{"id":7511,"date":"2017-12-31T21:01:48","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T03:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=7511"},"modified":"2018-01-21T09:02:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-21T15:02:04","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2017-7-birra-del-borgo-25-dodici","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/7511\/12-beers-of-christmas-2017-7-birra-del-borgo-25-dodici","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas 2017 \u2013 7: Birra del Borgo 25 Dodici"},"content":{"rendered":"\"BdB<\/a>\n

What better beer to drink on December 25 than 25 Dodici, which means 25\/12 in Italian, the way Europeans indicate the day\/month? Well, there would have been something else, no doubt, had I noticed the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n

It sets up something of a learning experience, although probably a lesson I already knew, in that I and my confreres this Christmas evening drank the beer without knowing that in late April of 2016 Birra del Borgo was puchased by AB InBev, raising the beer behemoth\u2019s craft brewery acquisitions well past the dozen mark and spreading worldwide, to England and Australia as well as Italy.<\/p>\n

Frankly, had I known (or remembered) this beforehand, I wouldn\u2019t have purchased the beer. It has nothing to do with the beer, which all of us thought was quite nice. It has everything to do with my desire to not pass on any of my money ($18.50 in this case) to AB InBev. They don\u2019t need it, for one. And I\u2019m just not a fan of their business practices, two. It\u2019s not a hard and fast rule with me to never purchase AB products. More of a moral guide.<\/p>\n

\"Beer<\/a>

Beer conditioning in amphora pots<\/p><\/div>\n

It shouldn\u2019t matter who makes it, it\u2019s what\u2019s in the bottle that counts!<\/em> goes a common counterargument. As to the actual taste of the beer, that\u2019s absolutely true. But as to the purchase of it, I\u2019m willing to forego any beer\u2019s charms to make my little statement, and I\u2019m certain enough that I can fill the void with other great beers from different producers.<\/p>\n

Bierra del Borgo was founded in 2005 in Borgorose, Italy by Leonardo Di Vincenzo, who fairly quickly moved from a chemistry teacher background to a rising star and entrepreneur in the craft beer world, aiming at an Italian terrior for beer, and including experimental techniques (some borrowed from the wine world) and doing some unique conditioning projects involving terracotta amphora pots.<\/p>\n

Di Vincenzo is perhaps known best in the U.S. for a collaborative Imperial Pilsner with Dogfish Head, My Antonia. He also teamed up with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Teo Musso of Birrificio Baladin (makers of N\u00f6el Baladin<\/a>, which made the 2014 list), in creating beers for Eataly\u2019s Birreria in New York City. Once the sale to AB InBev went through, however, that involvement ended.<\/p>\n

I was surely feeling more benevolent at the time we uncapped the beer, in the grand interregnum between opening our presents and digging into Christmas dinner\u2014in our case, usually of an Italian tilt featuring antipasto and the homemade meat sauce recipe that goes back generations on my wife\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

\"25<\/a>

25 Dodici primping among the antipasto<\/p><\/div>\n

We had five tasters for the beer, including my daughter and son and their respective spouses. We came up with all sorts of aromas and flavors\u2014cherry, cherry pit, orange peel, honey, malt, burnt sugar. I thought there was some mild and harmless oxidation, and found the mouthfeel velvety, coating.<\/p>\n

\"BdB<\/a>One taster suggested it seemed a little like an amber Allagash White, one that \u201cit goes down might easy\u2014doesn\u2019t smell particularly boozy, but you can certainly feel some burn.\u201d Another: \u201cRich, smooth, not sour, filling. Very pleasing.\u201d And: \u201cEven though it\u2019s a heavy beer it\u2019s a good starter\u2014in that it makes you want more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beer is indeed made with both orange peel and grapes, in the style of a strong Belgian dark ale. Overall impression\u2014the beer was a winner. I don\u2019t think any of us would turn another down. But I, for one, probably wouldn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"BdB<\/a>Name: 25 Dodici
\nBrewer: Birra del Borgo, Borgorose, Italy
\nStyle: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
\nABV: 8%
\nAvailability: Seasonally. Formerly imported by B. United International, but no longer listed in their roster.
\nFor More Information: https:\/\/birradelborgo.it\/en\/<\/p>\n

[Dec. 31, 2017]<\/em><\/p>\n

< 12 Beers of Christmas 6: Ommegang Winter Is Here<\/a>
\n12 Beers of Christmas 8: Port Brewing Santa\u2019s Little Helper<\/a> ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What better beer to drink on December 25 than 25 Dodici, which means 25\/12 in Italian, the way Europeans indicate… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":7516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939,627,18],"tags":[1016635,1016636,1016637,721,723,1749,975701,992278,1016633,1016634],"class_list":["post-7511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-on-tap","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-lifestyle","tag-eataly","tag-borgorose","tag-teo-musso","tag-dogfish-head","tag-sam-calagione","tag-italy","tag-ab-inbev","tag-birrificio-baladin","tag-birra-del-borgo","tag-25-dodici"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/12\/BdB-pour.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7511"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7534,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7511\/revisions\/7534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}