A few weeks ago a good friend of mine, and one of the people to blame for my beer obsession, tweeted that he didn’t care how uncool it was he still loves this beer.
It reminded me that I’d not had one for ages and so I thought I’d grab a bottle and write a few words about this classic Italian beer.
Gran Riserva is a double malt with a big orange glow and a smell of whisky, honey, paprika and olive oil.
It’s a beer that tastes solid, with a wood fuelled malt laced with toffee and a smear of pine resin.
A good spirit warmth hits your belly and sits there like a decent Scotch while the hops are snappy little bursts of crushed peppercorns, fresh herbs, and just a trace of mown lawns.
But there’s none of your citrus here to cleanse you palate, oh no.
This one just builds and builds with the caramels of the malts combining with the dry leaf woodiness of the hops to create a great big antique sideboard of a beer.
The only thing that lets this beer down for me is that I find it leaves a bit of a sandy feeling in my mouth after I’ve finished.