Italy Craft Beer Hunt: Tuscany, Verona & Our Best Pizza Yet
Our Italian adventure took us from the beaches of Tuscany to the historic streets of Verona and Lake Garda, searching for craft beer while discovering incredible pizza, fresh seafood, and unforgettable pasta. Along the way, we sampled beers from Radical Brewery, Birrificio del Forte, and Birrificio Apuano, and learned that finding an IPA in Italy can turn into an adventure of its own—especially when your destination turns out to be closed.
Adam & Dedra
10/23/20262 min read
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Italy's Hidden Craft Beer, Incredible Pizza & Our Hunt for an IPA
When most people think about visiting Italy, they picture incredible pasta, beautiful coastlines, historic cities, and enough wine to keep the entire country happy. Naturally, we went looking for craft beer.
Don't get us wrong. We absolutely enjoyed the wine, and the food alone was worth the trip. But after spending so much time exploring breweries and taprooms back home, we wanted to see what Italy had to offer on the beer side.
What we discovered was that finding Italian craft beer wasn't quite as easy as walking into our favorite Arizona taproom. There were no obvious sports bars with 30 beers on tap around every corner. Instead, our search took us through beach clubs, tiny bars, hotel patios, and a few places we probably wouldn't have found otherwise.
Throw in some of the best pizza we've ever eaten, fresh seafood, historic castles, and one particularly unsuccessful attempt to find a bar, and we had ourselves a pretty memorable Italian adventure.
A Peanut Butter & Jelly Sour Before Our Italian Adventure
Before getting into Italy, we kicked off the show with something that felt a lot more American: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in beer form.
Lunchbox Legend from More Brewing Company in Illinois is a gluten-free, PB&J-inspired sour ale that comes in at 7.5% ABV.
Unlike the thick, smoothie-style sours we sometimes enjoy, this one pours a relatively clear reddish color. But the aroma and flavor tell a completely different story.
Adam immediately picked up the sweet jelly and peanut butter combination, declaring it one of his favorite PB&J-inspired beers we've tried.
Dedra agreed that the aroma was spot-on, even picking up something resembling bread, but she wasn't quite ready to give it first place. Another PB&J beer we'd previously enjoyed still had the edge for her, thanks to its stronger peanut butter flavor.
She also noticed a slightly wine-like character in Lunchbox Legend.
Either way, it was a surprisingly convincing recreation of a childhood lunch staple. Although we're fairly certain most school lunch policies would have a problem with the 7.5% alcohol content.
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