Well, this week has already been a long one, and it is only day two. However, the rest of the week promises to be interesting. I will be traveling to San Diego, (home of Karl Strauss brewing) to participate and work behind the scenes at a sales conference. However, while in California, I may as well indulge in some of their fine craft brews right? California is also home to one of my favorite boldest brewers, Stone. Now, I could write for paragraphs on end about Stone and how great some of their beers are, and how I respect their brash flavors and marketing, not to mention how excellent their smoked porter is. But alas, I digress. I want to talk Italy for a moment, more specifically Italian beer.

How often have you seen Birra Moretti on the shelves of your local store? Well, it is only distributed to forty countries world wide, and that is from the mid nineties. The brewery itself is over 150 years old. However, it has not always been widely distributed. In 2006 it became the first (and only) Italian beer to medal in the World Beer Cup. (and here I’ve always been a fan of Peroni Naestro). Well, I finally broke down (in other words had enough spare cash) to buy one of their beers. I don’t often see it in the local supermercados out here, or even in the little specialty liquor stores. This as I have learned from indulging on this brew, is a crying shame. Now, my motto is to go big, or to go home, I wasn’t going to begin with a basic Birra Moretti, I spotted their “La Rossa” (the red) so I had to get it. I love a good red beer, although I have only really been exposed to Killians, Sam Adams, Rahr and Sons… okay, you get the point, I’ve had a half dozen or so. This one is certainly my favorite. Floral notes that remind me of the “blood orange” juice that I had on my Alitalia flights into Roma, and then Firenze on a cold dark night many years ago. The beer itself pours a reddish amber, and finishes with what seems to be a touch of brown sugar. If I could find this beer locally, I would stock up, and recommend that you do the same. It would be phenomenal with spaghetti, or lasagna.

So I leave you with this, go out, look for this beer on the shelves, and buy yourself a six pack. You will be glad that you did. Salut!