Menabrea

Commercial Brewery in Biella (BI), Piedmont, Italy 🇮🇹
Owned by Forst

Established in 1846

Contact
Via Ramella Germanin n.4, Biella (BI), 13900, Italy
Description
Menabrea is the oldest active brewery in Italy. A top premium brewery, given the melding of three elements: An original beer recipe, quality raw materials and an inherent beer culture.

Birra Menabrea is part of the history of beer in Italy. Founded in 1846 by Mr. Welf di Gressoney and the brothers Antonio and Gian Battista Caraccio, in 1854 the brewery was rented to Giuseppe Menabrea and Antonio Zimmermann, who bought it in 1864. Following the exit of Zimmermann from the company, it was Giuseppe Menabrea who set up the 6 July 1872 "G. Menabrea and sons". At the head of the brewery is Carlo Menabrea until, in 1896, the company passed into the hands of Emilio Thedy and Augusto Antoniotti, husbands of the Menabrea sisters. From that moment on, the Thedy family will lead the company.

In 1991, the company became part of the Forst Beer Group. However, Birra Menabrea retains its strong identity and independence intact. Since 2005 the director is Franco Thedy, the fifth descendant of the family. In 2017, Franco Thedy gave the go-ahead for the expansion of the Brewhouse with advanced features and a spectacular visual impact. Inauguration is scheduled for March 2019.

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4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

Clear golden coloured body with a thinnish white head. Aroma of funky old malt, yeast, alcohol and a touch of metal - not very nice. Light-bodied; Somewhat decent, mild malty flavoured taste with some bitter alcohol and cardboard, but mostly subtle flavours throughout. Aftertaste shows a touch of grapes, some rice and a potent alcoholic maltiness. Overall, not the worst beer, but certainly not a great beer. About standard for an Italian mass-produced Lager. I sampled this 33 cL bottle purchased from A Tutta Birra in Milan, Italy on 12-November-2009, sampled at home in Washington during Snowmaggedon #2 on 06-February-2010.

Tried from Bottle on 10 Feb 2010 at 13:15


6.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

660 ml bottle sampled@RBNAG 2009, Vatlandsvåg. Clear mahogany body with a nice, but diminishing off-white head. Aroma is mild malty, some caramel and bread with some alcohol. Flavor has a light, but sharp maltiness with some caramel and bitterness. A bit thin body, the finish has hops and some alcohol. Not bad, not great.

Tried from Bottle on 13 Jan 2010 at 07:38


6.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

clear amber, smooth and thick offwhite head. aroma is sort of like a lager (even though it says ale). dry nutty, very slightly fruity. faint but rather pleasant. even though it’s faint it also seems to be full. flavor is very dry, non-sweet malty, faint nutty. dry and crisp malty flavor profile. very faint sweet spicy note in there too.

Tried on 07 Jan 2010 at 13:00


6.2
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

66cl bottle shared with gf. Clear brown, smooth offwhite head. lacings. nice. slightly metallic, tobacco, nutty, caramelly, brown sugar, sweet malty, faint syrup. flavor is slightly buttery, caramel, toffee, faint roasted malts, sweet malts, strange aftertaste that is quite spicy instead of roasted or sweet, which i would have expected.

Tried from Bottle on 29 Dec 2009 at 14:00


4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4

21/12 A 0.66l bottle from a random shop in San Remo, I think. Anyway, it poured golden body with small head. Stinky malty aroma, grainy with some honey. Malty pale lager in flavor as well, eggs, honey/cornflakes and similar typical things. Medium body. Somewhat of herbal hop bitterness is present in the finish which was more sweet anyway, but it raises my opinion on this brew slightly. Not really good anyway.

Tried from Bottle on 26 Dec 2009 at 07:39


2.8
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3

Bottle, Carringtons, Chorlton. Crikey this is poor stuff. Pissy gold colour with a thin white head. Unappealing pallid lagery aroma. Something chemical in the flavour, almost antispeptic like, yuk. Deep down I knew this was going to be bad, but hey its a rate. Looking forward to trying some of the good italian beers that are supposed to be out there. This mos’def ain’t one of them.

Tried from Bottle on 24 Dec 2009 at 07:33


5.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5

Bottle, 6.5%. Mild grainy aroma. Clear golden colour. Good stable head, a bit plasticky. The flavour is also grainy, with a bit of sourness. Has a little alcohol note. Quite clean, but also quite uninteresting.

Tried from Bottle on 22 Dec 2009 at 05:55


5.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5

66 cL bottle. Pours almost clear yellow and golden with a huge white head. Aroma is grassy to hayish hoppy. Malty, light sweet, vague metallic and alcohol flavoured. Bitter and dry grassy into a dry finish. Simple.

Tried from Bottle on 22 Dec 2009 at 05:54


4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 5

Bottle. Pale gold, white head. Inviting fruit/ bread aroma. Quite sweet. Meh.

Tried from Bottle on 11 Nov 2009 at 02:12


3.4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2.5

33cl bottle, local store. Pours clear golden color. Grassy, vegetal aroma. Flavor is vegetal and malt aroma. I did not like this one.

Tried from Bottle on 04 Nov 2009 at 11:33