Sand, 95°F, big beach umbrellas, Huey Lewis’s “The Power of Love” crackling on a distant radio.
This was where Italians used to drink beer:
a beverage relegated entirely to the summer months, the very symbol of old school beach-parties, served to throngs of enthusiastic platinum-haired German tourists who descended from Brenner like mercenaries towards Garda Lake and the “Riviera Romagnola”.
BEER, A SUMMER BEVERAGE
For more than thirty years (60s-90s), with the complicity of our limited beer culture and the standardized promotion of a single industrial product in large scale distribution (reminiscent of the highly regimented Soviet production of food and beverages), beer in Italy was exclusively blonde, light, a little bitter, and only slightly fizzy, more suitable to pizza and sandwiches on the beach and to summertime day-trippers, than to gourmet or Michelin-star dinners.
This deeply rooted image was undeniable: cool, simple, thirst-quenching, diametrically opposed to wine’s noble and comforting opulence; in one word… summery!
Beginning in the second half of the 1990s, this unfortunate and unusual perception, inconceivable for anyone from Mittel-Nord Europe, tentatively began to change course.
BEER DOESN’T EXIST!
Italians have slowly, yet inexorably, discovered that “beer” doesn’t exist (“Plot twist!” as TV king Mike Buongiorno would have once shouted)…[SI2] BEERS exist, more than four hundred different styles of them.
Strong or delicate, rich or thirst-quenching, blonde or dark, full-bodied or light; those four simple letters conceal an entire multifarious universe of alcohol content, serving temperatures, and pairings, capable of filling the entire Gregorian calendar.
CONSUMPTION ON THE RISE EVEN IN WINTER
The data, finally, indicates a countertrend: consumption is on the rise even in winter, making beer a year-round beverage.
This is the situation that can be gleaned from the latest edition of AssoBirra Monitor, the annual report drafted by AssoBirra, the Trade Association of Italian Brewers and Maltsters.
The study reports an increase in consumption throughout the entire year, with an average increase of 2.2% in the winter months as well.
That’s still far from the +7% of July, traditionally and statistically the month with the highest beer consumption in Italy, but even in December, the month with the lowest consumption of beer, a month in which people are more inclined towards panettone and prosecco, an encouraging +1.5% was recorded.
Beer is growing and expanding rapidly, and it’s now doing so twelve months out of the year!
A BEER FOR EVERY SEASON
Thanks to its incredible breadth of aromas, which range from the most refreshing fruity or citrus ones to the more wintry toasted and nutty ones, Italians have finally discovered Beer (Eureka!), with a consumption that reaches 16 million and a production of 20 million hectoliters.
77% of our fellow compatriots drink beer, a percentage that is now equal between men and women, and 48.3% of Italians consume it paired with food (beyond just sandwiches and pizza at some pub or from a seaside kiosk).
All that’s left to do, in the coming months, is enjoy all of the products that the summer season has to offer, after which, the beer won’t get packed away until next year, but will continue to gratify and surprise us with new flavors and colors that are more suitable to harsh winter weather.
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On January 16, 1920, in the United States, a law took effect which prohibited the production, sale, import, and export of alcoholic products, including beer, and, in 1929 their consumption as well. Then what happened? Let’s find out together.