Beer in Italy

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Italy is considered to be part of the wine belt of Europe. Nevertheless, beer, particularly mass-produced pale lagers, are common in the country. It is traditionally considered to be an ideal accompaniment to pizza; since the 1970s, beer has spread from pizzerias and has become much more popular for drinking in other situations.

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)

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.