The first written evidence of beer being brewed and consumed dates back as far as 4,000BC, with the ancient Sumerians believed to have developed the earliest known methods for creating the alcoholic drink. Its history and connection to human civilisation runs deep, and a number of today’s beers have their own remarkable heritage.
In Italy, the drink was known in Roman times, but it really came into its own in the 19th century when styles that we’d still recognise today started to appear more widely across Europe. One of Italy’s premier beers, Menabrea, traces its origins to this time and has a particularly captivating story – and a lineage that makes it Italy’s oldest continuously producing brewery.
