Beer in Italy

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Italian beer is mainly pale lager.

Economy

Consumption of beer in Italy, though considered a growing phenomenon, is not as widespread as in its European neighbours, mainly because of a historical preference for wine in the country.

Beer

One of the oldest and most widespread breweries in Italy is Peroni, today owned by the SABMiller group, which also owns the popular brand Nastro Azzurro. Other known breweries and beer brands are:

• Beba
• Castello
• Dreher (owned by the Heineken International)
• Forst
• Ichnusa (owned by the Heineken International)
• Menabrea
• Birra Messina
• Morena
• Moretti (owned by the Heineken International)
• Poretti (owned by Carlsberg Group)
• Splügen (owned by Carlsberg Group)
• Theresianer
• Raffo Beer (owned by SABMiller)

Many quality brands can be found in geographically delimited regions, such as those in the Northeast near Austria. In recent years a considerable number of microbreweries of very high quality have spread throughout Italy.

Micro-Brewing

Since the beginning of the 2000s, there has been a rise in the number of new microbreweries opening. The success of this phenomenon is due to the excellent quality of their products. The local materials are of good quality and much of the experience derived from wine-making applies to brewing.

See also

• Category:Beer and breweries in Italy