Earlier this week, the 5pm Dining blog was at Edinburgh’s Divino Enoteca for dinner with the Menabrea beer brand.
Well established in its native Italy, particularly in the northern regions around Turin, the beer has only started to be distributed in the UK in the last six months or so.
Launched in 1846, Menabrea is the oldest, continuously working brewery in Italy. The company started when Guiseppe Menabrea came across the underground cave system by Biella in the foothills of the Italian Alps.
Biella cellar caves
Guiseppe was already brewing beer in France and he immediately recognised that the cool Biella caves would be perfect for cellaring or ‘lagering’ his beer.
All of Menabrea’s beer is lagered for at least 30 days. Much longer than industry standard, this period of maturation allows Menabrea to develop its complex flavours.
Over 150 years and five generations of the Menabrea family later, the 5pm Dining blog was sat in Divino eating five spectacular courses, many of which had used Menabrea as an ingredient.
Our chef for the evening was Menabrea’s brand ambassador Antonio ‘Lello’ Favuzzi, head chef at London’s L’Anima restaurant.
Simplicity, quality, craftsmanship
Sardinian-born Favuzzi said: ‘I enjoyed creating a unique menu for this event – a beautiful fusion of the finest Italian and Scottish ingredients, inspired by the rich complex taste of Menabrea. As well as offering a real taste of my home country, I hope we’ve also helped to celebrate Scotland’s flavours in its Year of Food and Drink.
‘Menabrea is an exceptionally flavoursome beer. It only uses five simple ingredients, but those ingredients are of the highest quality and brewed using over 150 years of skill and craftsmanship. Simplicity, quality and craftsmanship can also be found at the heart of Italian cooking, so Menabrea’s rich, complex taste and citrus undertones work well with core Italian ingredients.’
Specially created for the event, Favuzzi’s menu included a Menabrea drunken oyster; beef fillets from Orkney; crab from Troon; mussels from Shetland; Lanark cheese; and squid from Scrabster.
These were paired with authentic Italian ingredients including bottarga (cured fish roe); malloreddus, a hand-rolled fresh pasta shape from Lello’s home area of Sardinia; and Sardinian sea urchins.
You can find restaurants and bars which stock Menabrea in your area from here.
You can book a table at Divino Enoteca here.
Back in April, we interviewed Spencer Wilson, Exec Chef of Divino Enoteca and Vittoria Group, along with a video clip showing how to make a delicious pollock dish.
