Italian Recap

This year we'll be taking our tour group to Italy instead of our usual jaunt to the Beer Paradise of Belgium. After many years of successful collaborations between Ale Street News and Short Hills Tours, I now work directly with SHTs main man Greg Dennis, keeping the flame burning with our faithful family of beer lovin' Touristas. It's not exactly a Dog and Pony show, but perhaps we can call it the Greg and Tony show?

As we did 11 years ago, we will be gandering around northern Italy with visits to breweries, wineries and new this time the White Truffle Festival in Alba. The group arrives in Milan November 12 and will be whisked from the airport to a warm welcome at Croce di Malto in Trecate. It be will be fun to see Alessio and Frederico again. Who can forget our last visit when they took us up the steeple of the cathedral (which was under renovation) and asked me to crack a magnum of their beer of which we all partook above the rooftops, followed by a gourmet catered lunch at their brewery (remember the spoonfuls of fresh, gelato-like gorgonzola?). Now they have a new brewery and restaurant which I'm sure will be fantastic. 

Through the Alps, Alessio with magnums and guide. Atop the steeple and in the brewery.

In 2013 we convened at the Mondial de la Biere festival in Strasbourg, and cruised through the snowcapped Alps in our VIP bus, arriving in Lake Como from the north. This year we will be coming from the south with a stop at Birrificio Italiano, one of italy's first craft breweries, which we also visited before.

From Como we descend into the wine country of Alba and Barolo with some brewery visits sprinkled among our vinicultural exploits. And of course we'll be going to see our good friend the ever-entrepreneurial Teo Musso at Birra Baladin. I remember last time he had a collection of 1-gallon jars fermenting in sealed cubicles with different musical selections piped in to ascertain the effect the music might have on the beer. Can't wait to see what barrel-aged beauties have been patiently awaiting us at Baladin.

Some of the group with Teo Musso at Baladin. Gianpaulo at Lambrate.

We finish up back in Milan where we will no doubt greet another great amico Gianpaulo, still manning the taps at venerable Lambrate. We'll have a few OGs on board but it will be largely fresh eyes and palates that will partake of this year's slice of the Dolce Vita!

If you're wondering how to get more info on our tours, reply to this e-letter and we'll add you to the database.