Craft “Estiva” Ale
Monza (Lombardy, Italy) is famous for its Formula One Grand Prix, very little for its remarkable Duomo, and even less for this beer that the Birrificio Carrobiolo has produced since 2008, the year of its creation.
The anecdote deserves to be told: The “Piccolo Opificio Brassicolo del Carrobiolo” (its real name) first opened within the convent of the Barnabite Fathers, in the historic center of the city, a collaboration between the convent and Pietro Fontana, who was then the director of their educational center for troubled youth. Since 2014, the microbrewery has had a brewpub, and Pietro was ranked seventh among Italian craft brew-masters this year.
Named “Estiva”, this beer is a kölsch, that is to say a quite rare beer style of German origin. It’s one of the palest German beers, a clear top-fermenting beer with a fruity taste and a low bitterness. In fact, historically, it is the “German pale ale.”
With its slight taste of citrus and passion fruit, this session beer available from May to September is smooth and crisp. Very pleasant, refreshing, easy to drink, Estiva is probably slightly too bitter for its style of origin. And, personally, I think that if this beer were called an APA rather than a kölsch, everyone would be delighted with it…