February 15, 2009: Birra Moretti

Birra Moretti is a crisp lager hailing from that strange little boot that juts out into the Mediterranean sea that my ancestors came from; Italy. I'm a bit of a mutt when it comes to family heritage, as my forefathers came from very different parts of Europe but I'm mostly Italian when you break it all down. Italy is a wonderful country full of passionate people and rich traditions with one collosal flaw; their brewing heritage is about as exciting as trying to memorize the periodic table of elements. No one can dispute the extraordinary virtues of Italian wine and cuisine, but Italian beer is not quite as legendary to say the least. There are only two major Italian beers that come to mind when I think really think about it, and Birra Moretti is one of them.

Birra Moretti is a light European style lager that is owned and operated by their giant nieghbors to the north, Heineken International. There is an alarming trend in my opinion sweeping through Europe over the past 20 years of smaller brands being absorbed by the titans of the European beer market. We've even seen some of the heavy hitters of Europe infiltrate the American market, when InBev surprisingly purchased Budweiser in June of 2008. For me, there appears to be a clear danger of these smaller brands losing a bit of their quality and authenticiy once the become a part of these larger coporate machines whose chief concern is generating profit. As it stands, Birra Moretti is one of the most marketable brands operating under the Heineken flagship. For me, Birra Moretti is just sort of an average lager. Before I ever taste a beer, the first that I do is inhale the scent of the beer a few times to get a feel for the aroma. I've come to regard aroma as being almost important to the overall enjoyability of a beer as taste, and Birra Moretti had a rather bland smell about it that wasn't exactly enticing. The deep honey-amber color of this beer belied the taste, which wasn't nearly as exciting as it looked. The bottom line for me is that Birra Moretti is just another one of these beers that has so little to set it apart from any other European style lager. If you want a standard, run of the mill lager with little to no frills, pop one of these bad boys with your next plate of spaghetti.

One thing I will say for this beer however, is that it has a pretty kick ass label. I just recently watched the film "Donny Brasco" starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, so I'm kind of enamored with the idea of made men, organized crime, and whacking your enemies at the moment. The label of Birra Moretti has this really shifty looking dude in a green suit and fedora, who looks like he could have been an underboss or hitman for Lucky Luciano. It's a pretty cool image on the label, but something tells me that the when the mafiosos get together in New York, they're drinking dry martinis or vintage red wine, not Birra Moretti.

Salute!
Ian

http://www.morettibeer.com/