Italian brewery Birra del Borgo has released LISA, a premium lager, exclusively on draught in the UK on-trade.
Launched in February 2018, LISA stands for Lager Italiana Semplicemente Attraente, or Lager | Italian | Simply | Attractive, and calls the heart of Italy home, with the brewery located in the town of Borgorose, in the Duchessa foothills outside of Rome.
Deeply rooted in its Italian origins, LISA is brewed using Senatore Cappelli wheat grain from the countryside of Puglia, a region in southern Italy, and the best Italian orange peel. The light foam head releases crisp and fresh aromas that are both complex and elegant. Boasting a rounded, bready malt flavour, with citrus notes and spicy floral hints, LISA finishes with a subtle bitterness that’s dry and refreshing.
Nodding to its heritage, Birra del Borgo recommends pairing LISA with the classics of Italian cuisine, from Margherita pizza to tomato and basil pasta. This ability to pair well with food is a trait common to all of Birra del Borgo’s brews and has worked, since the brewery’s inception in 2005, to create a new identity for Italian beer, free from traditions but deeply connected with Italian food culture.
Birra del Borgo works alongside great chefs at Italian and international events, such as Massimo Bottura, chef patron of the three-Michelin-star Osteria Francescana, celebrated on acclaimed documentary Chef’s Table, and Niko Romito, chef and owner of three-Michelin-star Reale in Abruzzo, where Birra del Borgo is a partner of the Accademia Niko Romito.
LISA and aperitivo
To celebrate LISA’s unique heritage at select on trade establishments, Birra del Borgo has partnered with Crosta & Mollica to treat UK customers to the Italian custom of aperitivo, with a complimentary pack of tarallini accompanying each purchase of a pint of LISA between 5pm and 8pm. Aperitivo is the Italian ritual of a drink and light snack to catch up with friends and family, unwind after a day at work, and whet your appetite ahead of dinner.
A classic aperitivo snack, tarallini pair particularly well with LISA thanks to their ingredients’ shared Puglian origin. Working with producers across Italy to bring the finest Italian bakery products and regional specialities to the UK, Crosta & Mollica’s tarallini are made in a small family-owned bakery in central Puglia, from a traditional recipe using local durum wheat, extra virgin olive oil, and white wine.
Leonardo di Vincenzo, founder of Birra del Borgo, said: “Following LISA’s unprecedented 2018 sales growth in Italy, we’re incredibly excited to bring this perfect sessionable lager to the UK, as well as a touch of classic Italian aperitivo culture.
“We strongly believe that the genuine simplicity of Italian style and culture can be expressed also through beer, creating a new standard of quality and originality. Our premium beer — one that harks back to Italy with its distinctive Senatore Cappelli wheat — presents a refreshing choice for those who wish to explore flavour and expect quality.”
• LISA will be at Craft Beer Rising from February 21-23.
