Kidda, a beer made with barley malt grown on the island, has been launched in Sicily
The first batch was brewed in Terrasini at the Bruno Ribadi brewery. The project was launched in collaboration with Coldiretti, the Italian Beer Consortium and the Italian Agricultural Supply Chain, and aims to establish a Sicilian beer supply chain, from the fields to production
The name is in itself a statement of identity. ‘Kidda’, in Sicilian, means ‘that one’: a word which, in the dialect, is also used to refer to something specific, recognisable and one of a kind. And it is the name chosen for a beer that seeks to forge a closer link between brewing and Sicilian agriculture.
The first brew is scheduled for today, Wednesday 16 September, at the Bruno Ribadi brewery in Terrasini. The main innovation lies in the raw materials: Kidda will be produced using malt made from barley grown entirely in Sicily, as part of a supply chain that uses Italian raw materials.
It is not merely a corporate initiative. The project stems from a collaboration between Coldiretti, the Italian Beer Consortium and the Italian Agricultural Supply Chain, under the ‘Signed by Italian Farmers’ brand, and aims to bring together cereal growers, hop producers and breweries. The aim is to create a supply chain capable of retaining a greater share of the value generated by beer production within the local area. “We aim to establish a virtuous model – an example to be replicated – capable of fostering effective interaction between the agricultural sector and the world of industrial processing, a relationship that does not always arise naturally,” explains Francesco Ferreri, president of Coldiretti Sicilia.
The figures help to illustrate the scale of the challenge. According to an analysis by Coldiretti and the Italian Beer Consortium, there were 60 breweries operating in Sicily in 2025, nine of which were farm-based, accounting for 15 per cent of the total. In 2024, there were five farm-based breweries out of 64, and in 2023, seven out of 65. In just one year, therefore, their number rose from five to nine. The figures for 2026 will be available in November.
The demand for malt also gives an indication of the potential market. The list of Sicilian breweries attached to the project includes 16 companies, with total malt requirements amounting to 1,000 quintals. The largest share is held by Bruno Ribadi, with 430 quintals, followed by Rock Brewery with 200, whilst 24 Baroni and Birra Epica are listed as having 100 quintals each.
