BREWER: Menabrea, Piedmont, Italy

STYLE: Lager

ABV: 4.8%

VESSEL: 660ml green bottle

TWITTER: @BirraMenabrea

INSTAGRAM: birramenabreaofficial

DATE OF POST: 2nd May 2021

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

Menabrea is as you might expect.   It’s an Italian lager, which on the whole are very drinkable.

The nose is unremarkable but not unpleasant.  It’s light in the mouth and is very easy to quaff.  Where Menabrea would be at home, is, unsurprisingly, in an Italian bar nestled in an Italian square.  In such a scenario, then the scoring for this lager could very easily go through the roof.   Okay, you could argue this is the case for any beer, and that would be true, but there are some ales that transgress the situational scoring.

While Menabrea will not be setting the world on fire, it may make many an Italian holiday.

It’s worth a try – perhaps wait until the perfect opportunity arises…

Sammy’s Rating: 50%

 

JYMI SAY’S…

When you think Italian lager your mind nowadays heads to one, maybe two obvious beers if you’re a UK based sipper.

When thinking Italian lager I’m fairly certain your mind should also wander towards clean, crisp and refreshing drinking. However when peering at my very large bottle of Menabrea Birra Bionda I was not thinking that at all. I was thinking, ‘that looks pretty cool, but is this really an Italian lager’?

However normal service resumed once popped, sniffed and sipped. This was quite clearly a southern European lager as it was clean, it was crisp and it was refreshing. Now in the right setting this can just be fantastic. Warm and lazy BBQ or a balmy Milanese afternoon al fresco. This doesn’t necessarily mean this is a great beer, because it’s not, it’s just very enjoyable. What it does mean is that in the right situation because of it’s crisp and refreshing nature it can be elevated from a nice enough beer to a very enjoyable brew indeed.

The weather was set fair though not particularly warm when I tested this a few days ago.

Did I enjoy it? Yes I did.

Did it blow my light weight embroidered cotton spring socks off? No it did not.

 Jymi’s Rating: 62%

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 56%

MOB review next weekend: CLOUDWATER SESSION IPA  by CLOUDWATER

Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze since 2017