D.F.M. SRL - Birrificio Aosta

The Birrificio Aosta was the brainchild of two friends from different backgrounds, Fulvio and Mauro, who decided to get together to create the first micro-brewery in Aosta. The idea took shape in August 2008 the building opened exactly a year later, on 7th August 2009.

The Birrificio Aosta is a Brew-Pub, and brews its own unpasteurised and unfiltered beer on the premises, using non-industrial techniques and a great deal of passion for their craft. Customers are served in the alehouse adjoining the production area. In that way a drink as special as beer takes its ideal path: from producer to consumer, without any stops on the way. In fact in the pub, the beer is tapped using a direct link from the counter to the area where the beer is produced. To show this, the Birrificio Aosta has a large window separating the mixing and production areas, which means that customers can see the machinery that produces what they are drinking from nearly touching distance. And fairly regularly the master brewers Mauro and Fulvio can be seen finishing off a job ….

The Birrificio Aosta focuses on beer, but customers can also sample dishes, such as shinbone baked in Excalibeer (double-malt beer), risotto made with Jured amber beer and speck, or sausages drowned in blonde APA beer, as well as more traditional Italian and Aostan cuisine, such as tagliatelle with Bleu d’Aoste cheese sauce or platters of cured meat and traditional cheeses, to end the meal with a beery take on tiramisu, the Birramisù. All of which is obviously washed down with beer brewed on the premises. The Birrificio Aosta currently makes 7 beers:

• APA: Blonde Pale Ale, with a fruity aroma, a taste of apples that lasts. Balanced bitter tones with an apple aftertaste. A very balanced beer which is easy to drink.
• LOIREN: A wheat-based Bavarian style beer with a fruity and persistent aroma. An underlying bitter tone and reduced body bring out the taste of the wheat. A balanced and very drinkable beer which is a classic summer drink.
• MONBLANCHE: A wheat and rye based beer grown in the Aosta Valley. Bavarian in style, it has a fruity and persistent aroma. An underlying bitter tone and reduced body bring out the taste of the wheat. A balanced and very drinkable beer which is a classic summer drink.
• JURED: An amber ale tending to red; aroma with sweet dried fruit, caramel and coffee notes. Strong bitter tones balanced by the sweetness of a good mixture of malts, including malted spelt and Aostan apple malt.
• EXCALIBEER: Strong, Belgian-style amber ale, with a fruity and persistent aroma. Full-bodied and full-flavoured, with a strong bitter tone set off by the significant sweetness of the malts, and the Aostan apples. A beer you won’t forget!
• CORSARA NERA: A dark Robust Porter-style beer, with coffee, chocolate, liquorice and woody aromas. A dry, balanced and drinkable beer.
• 50ALE: A celebration ale, with intense citrus aroma. It has a persistent but delicate bitter tone, and in the mouth is silky and dry. One of a kind.

Celebration and season beers are also produced, of which we note the following:

• NOËLA: A CHRISTMAS BEER Dark amber with traces of vermillion, it has a characteristic strong aromatic feel which comes from the use of high-quality malt and the addition of spices. The slightly spicy taste has enveloping alcoholic tones, with traces of plums, raisins, dried fruit and caramel which help to balance the good, bitter tone of carefully-chosen hops. These characteristics make Noela beer perfect to drink with bitter-sweet dishes, but also great to drink simply with family and friends around an open fire (and with good chocolate).
• BIRRA DI S.ORSO (Saint Orso Beer): A limited edition, exclusive beer, produced to celebrate the 1012th Fair of Saint Orso and made with rhododendron honey and rye grown in the Aosta Valley by the Les Moulins des Aravis company in Pontboset. It has a good body, but is refined and elegant, with a silky and enveloping taste, with a flowery and fruity bouquet. A great beer for a great occasion.

The continuing search for high-quality material, if possibly locally sourced, the extreme and fanatical attention to all cleaning and health procedures, years of brewing and sharing experiences with other Italian master brewers means that high-quality products can be made, each with its own characteristics, but which are easy to drink and which – through smell and taste sensations – manage to transmit all the passion that Fulvio and Mauro put into their work. After an initial period purely focusing on the Aosta Valley, the two entrepreneurs are currently also working in the Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto markets.Their beers are reviewed – and extensively praised – in the “Guide to the Beers of Italy” published by Slow Food: 50ALE scored 4 stars out of a possible 5.