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In the early 2000s, the young craft beer scene of Rome was shocked by the introduction of the beers brewed by an american who moved to Italy: Mike Murphy. Immediately, Mike became famous all over the country because of his innovative products, directly descending from the beer traditions of USA. Starbess, the pub for which he created his beers, became the first “urban” brewpub of Rome, as well as a place of pilgrimage for a lot of beer-lovers. Many people may still remember his fabulous Pioneer pale ale, while some still today keeps in their wine cellar one or two bottles of his barley wine Maelstrom (which is really fantastic). Nowadays Mike works in Denmark for the GourmetBryggeriet brewery, a big company, which is quoted in the Stock Exchange. However, sometimes he returns to Italy, where – as we will see – he left a piece of his heart…

Why an american of Philadelphia spent some years brewing his own beer in Rome?

Why do all Americans originally come to live in a foreign county 9 out of 10 will tell you it was for love…. Well for me it was a bit of that and perhaps some curiosity to live in another country, I came to Rome in 1999 as an architect student and I fell in love with the city as well. I met a woman who owned a pub and naturally as a home brewer and missing my usual beer choices I decided to create a small little brewery to supply the pub (at max capacity). Here I discovered the budding beer world in Italy, which has slowly been evolving since… I’m still eager to get back to Rome and brew again… I feel like I should still be a part of it.

What you get from your permanence in Italy? It was important for your professional growth?

I gained more passion and craving to produce more intriguing beers, although I had only just begun, with the exposure to the rest of European beer I learned quickly how to incorporate those characteristics I like into my beers, however as we all know I still like to produce American style. As for my professional growth I would say I grew quite well in Italy, I met a lot of respected brewers and industry folks, I created a name as an American who brews in Rome, believe it or not I have met many others who have heard of me or my little brewery. Just goes to show how small the beer world is…

What do you prefer and what dislike about italian craft beer scene?

The best thing is the people involved with out a doubt, Italians have a warmness not found in many other countries. Pair that to their eagerness to try things they haven’t had before, it makes the whole experience as a brewer special and unique. Dislike; well a few years ago I would have told you it was the fact that 70% of the new micro brewers where producing crappy beer, lately this hasn’t been the case, I guess these problems sort themselves out. So I would say the worst thing about the Italian craft beer scene is Kuaska judging beers at the world beer cup .

After your experience in Italy, you moved to Denmark, where at the moment you work for GourmetBryggeriet. Which are the differences for a brewer between a small brewpub and a big company like GB?

Huge difference, regardless of size GB has a completely different philosophy to producing beer, I am really the only one here at this brewery with a craft brewer background, luckily I make the recipes so I can get a touch of “craft” in the flavor. It seems that $ is king here, but I do my best for the beer here as I identify myself with the products I make but I haven’t been too active in the Danish beer scene perhaps for this reason. Not to mention they aren’t as fun as the Italians!

You know very well the craft beer movements of Italy, Denmark and USA. In your opinion, what are the unique elements of each of them and what the main differences?

I have seen all three “movements” during their peak growth, all very similar in nature. Its obvious that in the USA, the beers we see from there are highly evolved and always interesting to see what is coming next, Italy it seems is evolving and striving to create a unique Italian style or beer type, more focused on high quality. Denmark is actually a little behind Italy’s thinking and copying other styles from other countries but what’s good about Denmark is they love hops, they already have beer deeply imbedded in their culture so it’s a no brainer that people would like something more than a light lager.

Your principle is “I want to make beer, just as I like”. So, what sort of beer do you like?

I like what I like at the moment, usually it’s a American pale ale with a ton of aromatic hops, sometimes it’s a stout. Today I’d love to make a well hopped pilsner, perhaps dry-hopped, but defiantly hop backed.

What about your plans for the future? You’ll remain an “EXPAT brewer” or return to USA working there?

Who knows, not me, I doubt I would return to the US and be a brewer, but I cant say for sure. I would like to come to Italy and work with my close friend and see how far we can take beer in Italy. I’m sure the surface is only been scratched and there will be a lot more growth in the near future.

Finally, Mike has a personal blog, where he tells about your work as “EXPAT brewer”. My advice is to read it!