Corsican? Course we can

Corsica’s an unlikely place to find a beer boom, so why’s it happening? Andrew Burnyeat accepts an offer he can’t refuse

Ten years ago on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Corsica, beer wasn’t really part of the hospitality picture.

Today, beer is sold in nearly every restaurant; chefs cook with it and islanders regard themselves as discerning beer drinkers.

Why?

Simple really. Corsicans are a loyal and proud people and don’t take over-kindly to imports, especially if they are neither Italian nor French.

So when a brewery was established to make a Corsican beer specially for Corsicans, the beers it made were taken seriously on the island.

Dominique Sialelli was careful to use Corsican ingredients for his two beers, Pietra et Colomba.

Colomba, a white beer flavoured with local herbs and flowers, was named after a legendary (though real-life) mafiosa daughter thought to be responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen men of all ages. It’s a typically Corsican statement that her face adorns the label of the beer.

Pietra is a darker product made with chestnuts brought down from the mountains of Corsica by donkeys and crushed to make a flour which is introduced to the brewing process at an appropriate stage.

It’s just one of the reasons why the people behind the brewery say they will never allow brewing under licence in the growing number of countries where the beers are proving increasingly popular.

Pietra et Colomba are about to take the United Kingdom by storm. You may already have come across them in top line restaurants such as Loch Fyne, Le Petit Blanc, Bertorelli’s and Chez Ge.....

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By Andrew Burnyeat

Section : Beer Trends

Page number : 52