A journalist, Turco’s writing skills and the Italian craft beer movement seem to have been a marriage. Turco started Cronache di Birra early in the movement. He began with video interviews of the brewers themselves, asking their opinions and tapping into their psyche. He interviewed both critics and pub owners as well, catching them at festivals, tastings, and award ceremonies. No one is better at reporting the movement’s every step than Turco. So it’s no wonder that Turco and his blog, Cronache di Birra, are hosting its own awards, the Italian Beer Awards for the best of 2013.
The Italian Beer Awards are the first and only awards that will be
voted in a two tier system involving both experts and craft beer enthusiasts.
Seeking to “award the best players on the national brewing scene,” Turco has
collected a large list of who’s who of beer critics to head up the first part
of the contest. It was Turco’s desire to ‘on the one hand offer prominence to
the best professionals in the industry; the other, directly involve those who
drink beer every day.’
“We all know that to operate in a
market of quality beer is not easy: it takes devotion, entrepreneurial skills,
expertise and a deep love for the product and its culture,” says Turco. “On the
other hand the whole movement would not exist without the presence of active consumers
and enthusiasts: it is therefore right that the latter decide the outcome of
the Italian Beer Awards, allowing
them to choose the best character for each type in a list drawn up by some
experts of Italian beer.”
During the first half of the
month, the experts composed a personal list of the best brewers of the Italian
craft scene under categories Turco chose, which included: Best Brewery, Best Brewpub, Best Beer Firm, meaning, a location
that doesn’t have its own brewery but serves its own beer, Best Pub/Brewery and finally,
Best Beershop. The brewers had to be working in Italy for at least twelve
months. The list will be whittled down to a list of ten finalist breweries.
The list drawn up by the experts
has already been posted.
The nominees for Best Brewery in 2013:
Barley
(Cagliari)
Birra
Del Borgo (Borgorese)
Del
Ducato (Roncole Verdi Di Busseto near Parma)
Del
Forte (Pietrasanta near Lucca)
Extraomnes
(Varese in the Lombardy)
Foglie
d’Erba (Udine)
Lambrate
(Milan)
Menaresta
(Milan)
Montegioco
(Alessandria in Piedmont)
Toccalmatto
(Fidenza near Parma)
Baladin
(Piedmont)
Birrificio
Italiano (Como)
Birrificio
Settimo (Varese)
Troll
(Piedmont)
Lambrate
(Milan)
The nominees for Best Beer Firm in 2013:
Buskers
(Rome)
Cerevisia
Vetus (Frosinone in Lazio)
Sorrento
(Naples)
Stavio
(Rome)
Via
Priula (Bergamo in Lombardy)
Abbazia
di Sherwood (Bergamo)
Arrogant
Pub (Reggio Emilia)
Brasserie
4:20 (Rome)
Locanda
Del Monaco Felice (Bergamo)
Ma
Che Siete Venuti a Fá (Rome)
Open
Baladin (Rome)
Ottavonano
(Avellino near Naples)
Sherwood
Music Pub (Pavia in Lombardy)
Taberna
(Rome)
The
Dome (Bergamo)
The nominees for Best Beershop in 2013:
Astral
Beers (Bologna)
Bere
Buana Birra (Milan)
Bir
Sciò (Naples)
Bir&Fud
Beershop (Rome)
Domus
Birrae (Rome)
Il
Birratrovo (Como)
The most interesting aspect of Turco’s nominees is that amongst the founders, and the usual historic players of the movement (Baladin, Lambrate, Birrificio Italiano), are a few newer breweries (Extraomnes, Forte). It’s a sign of a healthy, growing beer community.
Now the vote for the winners in
each category goes to the consumers. By accessing Cronache di Birra’s Facebook page beer lovers can place their
votes.
Turco’s continued passion is
inspiring and refreshing. England and America had Michael Jackson, Italy can be
proud of Andrea Turco for his informative blog and his innovative and creative
ways of bringing the message to the people.
So if you find yourself traveling
to Italy, even without the final vote, you’ll be more than pleased with an encounter
with any of the nominees. I will post the winners when the results are released
by Turco.
Till then,
Cin Cin
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