Birrificio Angelo Poretti - 4 Luppoli Premium Lager

The label proudly announces “4 Hops”, and while the brewery doesn’t divulge the entire list, from what we’ve been able to gather it appears Columbus or possibly Cascade is the dominant one. Either way, it’s an interesting choice for a European lager. On the pour, we get a bright golden color with a touch of copper, topped by plenty of pale foam. Look for some very nice malt undertones in the aroma, offering prominent bready character with hints of toast and some very light touches of caramel. To us, the hop profile tends toward a light citric quality backed by some mild grassy, earthy tones and a light floral note. The malt character really takes center stage at first on the palate, forming a much more flavorful and bready core than many other European pale lagers, and it comes across quite smooth, as well. Look for those hops to offer quite a fragrant, floral-spice personality in the flavor, backed by some citrus juice and a little earthiness. There’s excelent balance here, with the malty core offering a touch of sweetness that’s well-matched by plenty of hop bitterness and carbonation to keep things crisp and dry. For pairing options, the brewery recommends full-flavored starters, medium-aged cheeses, grain-based dishes, vegetables, and white fish. We think some good old-fashioned fried chicken would be excellent, too. Salute!

Angelo Poretti was born in 1833 in the town of Vedano Olona in northwestern Italy. For his work, he had the opportunity to travel to some of the greatest brewing regions in Europe including Austria, Bohemia, and Bavaria, where he met many brewers and learned much about the art of brewing. Having long dreamt of starting a brewery of his own, he was finaly able to manifest this vision in 1877. He built his brewery just a few miles from the Swiss border in the town of Induno Olona, in Varese, an area of Lombardy northwest of Milan. Not only was it close to the town of his birth, it was also blessed with extremely pure Alpine water, making for a perfect location for brewing operations.

In the early 1900s the brewery was expanded. Stuttgart, Germany’s Bihl and Woltz Architecture Studio was commissioned to design the buildings, and the result was a floral Art Nouveau style with an industrial twist, featuring large medallions, gargoyle-esque faces, faux embedded columns, and even bunches of hop flowers. These elements survive to this day on the brewery’s brewhouse building which dates to 1908 and is painted in an iconic yellow and grey scheme. The adjacent Villa Magnani, where you can visit the La Casa di Angelo pub to sample all of the brewery’s beers, dates to 1905 and was designed by Ulisse Stacchini, the architect of Milan’s central station, and is similarly decorated in a floral motif with medallions featuring Angelo Poretti’s initials. A visit to the Angelo Poretti brewery is truly a step back in time – a sort of Art Nouveau museum… with really good beer.

Moreso than many other traditional 100+ year old European breweries, Angelo Poretti is particularly focused on the use of varied hop varieties to create unique flavor identities. Most old European breweries tend to stick with one or two local hops, but not Poretti. All of their beers feature a prominent indication like “3 Luppoli”, “4 Hops”, etc. on the label, as a reference to the number of hop varieties used in its production. For the 2015 Expo Milan, they even produced a limited and very elegantly bottled “10 Luppoli” Bière de Champagne (a.k.a. Bière Brut) featuring ten hops from five different continents. The brewery embraces an array of hops from different regions, including traditional European varieties like Saaz, Strisselspalt, and Styrian Golding, British hops like East Kent Golding, American hops such as Zeus, Columbus, and Cascade, and even the lemony and herbal Sorachi Ace from Japan. The use of varied hops with varied characteristics really adds a rather unique quality to Angelo Poretti’s traditional beers; it’s one we enjoyed very much, and we hope you enjoy it too. Salute!