Catalan beer receives European recognition

Barcelona (Gastroteca.cat).- The recent phenomenon of microbreweries in Catalonia is reaching an international scale. Catalan beer is being featured at the Salone del Gusto Food Expo, a food exhibition dedicated to local and sustainable products. The festival is organised by the Slow Food organisation between the 21st and 25th of October in the Italian city of Turin. “It is the best way to reinforce and increase the results that we have already had in Catalonia”, said Pablo Vijande of the brewery Cervesera del Montseny.

Catalan beers that can be tasted at the expo include Pura Pale from the Ales Agullons brewery, Bleder’s Foc de Drac, 4 Maltes from Les Clandestines de Montferri, Keks from buckwheat and the walnut-liqueur ratafia, Moska from Birrart and Sarrià de Ter, and Lupulus from the brewery Companyia Cervesera del Montseny. The tasting will be paired with other Catalan products such as, goat cheese, hazelnut cream, olive pastes from Rebost de l'Empordanet, and Casa Oms’ fuet (dried Catalan sausage), which was awarded in Frankfurt’s meat and sausage fair and which has the Montseny +Negra black beer as one of its ingredients.

In addition to the handcrafted beer, Catalan gastronomy will also be on show. Oriol Rovira, chef at Els Casals Restaurant, will present a cooking demonstration based on the methods used at his restaurant in Sagàs, in the county of Berguedà, in the pre-Pyrenees area. Rovira and his family produce the majority of the ingredients he uses at the restaurant. Visitors may also taste the biodynamic cava Recaredo of the Alt Penedès area.

The Salone Internazionale del Gusto is the largest fair of local, handmade, traditional and sustainable products in Europe. Last year’s edition had over 430 exhibition stands and an area of 18,000 metres squared. The 8th edition of the festival will begin today with international producers, distributors, cooks and other industry professionals from Mexico, France, Australia, Iceland, Germany, New Zealand and Argentina. It will take place parallel with Tierra Madre, a space for meeting and reflection in the promotion of local, sustainable products.