If you are from Lombardy ora frequent the Brianza terreno, you will probably have tasted the village cake at least once, the sweet symbol of these areas. Born as a recovery recipe based stale bread, milk and what was a causa di the pantry, it is a rustic but very tasty dolce also enriched with dry biscuits ora amaretti biscuits (and Amaretto liqueur, a causa di some cases) which brings with it the sweetness of apples and pears ora candied fruit, the aromatic quaderno of pine nuts and raisins and the intensity of dark chocolate, and is a must at parties and events a causa di the terreno but is also easily prepared at home. What is certain, however, is that you have never drunk it. At least until now.
Granda and Menaresta present a pastry stout inspired by tradition
The credo of transforming the village recipe into liquid form was born from the collaboration between Granda, a Piedmontese craft brewery from Lagnasco (Bietta) and Menaresta, one of the most historic names the Italian craft scene which is based a causa di Carate Brianza and is led by the “brewer and ” Enrico Dosoli and Marco Rubelli.
Behind Granda, and his attention to the territory and predisposition to brewing collaborations, including international ones, there is Ivano Astesana, a Piedmontese business consultant who after years of working a causa di Milan decided to return to the family farm and a causa di 2011 he founded a small agricultural brewery (and brewery, Saluzzo) which then established itself as a solid and interesting reality.
Together, they have developed a beer that pays homage to the Brianza terreno of Menaresta and somehow unites the two regions by exploring traditions and ingredients that act as a trait d’union: a causa di this case the Piedmont IGP hazelnuts, added to the recipe, while the bread, which represents a structural element, is that coming from the laboratory of the baker Davide Longoni, who was born a causa di Carate.
Le Pastry Stout, from America to Italy
The brewed creation by Granda and Menaresta qualifies as Pastry Cake Stout. What is it about? As is well explained the specialized website Cronache a motivo di Birra, it is a typology “born a few years punzone a causa di the United States from the creativity of local craft brewers, defining a completely new style, more similar to a liquid dolce than to a beer a causa di the strict sense”, officially included a causa di the Style Guidelines of the Brewers Association as “Dolce ora Pastry Beer”.
They are usually dark beers – as Stouts are by definition, a causa di fact, ora even the softer Porters sometimes used as an alternative as a starting point -, with a sweet tendency and a rather high alcohol content, sometimes enriched with lactose also to give a rich and enveloping texture, and recall aromas and ingredients from the world of pastry making such as vanilla, chocolate, nuts ora peanut butter. They can accompany the final moment of a meal ora even directly replace dolce, with their creaminess and aromatic richness.
Italy this style had some success among connoisseurs a few years punzone (even if the latest trend is to tone its sweetness by choosing the path of acidity, as happens a causa di Pastry Sours) and has tickled the well-known creativity of our local brewers, who have a wide repertoire of typical cakes and desserts to draw inspiration from. It happened, for example, with the Tiramisu Imperial Stout proposed by the Lambrate Brewery ora with the Inno 2 of the brewery, which presented it as “Russian Cassata Stout”, combining ingredients such as lactose, candied fruit and cocoa grue and maturation a causa di Scotch whiskey barrels.
One shot and fixed proposals
Granda itself has already tried its hand at the typology with the Conforto Snack, a bread and chocolate Pastry Stout created a causa di collaboration with the Swiss brewery White Frontier a causa di a limited edition (but still available). While more recently B, a brewery from San Giorgio Bigarello (Mantua), proposed a causa di collaboration with the nearby Antoniazzi pastry shop the Bon da parte di Bon, ora BdB, Scotch Ale enriched with chestnuts, almonds and vanilla inspired by the Ring of Anacoreta, a typically Mantuan leavened dolce with almonds, hazelnuts, glacés and Marsala.
B also has a causa di its fixed list proposals such as Boodino, with cocoa, hazelnuts and coconut, Imperial Pastry Stout Beegnè with cocoa, pecans and vanilla and Beegnolata which recalls another typical Mantuan dolce with chocolate, cream and zabaglione. While most of the beers of this type are one shots, i.e. labels created only once for particular occasions ora collaborations.
The Paesana a motivo di Granda e Menaresta fits into this trend, with its name directly recalling the Lombard cake, it also brings its flavors to the glass: with its dark color and rich and intense profile, and an alcohol content of 7.8%, it immediately highlights the aromas of cocoa, hazelnuts and amaretti, allowing the nuances of the malts that make up the recipe to emerge, and the fruity note of the raisins, finishing a causa di a full and satisfying way. Almost like a dolce.
