Published by Leonardo Calcagno
The quiet revolution brewing in Italy’s Germanic borderlands
x Le Mondial de la Bière June 20–22 in Montréal
There’s something almost conspiratorial about discovering craft beer in wine country. In Trentino-Alto Adige, where Gewürztraminer and Pinot Grigio have long dominated the conversation, a quiet revolution is fermenting in the shadow of the Dolomites. This is Italy’s most Germanic region, where Austrian traditions persist in everything from architecture to apellations, and where beer culture runs deeper than most outsiders realize.
Drive through the valleys around Merano on a crisp October morning, and you’ll catch the scent of malt and hops drifting from centuries-old breweries. The mist rolls off snow-dusted peaks into courtyards where the familiar rhythm of brewing continues much as it has since the Habsburg era. Yet something new is stirring in these alpine valleys—a movement that honors Germanic brewing traditions while embracing distinctly Italian innovation.
The Old Guard Endures
The story begins in 1857 with Forst Brewery, founded by two entrepreneurs from Merano and now Italy’s only privately owned brewery of its scale. Hidden behind imposing walls in Lagundo, just outside Merano’s spa-town elegance, Forst represents more than mere commercial brewing—it’s a testament to cultural persistence. Made with pure additives and local water, Forst beer is known and appreciated well beyond South Tyrol’s borders, yet it remains profoundly rooted in its alpine terroir.
Walking through Forst’s underground cellars, two stories beneath the surface, you sense the weight of history in the cool air. The brewery’s tours reveal not just the mechanics of beer production, but the careful balance between tradition and modernity that defines this region. In Merano’s town center, their brewery restaurant serves as a cultural bridge, offering refined South Tyrolean cuisine alongside Mediterranean dishes, accommodating both local palates and Italian preferences.
The New Fermentation
But Forst’s dominance tells only half the story. Across the region, a new generation of brewers is writing a different chapter. Craft breweries in Trentino now include 5+, Teddy Bier, BirraFon, Klanbarrique, Maso Alto, Nerobrigante, Rethia, Birra di Fiemme, and Libertina—names that reflect both local dialect and international craft beer culture.
The epicenter of this movement isn’t in the German-speaking north, but in Italian-speaking Trentino, where Passion Italian Craft Brewery has become a standard-bearer for the new wave. Here, brewers trained in traditional German techniques experiment with ingredients that would make their Bavarian counterparts raise an eyebrow: local chestnuts, alpine herbs, even grapes from neighboring vineyards.
“With clean water and a heritage for well-made artisanal products,” as one industry observer notes, Trento and Trentino will surely see many more craft breweries opening in the coming years. The prediction feels inevitable when you consider the region’s advantages: pristine alpine water, a culture that values craftsmanship, and a growing tourism infrastructure eager for new attractions.
The Festival Circuit
The transformation becomes most visible during festival season. The Cerevisia Craft Beers Festival runs for three days in May near Trento, drawing beer enthusiasts into landscapes more commonly associated with wine tastings. Beer tourism now offers opportunities to taste craft beers among the Dolomites of Val di Fiemme, Val di Fassa, and San Martino di Castrozza, creating itineraries that would have seemed impossible a generation ago.
These festivals reveal something essential about the region’s brewing culture: it’s inherently social, designed for conversation and contemplation rather than mere consumption. Beer gardens transform seasonally—during Christmas, outdoor spaces become intimate forests of wooden huts where families gather over steaming mugs and hearty Alpine cuisine.
A Question of Identity
What emerges from Trentino-Alto Adige’s brewing scene isn’t simply Italian craft beer or German tradition transplanted to Italian soil. It’s something more nuanced: a brewing culture that reflects the region’s complex identity. Brewers here navigate between languages, traditions, and expectations with the same dexterity their ancestors used to survive centuries of shifting borders.
The result is beer that tastes like this place and nowhere else. Local breweries source ingredients from valleys where vineyards meet hop fields, where Germanic precision encounters Italian creativity. They’re creating not just new flavors, but new categories—beers that pair as naturally with speck and sourdough as with osso buco and polenta.
The Sophisticated Traveler’s Secret
For the discerning traveler, Trentino-Alto Adige’s beer scene offers something increasingly rare: authenticity without artifice. This isn’t craft brewing as performance or marketing, but as cultural expression. The region’s breweries feel lived-in, integrated into communities where beer is part of daily life rather than weekend recreation.
The infrastructure exists for those who seek it out. Quality accommodations understand that beer touring deserves the same attention as wine trails. Restaurants have begun curating beer lists with the seriousness once reserved for vintages. And the brewers themselves—often multilingual, always passionate—serve as exceptional cultural ambassadors.
In a world where craft beer often feels calculated to shock or impress, Trentino-Alto Adige offers something more valuable: beer that tells a story about place, tradition, and the quiet ways cultures adapt and endure. It’s a scene worth discovering before the rest of the world catches on—though given the quality emerging from these alpine breweries, that discovery feels inevitable.
x Le Mondial de la Bière June 20–22 in Montréal