Italy is not only home to great wine, Italian beer is also dear to an increasing number of admirers throughout the world. Italians first learned to appreciate beer as consumers, and then from the 1990s onward the country earned a place among the best brewers internationally. Thanks to slow but constant growth in consumption, the development of Italian beer has continued down a path including both large-scale and handcrafted beer, which taken together offer one of the richest and most varied product offers on the map.
The most well-known beers include historic national brands such as Peroni and Moretti, as well as more local productions like Sardegna’s Ichnusa. These are true multinationals with channels in many markets worldwide. Then there are strictly Made in Italy beers like Castello, Pedavena or Alto-Adige’s Forst. Dozens of smaller producers are also active in the international market, many of which took advantage of laws authorizing home producing beer passed in 1996. Since then a microcosm of Italian microbreweries has reached new heights, competing with output from other countries with longer and more consolidated traditions.
