I was working at a travel company in Florence, Italy. Our schedule was 6 days of work, 1 day of leisure. It wasn't a long term job and so I wanted to make use of all of those single days. I planned to explore the smaller towns around Florence, the ones I wouldn't have ventured to otherwise. A guy in the U.S. Air force that I met at a Florentine college bar named Uncle Jimmys, recommended Livorno, a port city, on the Western coast of Italy. He specifically intrigued me by the mention of the city's craft breweries. I did some research and found Birra Amiata House, the Bad Elf Pub (not a craft brewery), and Piccolo Birrificio Clandestino. Both the Birra Amiata and Piccolo were close to the sights I wanted to visit. But, Birra Amiata wouldn’t open until 6:30 that evening and I had booked a train for 7. I decided to walk from the train station. It took about 30 minutes to get to my planned area. I grabbed lunch then wanted to head over for some afternoon beers before wandering on and enjoying the warm day. Unfortunately, even though they said they were open, they weren’t when I arrived. I can’t even say this is an Italian thing, it’s a brewery thing. I'd experienced this in the U.S. (cough cough Rubber Soul). I asked a man at a restaurant if I should bother stopping by later for their “evening” hours and he said they are usually open. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be until 6. I’d be cutting it close. I’d have to drink my flight in 30 minutes then hurry to station. After that relaxing afternoon, I did try again. I ended up getting there a little early but a man was inside prepping. It was about 5:40 and when he heard how badly I had wanted to try his beer, he decided to open early just for me, as long as I didn’t mind him tidying up the rest of the restaurant as I drank. I told him I wanted to try all of his beer and he was thrilled. Thankfully he did have smaller glasses. Some Italian breweries don’t offer flights. But he didn’t pour it all at once for me. He wanted me to focus on each individual drink at a time. He didn’t want the others to get warm as I worked my way through, so he told me to call him over when I was ready for the next. He gave me a bowl of peanuts, poured my first and so the tasting began! I started with the Trepponti, a Belgian Ale that won that Barcelona Beer Challenge in 2015. It was sweet with a wheaty taste, a lot of graininess too it but also super refreshing with a medium body and a light orange taste. Next he poured me the Villa Serena Blonde Ale. It had a deep and sweet floral smell with a hint of juice to it. In taste, I felt like I was drinking a honeysuckle. There was a tiny bite to it but little after taste. My third glass was the Cinque Cinque, a strong Belgian Ale. It wasn’t my favorite of the bunch. It was super sweet because of the high, (8%) alcohol content and there was a bit of spice in the after taste. My last glass was the Zinghe, a new beer for the brewery. A double IPA it had this beautiful deep hoppy smell. The first taste carried the sweetness, the middle the hop but only lightly bitter. They sold the rest of their classics in bottles: the Montinera, an imperial Russian stout, the Fortezza Nuova, a barley wine, the Fortezza Vecchia, an aged barley wine, the Oimmena, an American pale ale, the St. Julien bach, an oak aged sour ale, the Gatta Bianca, a while IPA, the Gatta Nera (you guessed it!), a black IPA, the Awanagana, a euro tropical pale ale and lastly the Santa Guilia, a brown ale. Sad I wasn’t able to try just a plain IPA, the owner gave me one of the bottles, on the house, to take with me: the Riappala, an American IPA. It was the “Birra dell’annno” in 2013! I missed my train home, even after taking my shoes off and sprinting barefoot. It was just a bit much to finish in less than an hour. It was worth it though. So far the breweries in Italy had been super friendly and accommodating. It was a cute place and different from Birrificio Fiorentino in so many ways. Birrificio Fiorentino strives to be the classy beer of choice while Piccolo reminded me of beer in the U.S. with artistic designs and clever names. If you're going to take a trip to Livorno for this brewery make sure to also check out:
1. Fortezza Nuova- just a short walk from the brewery, it kind of appears out of nowhere with Venice-like canals leading up to it in all directions 2. Fortezza Vecchia- this is the old fortress on the water, where the port is 3. Check out the aquarium and while you're there get a great view of the light house 4. Stroll around the waterfront at the Terrazza Mascagni 5. Last but not least, get the oreo gelato at Cuore di Panna. This was some of the best gelato I had in Italy.
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