Bier Passie 2007

#amarcord #villaggiodellabirra 2006 The article in Beer Passion by Ben Vinken about the first edition of our Festival

BIER PASSION MAGAZINE -#33 – DEC/JAN/FEB 2007-The ROUTE BIEREPASSION – Tasting beer in Tuscany by Ben Vinken

We didn't expect it... an invitation to taste beer in Tuscany near the famous vineyards of Montalcino. Gianni Tacchini has been the owner of the TNT pub in Bibbiano for more than 10 years, a place near Buonconvento less than half an hour from Siena.


A great lover and connoisseur of Belgian beer, he organized a beer festival in his pub, with 5 Belgian beer producers and a few Italian microbreweries... Bierepassion was there!


Eindhoven – Pisa is an easy Ryanair flight route, you can leave at noon and find yourself 3 hours later admiring the famous Leaning Tower. Pisa is, after all, a pleasant city to stroll around with that typical Tuscan atmosphere made of calm and serenity. With two hours by car you can be in Siena, and 30km further south of this beautiful city, there is the small town of Buonconvento, near, as mentioned, Montalcino and Pienza.

A small enchanted town with its main street, its little shops and small restaurants... a little higher up, at the top of a road lined with cypresses, you'll find Bibbiano, and there Gianni's TNT.
We arrived on Friday evening, it was already night. Gianni had prepared a long table for the band of almost all the Belgian master brewers and let us discover Tuscan specialties, simple delights: fresh pasta with ragù, “overcooked” pork loin, pork prepared with rosemary and garlic... And we washed it all down with a delicious wine from the local vineyards... At the table were Marc Limet from Kerkom, Bart Desaeger from Den Hopperd and Achilles van de Moer from the Achilles brewery in Itegem. Later Gregory Verhelst from the Rulles brewery arrived and on Saturday Kris Boelens finally joined us, who had lost a day due to a car problem. We all slept in a large and luxurious farmhouse, guests of Gianni, near the pub.

The next day we visited Buonconvento and its Saturday market. The perfect time to stock up on pecorino (sheep cheese from the region) and other delicacies.

At noon we met at the pub and the Festival began.

Unfortunately for Gianni, the weather was not on his side, it was pouring rain, but there were still many people attending the beer tasting, which was conducted and hosted by Kuaska, Lorenzo Dabove, this particularly gifted Italian speaker who is in some way the Michael Jackson (the world's greatest beer taster) of Italy. I had already met him this year in Rimini, in Seattle and also in Belgium, where he accompanied young American brewers on their Belgian trip.

Kuaska did a great job presenting the brewers and their beers, giving lots of information about the characteristics of each type of beer and being very engaging with the audience. The audience present was, moreover, made up of real beer connoisseurs, we were amazed to discover everything these Italians knew about Belgian beer and even about the smallest microbreweries in Belgium.

During these two days I myself tasted many beers and discovered new flavors.

Bart Desaeger, who works for Duvel-Moortgat, in his spare time produces at his home the delicious Kameleon. This name comes from the fact that this beer is never the same. His Kameleon Ambree and Triple are easy to drink, they are organic beers with organic malt and organic hops and this gives them a particular taste. Kris Boelens (brother of the late Marc) is certainly known for his “Bieken”, a blonde beer with Yucatan honey, top-fermented and 8.5 degrees, and on this occasion we were able to taste it on tap. I was pleasantly surprised by his Pa gijs, a dark beer of 8.8 degrees, deliciously toasted and hoppy. The Bink Blonde from Kerkom elegantly fascinated me, hopped with a bit of Belgian hops from Vlamertinge and the Bloesem Bink is a real treat made with pear syrup from Vroningen. I still have in my memory the beers from Achilles, whom we met in the last issue, the always amiable Achilles skillfully brews his Serafijn Gold and Triple, fruity and, borrowing the words of Michael Jackson, it must be said that his best beer is the Celtic Angel.

But the best beer of the festival comes from Wallonia.

In the deep south, near Arlon and not far from Orval, Gregory Verhelst brews a superb Rulles Blond, a beer that has everything a good beer should have: body, character, the right balance of hops... Gregory was accompanied by his friend, Palix, a brilliant designer who designed both the Rulles labels and the logo and posters for the Festival.

And the Italians? I tasted some beers from Orso Verde from Lombardy, the brewer Cesare Gualdoni makes a whole range of refermented beers, a good dry British beer, an amber and a double malt at 7 degrees; he told me that there are already 170 microbreweries in Italy and that Italians are starting to have serious tastes for beer.

Moreover, in the land of wine, beer is above all trendy and cool, much more than we can imagine. Now anyone who has drunk a Nastro Azzurro can understand! Never drank a beer that resembled water so much! We went to Piazza del Campo in Siena, and with great joy I saw that they also had Pilsner Urquell on the menu.

There was also a brewer from Cuneo at the festival, from the Birrificio Troll of Vernate, I found their white beers too spicy with juniper and curacao.

One thing struck me during the festival: that you never stopped eating, even if it is true that Tuscany has delicious cheeses and cured meats and at the time of tasting there was always something to nibble on. The TNT kitchen was of high quality and for only 15 euros you could have a 4-course menu. Gianni normally offers good beer and excellent food and so no one should be surprised that his place is very popular and that the pub's parking lot is therefore packed on Sunday evenings!

Gianni sells beer both in his pub and on the website www.birrerya.com where you can buy beer online.

On one of the days of my stay, while we were visiting Siena and were in Piazza Del Campo, I whispered in his ear “Gianni, your festival should be held here, you deserve it, and if you believe in it one day you will be able to do it!”

Let's hope that in a few years we will meet again to taste beer in this superb square and that Gianni's festival will become as famous as the PALIO!

Ben Vinken.