The ANNOTICO Report

I can't imagine that this will be little more than a fad. Could I be wrong???

ANSA - Italy
Rome, Italy
August 22, 2005

A pioneering band of beer-brewers is taking Italians places where few have
been before .

Microbreweries and brewpubs, which produce small quantities of mostly
all-malt beer that can be sold on the premises, are the latest trend to hit
Italian shores after taking America by storm over the last decade .

Since the first such establishments opened their doors to a largely uniform
Italian drinking public in the late 1990s, the number of craft brewers has
soared .

Between restaurants, nightclubs and spots that are little more than
taprooms tagged on to breweries, there are now some 100 outlets in Italy
offering beer produced on the premises .

Pubs however, which are free to dedicate all their energy to crafting beer
rather than touting it as a quirky extra, are by far the most popular
outlets .

Although certain European nations have a strong tradition of brewing
distinctive, on-the-premises products, the fad for microbreweries appears
to have sprung to life in Italy fully-formed as a US import .

"I think the concept of brewpubs and microbreweries in Italy has almost
nothing to do with nearby countries and their history - such as Germany,
Czechoslovakia or Belgium - and everything to do with the America, where
these kind of places are enormously popular," said Guido Taraschi,
president of the association uniting Italian microbreweries, Unionbirrai .

Most sector operators attribute this to the lack of a true Italian brewing
tradition, compared to certain other European nations where it is a part of
their national heritage .

"The multinationals arrived immediately after the war .

Italy had no time to develop its own tradition of craft beer brewing and
consequently had no frame of reference," explained Enrico Borio, co-owner
of the Beba microbrewery near Turin .

But as in America, it was the absolute ascendancy of a few big names that
sparked an eventual backlash against the industrially brewed products
saturating the market .

Between them, Heineken Italia, Peroni, Carlsberg Italia and Forst control
three-quarters of the Italian beer market, meaning the majority of drinking
establishments offer one of a few, standard choices .

"Until microbreweries, the beer on offer had become totally bland here,"
explained Taraschi .

He admitted however, that only about 20% of new customers to his Centrale
della Birra, which opened in Cremona in 1997, really understand the
difference between industrial and craft beer .

However, the craft element in beer-making is another key factor in the
growing success of microbreweries .

Elisabetta Stellato, owner of Kenny's brewpub in Rome, said that while the
on-site equipment could be a turn-off for some customers, for the majority,
it was a source of great fascination .

"The slightly older clientele, in their late twenties, only come here
because they're interested in the beer, but the younger ones are completely
intrigued by the beer production process itself," she said .

But despite early successes, microbreweries and brewpubs are hampered by
legislation in Italy, which unlike other European nations, makes no
size-based concessions for breweries, meaning that multinationals and small
start-up companies are taxed equally .

"Legislators couldn't care less about us, as we don't have the clout large
breweries do," railed Taraschi. "They can't afford to mess multinationals
around as there's so much more money at stake." But he admitted that the
flipside of the coin, was that the only microbrewers to survive in the
currently inhospitable climate were dedicated professionals producing an
extremely high-quality beverage .

Borio agreed and explained that "running a microbrewery or brewpub is an
enormous commitment and responsibility. You have to be good at what you do,
and you have to love it, because they only way you're going to survive is
if you produce really outstanding beer."

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