Birra in Assisi

We arrived in Assisi last night, having caught a late train from Rome. The rest of the lads flew back to London for a week of work, but our journey north through Italy is now underway. I can't understand all the bellyaching from St Francis and St Clare. There are many reasonably priced restaurants here, so they shouldn't have gone hungry.

After doing the rounds of basilicas and hermitages, we settled in for a drink on the lawn outside our hotel. In glorious sunshine, we tucked into a bottled beer gifted to me by my Italian pals back in Rome. A cassis-infused number from Birrificio Italiano (pictured left) went down a treat as we looked down upon the Umbrian countryside.

In the evening, I made an unexpected discovery as we hunted down an aperitivo. We chose a bar tucked away down a narrow lane at the very top of the town. The barmaid (not unlike an Italian Roxy Mitchell) directed us to a fridge, where amongst sparkling wines sat a few precious bottles of quality beer. Before long we were being served Brùton Momus in oversized wine glasses (pictured right). It's a moreish 7.5% amber ale from the city of Lucca in Tuscany. My parents have a place in the mountains not far from there, and I'd love to stock their cellar up with this local craft beer. At the moment it contains an old bath, a broken bike and rough country wine unfit for bovine consumption.

Tomorrow we're bound for Florence. The Tuscan capital is one of my favourite cities, and it's a convenient staging point as we stumble to Milan for our Friday night flight back to London.

Information:

Birrificio Brùton is online here. We found their ale in Il Caffè Duomo (Piazza San Rufino, Assisi).