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After the interesting debut of Musa Estate (litterally “Muse of summer”) from Birrificio Italiano, of which I wrote about at the end of August, the brewer Agostino Arioli has created a new beer of this special line. As I explained at that time, in fact, every season has its specific Musa and now, after the summer version, it’s time for Musa Autunno. These productions are very special, because they are produced by the filtrate of a previous mash without subsequent boiling, to which are added special ingredients. If Muse Estate was produced with lemons of the Amalfi Coast, for the autumn edition Nebbiolo grapes are used.

As explained in an audio post on the brewery blog, for the Musa Autunno were used 70-80 kilos of newly pressed Nebbiolo grapes – from Cantina Zanetta in Ghemme (NO) – and added to the second filtrate of Amber Shock. As for the Musa Estate, therefore, the starting beer is the Bock of the brewery, measuring 7% alcohol. This new beer will be available in about a month or so at Birrificio Italiano.

Birrificio Torino (”Turin brewery”) has instead prepared a new dark beer: the Masca. The name refers to the old Piedmontese tradition of “masche”, the wandering souls of the day of “Ognissanti”, a holiday that also in Italy has now been supplanted by Halloween, his Anglo-Saxon version. The Masca, available right from today, is a bottom-fermented dark beer with shades of mahogany and a delicate aroma of roasted malts. It has a light body, with hints of caramel and liquorice, while the final reveals a delicate flavor of hops and a pleasant aftertaste of coffee.

From northern Italy we will now move to the south, where the Birranova brewery of Triggianello (BA) announced on its blog the birth of a new creation. It’s called Trebbiana Extra and the name reveals its affinity with the traditional Lager of Birranova: Trebbiana, precisely. This new beer belongs to the style Maibock, and then compared to Trebbiana – which is classified as Helles – will have a higher alcohol content, will be more full-bodied, malty and hoppy. This is a good beer to help us against the first cold autumn, even if the temperatures of recent days invited to jump directly to the Barley Wine .