San Marino Beer Hunting

San Marino 0 v England 6

Saturday 5 September 2015

EURO 2016 Qualification

Twitter @ball_sup

Well, that was close. Not the result of course. But, I reckon we were 30 seconds away from giving the Brewery visit the Old Heave Ho. And it turned into a fantastic trip in the end.

I rate myself as Cosmopolitan. No little Englander I. When abroad, try & think like they think. But, I've blogged before about Italian bar opening times. I can't seem to get in their skin. Apologies to my San Marino cousins, I know they're not Italian.

http://ball-sup.blogspot.com/2015/04/double-deportee.html

This time around, still caught out time after time. We went to a RateBeer place in Rimini - shut (Friday afternoon). We went to the pub near the hotel in Serravalle - shut (Friday half five). We had a cafe shut under us (Friday at eight). We got to a cafe near the brewery at 1155am, Saturday morning - it shut at Noon. FFS.

So, I've dragged the MEC (Mobility & Emotionally Challenged) all the way up to Birrificio Artigianale Sammarinese. To give you an idea of its Sticksville Scale. It's round the back & underneath a Ferrari garage. The only nearby gaff is the aforementioned noon closing cafe.

I'd "arranged" to meet Andrea at the Brewery at 1pm. We'd been hanging loose with the MEC in the locale since 1155 (see above). Andrea's nom de guerre was MUD at 1:07. To be honest, I'd already given him The Send Off. Then, he's only gone & turned up. And we're back in The Room.

So, we've had a great time up there. He could not have been more helpful. His beers are released as titanbrau. They were lovely & fresh and essentially unfiltered.

I did;

titanbrau, Bionda 4.9% on keg

titanbrau, San Marino Comics 5.6% in a bottle. That is just the Ambrata rebadged for a Comics Convention.

titanbrau, La Guaíta Chiara 6.4% in a bottle. I didn't quite get that bit. It's clearly brewed by Andrea. But, he brews it "for a customer" & it's different branding. A bit hoppier than the rest. But, to be honest, at the low end of the bitter scale.

titanbrau, Nera 7.5% in a bottle. That is a serious, treacle, liquorice, high abv double bock.

As time passed, a few more England fans made it up there. If it's out there, it'll be sniffed out.

During the Rimini non-opening fiasco, I managed to source L'Italica Birra Di Puro Malto 5% in a bottle. Perfectly OK, Bohemian style Lager.

And, unbelievably, during the Serravalle walkabout, I caught a bit of Coppa Italia Baseball. Nettuno at San Marino, Game 1. It was already the middle of the seventh. And Nettuno came through 5-2. (Although, they went more-or-less straight into Game 2 as a Double Header). My fellow travellers had industrial beer. I went for the full IBL experience - Cappuccino & Grappa.

That football identifies everything wrong with how International Football is organised. Mismatch. In my lifetime, I'll watch far more supposedly competitive games vs San Marino than I will vs Brazil. Now OK, we're not in Brazil's class. But, we're not in San Marino's either. It's madness. Does the game no favours. Dead games.

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