March 22, 1999 -- The early part of this month saw World of Beer travel to Italy for ten glorious days. And while the brewing arts weren't placed that high on the agenda this trip---hey, you try beer-hunting in Venice!---we did do our best to find opportunities to sample the local beers.

The problem was that most often the local beers weren't local at all. It seemed as though everywhere we turned in Venice, Florence and even the small city of Ravenna, the beer labels staring back at us weren't Italian at all, but German. Or Dutch. Or even Belgian. With a few notable exceptions---the ubiquitous Moretti, for example---Italian beer was actually quite tricky to come by. Beck's we could sample in abundance, but sourcing beers from Poretti, Dreher or even the larger Peroni proved to be quite difficult.

The reason for this odd beerscape may lie in the fact that all three cities are very heavily touristed, and so bar and restaurant owners feel the need to supply the visiting Germans, French and Dutch with familiar brands. But visitors don't expect to dine on their home country's wine or food while in Italia, so why should they expect their national beer brands? Could it be that the Italian breweries simply aren't meeting the beer desires of the local populace with their notoriously light-tasting lagers (Birra Moretti, Nastro Azzurro, Messina, et al)?

Judging from the ready availability in Venice and Florence of northern German pilsners such as Beck's, Warsteiner and even Jever, perhaps Heineken (owners of a number of Italian beer brands) and Peroni (the other large Italian brewer) would be well-advised to consider brewing in that style. At least it would be nice for visitors to be able to try a few different Italian brews during their stays; even better if those beers were flavourful and characterful.

(For more on our Italian sojourn, please tune in to the next, completely redesigned edition of World of Beer.)

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