Beer: here’s how the rules for producing it could change

On this issue, Unionbirrai has a clear stance, given that discussions with ministry representatives have been intense not just recently, but for the past eight years. “The current legislation,” explains Vittorio Ferraris, president of Unionbirrai, “is based on a model of beer that ‘no longer exists’: that of the 1960s – a pale, clear, stable beer with very precise standard characteristics. Today, beer production – particularly craft beer – is completely different, not least because the definition itself excludes microfiltration and pasteurisation, naturally leading to products with different characteristics.”

The parameters to be addressed, according to the association, are therefore clear. “The first is acidity,” explains Ferraris, “because innovation has led to the use of alternative raw materials, such as fruit or wine must, resulting in higher acidity levels and therefore a lower pH than that permitted under current legislation.”

The same applies to barrel-ageing and maturation practices, ‘which are, in any case, stable, controlled and safe products, but fall outside the parameters set sixty years ago’, and for carbonation with CO₂ as stipulated by regulations, whilst beers with lower carbonation levels are also produced, influenced by international styles such as those from the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Then there is clarity, which is certainly not a defining feature of craft beers, which are often unfiltered or brewed with a significant amount of hops, meaning that ‘it is now normal to have opalescent or hazy beers’.

Alongside these ‘updates’ – which are necessary for the transformation of the very identity of Italian beer – there is a structural issue that appears paradoxical. For some time now, there have been calls for European harmonisation, because “in Italia we have more restrictive standards than other countries,” notes Ferraris, “but at the same time we allow the free movement of foreign products that do not comply with these limits. This creates a clear competitive disadvantage for Italian producers.” Nor is this a requirement limited to the craft beer sector alone: the industrial sector is also affected, as demonstrated by radler, citrus-flavoured beers or blanche beers, which, by their very nature, have levels of acidity or turbidity exceeding the current limits. For this reason, “a comprehensive review is needed: the entire brewing sector must take action to arrive at a standard that is finally consistent with contemporary production realities”.

Among the issues under consideration is that of low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beers: definitions are still inconsistent across Europe, but in Italia they are based on a regulatory framework dating from the 1960s, whilst the segment is growing, driven by changing consumer habits.

Setting aside all these developments and clarifications, on a political level the Government appears to be moving towards a comprehensive overhaul of the brewing sector. Senator Giorgio Salvitti, an adviser to the Minister for Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida, has described this as “no longer postponable”, in order to move beyond mere adjustments and introduce a new law that encompasses the industrial, agricultural and craft sectors alike.