Not that old chestnut - Corsica

Pietra is a chestnut beer from Corsica. Jonathan Gregson went there to taste it

The island of Corsica is known for its rugged beauty and for being the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. In gastronomic terms, its specialities are goats’ cheeses redolent of the maquis and mountain dry-cured hams and sausages – the best made from native black pigs that feed in its oak and chestnut forests.

As for beverages, Corsicans have been making wine since pre-Roman times and distilling eaux-de-vie flavoured with myrtle and other wild berries for centuries. But as Dominique Sialelli, founder and managing director of the Pietra micro-brewery at Furiani (just south of Bastia), is ready to admit, Corsica has no longstanding tradition of brewing beer of any kind.

“We started in 1996, so this is our 10 th anniversary,” he says. “Before that, no beer was made in Corsica.” All that was needed to quench the thirsts of tourists and native Corsicans during the hot summer months had to be imported.

“We have a rich culture,” he maintains, “but, as in much of Southern Europe, beer was not a tradition for us.

Mostly we drank wine and pastis.” So how did he come to setting up a micro-brewery producing a highly distinctive beer made from chestnut flour as well as the usual malt?

What set off this train of events was when a friend idly posed the question: “why not a Corsican beer?” It was the kind of challenge that Sialelli relishes. At the time he was holding down a good job in Paris where he had recently married his Normanborn wife, Armelle. The young couple gave up their comfort.....

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By Jonathan Gregson

Section : Spotlight

Page number : 58