This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 165: June 14, 2015
Diary entry:
Today we Continue on our road trip down to the Emilia Romagna region of Italy for this year’s Blogville project. We’ll be staying in Bologna, Rimini, and Reggio Emilia over the next two weeks, sampling the local foods, beers, and wines of Emilia Romagna. Follow along with the hashtags #Blogville, #inEmiliaRomagna, and #ViaEmilia.
Tonight’s plan is to make it to Turin, Italy, where we have dinner reservations at La Credenze, a one-Michelin-star restaurant from Igor Macchia, who we met a few years ago at his restaurant, La Festa, in Taipei, Taiwan. We’e been promising a visit for years, and this was the perfect opportunity!
I spent some time wandering the shore of Lake Geneva in Montreux this morning, then we bid farewell to our gorgeous lake view and made a short backtrack to Chatel-Saint-Denis in the Fribourg canton of Switzerland, the birthplace of fondue.
We lunched at Cafe Tivoli, which is renowned for their great pair of fondues fribourgeoises, one with Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP and the other a moitié-moitié blend of Gruyère AOP cheese and Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP. This was outstanding! We both did prefer the moitié-moitié, with its white wine and garlic base, though the Vacherin was very creamy and delightful as well.
We then commenced with our drive east and south through the Alps, making our climb from Martigny up over Grand-Saint-Bernard. We opted for the high mountain pass instead of the tunnel, since the pass was open for the season. Our poor Prius was feeling it, but we made it up to the top, where there is a Trappist monastery (alas, no beer) and a hospice for the Saint-Bernard dogs of yore. Seeing the old Swiss / Italian border crossing at the top of the mountain was a fun sight as well.
A fun drive back down the Italian side of San Bernardo, to Aosta, and from there to the outskirts of Turin, where we had a great dinner and catch-up with our old friend. Great food and a great evening!
The Beer:
Name: Barry Bier
Style: Helles Lager
Producer: Müllerbräu Baden
Alcohol content: 4.8%
Bottle size: 0.33l
Purchased from: Gift shop on the climb up Grand-Saint-Bernard heading towards Turin, Italy.
Picked this up along the road between Montreux and Turin on the climb up towards the Alpine pass at Grand-Saint-Bernard. Very basic lager. This is basically a special label edition of the Müllerbräu Helles Lager. I much prefer this cool Saint Bernard label 😉
Commercial Description: The typical Müllerbräu lager, very full-bodied, mild and slightly hoppy. The typical lager for traditional beer connoisseurs. With Müller Bräu lager quench your thirst at the most enjoyable, a hearty “Cheers”!
