beer week in Colorado, but it’s a week being participated and watched by the entire world. I’ll toast to that.

Bridging the Environment with Oil Profits

Hans Mueller, a Colorado native and a School of Mines graduate, has found a way to give the oil company a profit where it did not exist before. Hans has found a way to turn greenhouse gases into money. In short, Hans is turning garbage into gold by clean means that could revolutionize how oil companies make a profit while meeting state emission-reduction requirements.

At the School of Mines in Golden, Hans and a group of students worked on a project that captured the natural gases produced during the decay of garbage in landfills and turned them into energy. After graduating, he continued his quest of helping the environment by capturing greenhouse gases. Hans understood early on that, to help the environment, he would have to turn poison into gold and make a profit. It soon dawned on Hans that there could be a way to capture those gases that leak from oil storage tanks. We see the escaping gases that Hans captures as unsightly fires burning at the top of huge stills. In fact, when one of Han’s EcoVapor Recovery Systems, or as Hans calls it, the “vapor recovery module” is running, the flame goes out, a sign that Han’s gases are turning into dollars and those burning dollars aren’t chocking our air with greenhouse gases.

This type of technology has been the Holy Grail of the oil industry and just as elusive. One of the main issues is that when these mineral rich gases are captured it’s difficult to re-pipe them back into the system, mainly because of the oxygen that is found in the compounds. Oxygen corrodes precious pipelines. But Hans found a clever and highly technical way to remove the oxygen molecules from the gases. This then allowed the EcoVapor to re-pipe the gases back into the system, mainly methane.

With about 235 million cubic feet of methane now captured by his 21 machines the size of a small school bus, Hans could heat some 6,500 homes.

So what’s the problem? Why aren’t there school-bus sized vapor recovery modules dotting every oil field in America, or the world? Well, one word—accounting. The problem is who owns the gases? Wells and tanks are often owned by multiple people. Also, the minerals in the mineral-rich gases are also owned by individuals holding mineral rights, which are separate than oil or land rights—a slippery predicament. Mineral owners have historically not generated revenue from gases, since gases have never been captured; therefore, they’ve never been sold or taxed. So who does the gas belong to?

The solution to the accounting nightmare was found by Rep. Dave Young, D-Greeley through House Bill 1322.  But because of some miscommunication or perhaps bad wording, House Bill 1322 missed its mark and became wholly unpopular for the wrong reasons. As it stands now, the question remains. Who do the gases and now its profits belong to?  It’s a solution that can easily be found through accounting paperwork to oil companies instead the multiple wells, tanks and owners.  Finding a piece of legislation that can project profits from gas would remove one last hurdle to Hans’ new technology, the environment and finally make clean air a profitable market. The Holy Grail has been found, now can the government and huge business find a means to make it work?

The Italian Beer Awards and Andrea Turco

While the custodians of the Italian beer movement, Luca Giaccone and Lorenzo “Kuaska” Dabove, hold center stage as the guides and unofficial guardians, it’s Andrea Turco who is truly the choir. Nobody reaches farther, reports more or brings the entire movement together like Andrea Turco.

 A journalist, Turco’s writing skills and the Italian craft beer movement seem to have been a marriage. Turco started Cronache di Birra early in the movement. He began with video interviews of the brewers themselves, asking their opinions and tapping into their psyche. He interviewed both critics and pub owners as well, catching them at festivals, tastings, and award ceremonies. No one is better at reporting the movement’s every step than Turco. So it’s no wonder that Turco and his blog, Cronache di Birra, are hosting its own awards, the Italian Beer Awards for the best of 2013.

The Italian Beer Awards are the first and only awards that will be voted in a two tier system involving both experts and craft beer enthusiasts. Seeking to “award the best players on the national brewing scene,” Turco has collected a large list of who’s who of beer critics to head up the first part of the contest. It was Turco’s desire to ‘on the one hand offer prominence to the best professionals in the industry; the other, directly involve those who drink beer every day.’

“We all know that to operate in a market of quality beer is not easy: it takes devotion, entrepreneurial skills, expertise and a deep love for the product and its culture,” says Turco. “On the other hand the whole movement would not exist without the presence of active consumers and enthusiasts: it is therefore right that the latter decide the outcome of the Italian Beer Awards, allowing them to choose the best character for each type in a list drawn up by some experts of Italian beer.”

During the first half of the month, the experts composed a personal list of the best brewers of the Italian craft scene under categories Turco chose, which included: Best Brewery, Best Brewpub, Best Beer Firm, meaning, a location that doesn’t have its own brewery but serves its own beer, Best Pub/Brewery and finally, Best Beershop. The brewers had to be working in Italy for at least twelve months. The list will be whittled down to a list of ten finalist breweries.

The list drawn up by the experts has already been posted.

The nominees for Best Brewery in 2013:

            Barley (Cagliari)

            Birra Del Borgo (Borgorese)

            Del Ducato (Roncole Verdi Di Busseto near Parma)

            Del Forte (Pietrasanta near Lucca)

            Extraomnes (Varese in the Lombardy)

            Foglie d’Erba (Udine)

            Lambrate (Milan)

            Menaresta (Milan)

            Montegioco (Alessandria in Piedmont)

            Toccalmatto (Fidenza near Parma)

 The nominees for Best Brewpub in 2013:

            Baladin (Piedmont)

            Birrificio Italiano (Como)

            Birrificio Settimo (Varese)

            Troll (Piedmont)

            Lambrate (Milan)

The nominees for Best Beer Firm in 2013:

            Buskers (Rome)

            Cerevisia Vetus (Frosinone in Lazio)

            Sorrento (Naples)

            Stavio (Rome)

            Via Priula (Bergamo in Lombardy)

 The nominees for Best Pub/Brewery in 2013:

            Abbazia di Sherwood (Bergamo)

            Arrogant Pub (Reggio Emilia)

            Brasserie 4:20 (Rome)

            Locanda Del Monaco Felice (Bergamo)

            Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fá (Rome)

            Open Baladin (Rome)

            Ottavonano (Avellino near Naples)

            Sherwood Music Pub (Pavia in Lombardy)

            Taberna (Rome)

            The Dome (Bergamo)

 The nominees for Best Beershop in 2013:

            Astral Beers (Bologna)

            Bere Buana Birra (Milan)

            Bir Sciò (Naples)

            Bir&Fud Beershop (Rome)

            Domus Birrae (Rome)

            Il Birratrovo (Como)

 The most interesting aspect of Turco’s nominees is that amongst the founders, and the usual historic players of the movement (Baladin, Lambrate, Birrificio Italiano), are a few newer breweries (Extraomnes, Forte). It’s a sign of a healthy, growing beer community.

Now the vote for the winners in each category goes to the consumers. By accessing Cronache di Birra’s Facebook page beer lovers can place their votes.

Turco’s continued passion is inspiring and refreshing. England and America had Michael Jackson, Italy can be proud of Andrea Turco for his informative blog and his innovative and creative ways of bringing the message to the people.

So if you find yourself traveling to Italy, even without the final vote, you’ll be more than pleased with an encounter with any of the nominees. I will post the winners when the results are released by Turco.

Till then,

Cin Cin

Under the Shadow of the Bell Tower, Part I

The two greatest challenges to the Italian Craft Beer movement are the Italian tax system and the regionalism known in Italian as Campanilismo or bell towerism.

Under the Shadow of the Bell Tower, Part I

by Bryan Jansing

Campanilismo is a term that expresses the intense Italian regionalism. Campanile in Italian means bell tower. Each town had its own church with its bell tower that sounded off not only the hour, but when farmers were to be out in the fields, when it was time to return for lunch, when it was time to end the day. The bell tower also marked when the town was in peril due to fire, or if there was an oncoming invader. The bell tower was in its time what our cell phones are today. You couldn’t imagine leaving your home without having your cell phone. Nor could you imagine in the serfdom times of Italy living without your bell tower.

The entire town and the larger close-knit communities in the area survived by way of their church bell towers. In turn, this came to represent you, your town, your community. Italians are in essence their bell towers. It’s a rare moment for an Italian to pronounce themselves ‘Italian’. In general, Italians introduce themselves as Romani, Vicentini, Milanesi if they’re from anywhere close to these major cities. Otherwise, they will refer to the province, Liguria, Lazio, Campania. Even deeper, an Italian might consider himself brethren not to other Italians so much, rather to the ancient Etruscans, Lombard or Romans before Italian.

This concept is a far cry from our American patriotism. True, we are proud of where we’re from, but even if you’re a Texan, you’re an American and will chant ‘USA, USA’ at any given event. Ever hear Italians chanting “Italia, Italia” at a regional game? Not likely. The only time you will hear an Italian chant Italia is perhaps at the World Cup. But even then, they’ll be rooting for a player from their home town.    

This also gives way to another Italian issue, one of mistrust and the lack of willingness to work together. Where here in the U.S. we have the American Brewer’s Association that is nationally strong, able to promote their members and lobby the government, the Italian brewer’s associations tend to be something more akin to clubs, rather than national associations. Therefore, they struggle to unite and to truly take on any of the larger breweries. But the mega-industrialized breweries of Moretti and Peroni aren’t really their Goliaths. It’s the Italian government that they must take on to survive and doing so regionally isn’t enough.

Birra Birra Everywhere

What a strange sight to be sitting at a restaurant in Italy with the same wooden tables, flimsy straw chairs and everybody of all ages drinking beer...with no pizza or wine to be had.

 As you may know, if you’re reading this blog, Paul and I just returned from Italy from a ten day tour of Italian craft breweries. We met and interviewed several brewers including Agostino Arioli of Birrificio Italiano, one of the founders of the beer movement in Italy, Giovanni Campari from Del Ducato who’s the most awarded brewer in Italy, the Lambrate crew, also one of the first and Leonardo Di Vincenzo from Del Borgo, perhaps one of the most innovative Italian brewers and certainly a major cog in the gears keeping the Italian craft beer movement alive. We spoke with Bruno Carillo from Toccalmatto, whose imagination brings to life some of the most interesting brews and whose push across Europe is spreading the Italian suds well beyond the Alps and obscurity.

We had an opportunity to meet Teo Musso from Baladin, another founding father whose influence is felt throughout the Italian craft beer community, as well as Fabio and Emmanuelle, owners of Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa` and Bir e Fud. There’s no doubt that these two innovative pub owners set the pace that is now off and running. Without their entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm for beer, things in the Italian craft beer world might look a little different. Without a doubt, this book wouldn’t be in the works.

Of course, there are many, many other pubs and breweries, but we only had ten days, so we touched upon the most important within our reach. We will be returning for more interviews, but this trip has rooted our cause in firm, fertile soil.

We learned two essential things about the Italian craft beer movement: One, that the people behind these locations are basically nuts for even thinking about brewing Italian craft beer and two, they are most definitely passionate. In short, they love craft beer and wanted to drink it, so they made it. Their innovation in crafting fine beers is limitless. They set their bar very high whether it be in craft or taste.

 

 

 

Did you know that in the wine country, beer has surpassed wine as the favorite drink outside of the home? A 2010 study done by Makno for Assobirra found the number of Italians drinking beer while eating out had more than doubled since the previous year and beer had overtaken wine as the preferred beverage enjoyed outside the home (World Atlas of Beer 2012).

More and more Italians are consuming beer. And why not? Apart from the U.S., Italy is the most interesting and creative beer country in the world, combining the traditional beer cultures of Europe with the unique Italian touch, from Baladin’s purposefully-oxidized Xyauyu` to the beautifully blended Beersel Mattina collaboration with Tre Fonteinen and Del Ducato.
Italy's craft beer movement has accelerated in the last few years. They are today, where the Uninted States was 15 years ago. Fifteen years ago a handful of men, Teo Musso, Agostino Arioli, and Leonardo Di Vincenzo crafted a mark on the Italian culinary culture. Their pitch has fermented from 20 microbreweries in 2002 to nearly 500 today.

One of Italy's most impressionable mark on the taste buds of beer lovers has been the chestnut beer. Yes, chestnuts. How very Italian, no?

So next time you're at your favorite beer store, ask about Italian Craft Beers. 

Cin Cin 

 

 

My massive project, the memior of Ron Gonen, is nearly complete. I've spent five years working on this memior about Ron Gonen, an international thief who escaped Interpol and made his way to Manhattan in the early1980s where he became a highend coke dealer. His success got the attention of what would become known as the first Israeli mafia. After turning state's evidence he was hidden away for 20 years in the Witness Protection Program.

There is already a very well written book by David Copeland about Ron Gonen's years as a coke dealer, but this memior encompasses his entire 25 years as a criminal. It's a page turner. Ron Gonen's life as a thief is probably my favorite part. His cu