O Felice Giorno!

Sometimes, a good beer is just the thing you want.  Libertine Benjamin Franklin once said that "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."  Whether he believed in God or not depended on what point in his life you caught him, but it seems he pretty much always believed in beer.

But if you're in the mood for a tall cold one, and you're in Italy or an Italian restaurant, you're pretty much out of luck.  Just about the only Italian beer you can get anywhere, including in Italy, is Peroni, and Peroni is quite possibly the weakest, most watery barley tea ever put in a bottle and called "beer."  It makes Bud Light seem hearty by comparison.

So it's nice to see the development of Italian craft brews because hey, you can't drink wine all the time.  When the American craft brew movement built up a head twenty or so years ago it did nothing but good to the market and even the majors began to pay attention to the quality of their product again and now all offer craft brew-style upmarket alternatives.  Pay attention, Peroni Sp.A.!  Hopefully under the lead of these small brewers and pubs, Italy will take its place alongside Germany, Belgium, Czech, and England as a producer of quality brew.