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Friday, March 04, 2011

Thornbridge Italia


Thornbridge's Italia was a beer that I'd been waiting for with particular interest; I'm a big fan of Lager - when done right, good Lager can be so good. But we don't get a lot of that good stuff over here. Italia (4.8%abv) is the result of a collaboration with Maurizio Folli of Birrificio Italiano; properly lagered, and is loaded with Hallertau Northern Brewer, Perle and Spalter Select hops.



But is it any good? I bought this the same weekend as Sharp's Monsieur Rock, but held off drinking them both in the same session - I feared they would be too alike. I was quite wrong - Italia is unashamedly Lager; Uber-Pale, good carbonation, and meant to be served chilled. There's the malty, biscuity backbone that I was hoping for; a creamy, malted-milk heart. On top of that there's Lime and Lemon, and I actually thought the Lime-zest nose got more intense as the pint wore on. It's citrus all the way, but not too sweet. I liked it a lot, but I don't think I could drink a lot of it - it's not a session beer; the flavours are too big. But that's not a bad thing.


In fact, it formed part of a very enjoyable meal - chunks of Coley, dredged in flour, paprika and pepper, deep fried until golden and served with a Garlic and Lime mayo. Perfect finger-food, and accompanied by a great, sharp, citrussy beer. Hang on - Lager. Watch out for it on keg at various pubs around the country.

8 comments:

Scott Murray said...

Ive tryed this recently at one of their main hub pubs the greystones. The only negative could find with it is the price otherwise i would love to see this rolled out to more pubs everywere.

Alistair Reece said...

I wonder if any of that was found its way to Virgina, I can get Jaipur over here so here's hoping.

John Clarke said...

Hi Leigh

Agree totally - had this in bottle at Manchester's Port Street Beer House (which you must visit by the way) - I only called in for one and it was so good I stayed for a second. Look forward to it on keg - although this will have to be carefully done I think as it's quite an elegant beer and "traditional" keg might do it no favours. Good that Thornbridge keg is actually "keg" via Keykeg then.

Oops - forgot I'm an active CAMRA member (just back from ruling a few local pubs with fear - you wouldn't believe the adrenaline rush that power gives you...) so scrub all that. No, this is a very bad beer - it's not brown and uses, gasp, foreign hops. May the brewers burn in hell.

Leigh said...

Velky - A sham that only 'Jaips' is available, theres' so much more to TB! I've become very fond of Wild Swan of late. JC - hahah, very droll! PSBH is definately on the list and if this is on the bar when I get there, then yes, I'll be trying for comparison purposes. North in Leeds are getting TB on Keg too, so fingers crossed it shows up soon. I'm a CAMRA member too, you know! Scott - nice to hear from you - nothing I can do about pricing!! sorry!

Mark Dredge said...

It's a great beer and I bet it's totally delicious with that fish and mayo. Yum. I was just about to have breakfast but now I want fried fish and beer (luckily I've got an Italia in the fridge...)

Leigh said...

haha - Mark, it was *bang* on with that fish!

Richard said...

Leigh I was going to write a review of the Italia I bought in York, but I might hold off for a couple of weeks in case you think I was plaigarising! Malt, creamy palate, lemony finish, decent carbonation - exactly what I got.

Maybe I should pair it with deep fried haggis for the post, just to make it slightly different... ;)

Leigh said...

Richard; apologies! Do post anyway though, always good to hear what others think - and if we on the same lines then we must be doing something right!