Brewery: Birrificio Angelo Poretti
Brewery Location: Varese, Italy
Alcohol: 5.5%
This was the first beer my friend and I got when we arrived in Rome and went to a bar. It seemed to be the standard “big beer” in Italy, much like Heineken or Budweiser. It seemed to be in about the same tier, and my friend nailed it on the head by stating that it tasted “very commercial.” It wasn’t bad, just seemed to be like any other widely produced beer out there.
And closer up with the condensation
Sight: It looked like a standard lager would: clear, a lighter golden blonde color, and a bit of head that managed to leave a thin film for quite a while.
Smell: Again, a pretty standard lager. It had a mild bitter aroma to it, but it seemed to lack in the hops department (more on that in the next section).
Taste: Like my friend said, “very commercial.” Not bad, but nothing you couldn’t find anywhere else. Luppolo actually means “hops” in Italian, so this beer was basically called “4 hops.” As such, I was expecting it to be a bit hoppier than it was, but it really just struck me as any other mass-produced lager. It was refreshing, but when I order a “4 hops” beer, I expect it to be a little more like an IPA.
I will post about the 7 hops / 7 Luppoli next week 😉
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Sight - 7/107/10
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Smell - 6/106/10
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Taste - 5/105/10
Overall
While I otherwise would have given it a pretty average score of 7’s across the board, I have to dock it solely because it just fell flat of what I was expecting. It’s a fine, milder beer that would serve great as a crisp and refreshing beer in the summer. Had it just been called a “lager” I would have been fine with it, but I felt betrayed after drinking it somehow.