Beer Pairing: Menabrea Bionda
Bionda is the pale lager of Birra Menabrea, the brewery of Biella, in northern Piedmont, at the foot of the Alps. Menabrea dates its history to 1846 and presents itself as the oldest active brewery in Italy, and the Bionda is the beer that carries its name around the country: a bottom-fermented premium lager of 4.8% alcohol, straw-yellow, with a soft aroma, a full taste and a thick, lasting head. It is a beer for everyday Italian food, and above all for pizza.
What It Is
The brewery describes Bionda as a pale, bottom-fermented beer of the "Premium Lager" type. Its technical data give 4.8% alcohol, an original gravity of 11.2 degrees Plato and a bitterness of 22 EBU, the European measure equivalent to IBU, which the brewery calls moderate. The color is straw-yellow, the head full-bodied and persistent; the body is described as round and the balance as notable. The declared ingredients are malt, maize, hops and water, with the yeast that makes it a lager.
At the table a beer is judged with the same discipline as a wine, with different tools. Carbonation does much of the work of acidity in wine: it lifts fat and cleans the palate after fried food and melted cheese. Bitterness is what most often clashes with food, especially with salt, iodine and chili; at 22 EBU the Bionda stays moderate, enough to refresh without turning harsh. Malt gives body and a gentle sweetness, maize lightens it. ZAFFERANO & CO. reads Bionda as a gastronomic profile: light, clean, well carbonated, with a soft malt center and a finish that resets the palate after every bite.
The Brewery and Its Territory
The brewery's history begins in Biella in 1846, when a small brewing workshop was opened by Antonio and Gian Battista Caraccio, café owners, together with Antoine Welf, of a Walser family from Gressoney in the Aosta Valley. In 1854 the brewery was leased to Giuseppe Menabrea, from Aosta, and Antonio Zimmermann, who bought it ten years later; in 1872 the company became G. Menabrea e Figli. At the end of the century the management passed to Emilio Thedy and Augusto Antoniotti, husbands of the Menabrea daughters, and the Thedy family has run the brewery ever since; Franco Thedy, the fifth generation, has directed it since 2005.
In 1991 Menabrea joined the group of Birra Forst, a family brewer from South Tyrol, keeping a considerable independence and the Thedy family in charge. The plant still stands in the historic center of Biella, with Casa Menabrea, the brewery's beer museum, beside it. The brewery's 150th anniversary fell in 1996, and its main range still carries the "150°" mark on the label. Biella, a city of textile mills close to the mountains, has a kitchen of polenta, Alpine cheeses and rice from the nearby plains, but the Bionda was made to travel across the whole Italian table.
Ingredients and Style
The pale lager is the most widespread beer style in the world: clear, golden, crisp, fermented cold with a bottom-fermenting yeast. Within the family, a premium lager is fuller in malt and more carefully balanced than a mass-market lager, without the hop intensity of a pilsner. The Bionda sits exactly there: rounder than a pils, with moderate bitterness and a soft aroma.
Menabrea describes its beers as made with five simple ingredients: water, barley malt, hops, yeast and brewer's maize. On visits to Biella the brewery has explained that its barley comes from the area of Vitry-le-François in Champagne and its hops from the Hallertau, in Bavaria, a classic region of noble aroma hops. The maize, a traditional adjunct in many European lagers, lightens body and color and makes the finish drier. The water comes from the Alps above Biella and is soft, a quality that suits clean, rounded lagers.
Brewing
A lager is brewed with a bottom-fermenting yeast that works at low temperature and then rests for weeks near freezing. According to what the brewery has shown visitors, fermentation in Biella lasts about two weeks, the yeast is then separated and reused, and the beer matures cold for about four weeks; the brewery also speaks of maturation of at least thirty days in the cellars beneath the plant.
That cold maturation is what gives the Bionda its clean aroma and its fine, persistent foam, a point the brewery itself links to the quality of its ingredients and maturation. It also integrates the carbonation, so the beer feels lively but not aggressive, and lets the light bitterness settle into a smooth close.
Tasting Profile
Bionda pours straw-yellow to light gold, brilliant, under a white, compact and lasting head. The nose is soft and balanced: fresh bread and cereal from the malt, a light floral and citrus note from the hops, a faint fruity touch. Nothing dominates; the aroma is clean and inviting.
On the palate the attack is gently sweet, the body round for a 4.8% beer, the carbonation lively and fine. The middle shows malt and a citrus freshness, and the finish is dry and clean, with a light, pleasant bitterness that does not linger. Structure explains the pairings: carbonation and bitterness clean the palate after mozzarella and frying oil, the soft malt matches bread and pizza crust, the light body never covers delicate fish or vegetables, and the moderate bitterness does not clash with salt or iodine.
ZAFFERANO & CO. Technical Score
Style Fidelity: 88/100 · Italian Identity: 84/100 · Food-Pairing Versatility: 89/100 · Complexity: 72/100 · Balance: 90/100. These are ZAFFERANO & CO. editorial technical scores and are separate from third-party ratings.
The score evaluates fidelity to the style, Italian identity, the range of dishes a beer can serve, aromatic depth and structural coherence. Bionda scores highest for balance and versatility: it serves pizza, fried food, seafood and white meat with equal ease. Its Italian identity rests on the oldest active brewery in Italy and its Alpine home rather than on Italian raw materials. Complexity is limited by the style itself: a premium lager should be clean and readable, not layered. The score refers to the beer when fresh.
Third-Party Ratings and ZAFFERANO & CO. Rating
We quote no medal or score that we cannot verify with its source, category and year. ZAFFERANO & CO. Rating: 86/100.
Our rating is kept separate from third-party opinions, as with our wine pages. It judges Bionda as a gastronomic beer, by how it performs with Italian food, and refers to the beer at its best: fresh and well served.
Serving Temperature, Glassware, Pouring
Serve Bionda at 43–46°F (6–8°C), the range indicated by the brewery. Colder, the malt and the floral notes close and the beer tastes only of cold and bubbles; much warmer than 50°F (10°C), the sweetness grows and the freshness fades. A tall, slightly tapered lager glass shows the color and supports the head; a stemmed pilsner glass works as well. Never use a frosted glass.
Pour with the glass tilted, then straighten it to build two fingers of compact foam: with this beer the head is part of the design. Store bottles upright, cool and away from light, which damages the hop aroma of pale beers quickly, and drink them well within the best-before date.
Italian Food Pairings
Menabrea suggests the Bionda with pizza, shellfish and vegetables, and more broadly with white meats and cheeses. These are the ZAFFERANO & CO. recipes where it performs best.
Neapolitan Margherita Pizza: The first pairing on the brewery's list, and the most natural. The soft malt meets the charred, slightly sweet crust, the carbonation cleans the milky fat of the mozzarella, and the moderate bitterness respects the acidity of the tomato and the perfume of the basil.
Impepata di Cozze: Shellfish, as the brewery suggests, in the simplest Neapolitan form: mussels opened with black pepper and lemon. A light lager is ideal with iodine and pepper; the citrus freshness of the beer works like the lemon, and its clean finish lets the sweetness of the mussels come through.
Frittura di Pesce: Fried seafood is where a lager earns its place. The carbonation cuts the oil and the batter, the light body never weighs on the fish, and the dry finish makes the next piece taste as fresh as the first.
Peperoni con Bagna Cauda: Vegetables, the third family on Menabrea's list, with the great sauce of Piedmont: garlic, anchovies and oil. Salt and garlic need refreshment more than structure; the Bionda's carbonation cleans the oil, its soft malt answers the sweetness of the roasted peppers, and its low bitterness avoids the metallic clash with anchovy.
Petto di Pollo con Salsa Verde Piemontese: White meat with a Piedmontese green sauce and crisp potatoes. The lean chicken asks for a light beer, the parsley and capers of the sauce meet the herbal note of the hops, and the carbonation refreshes after the crunchy potatoes.
Tomini al Forno in Crosta di Grissini e Nocciole: Cheese, Piedmont style: soft tomino baked in a crust of Turin breadsticks and hazelnuts. The malt of the beer echoes the grissini, the bubbles cut the melted cheese, and the light bitterness keeps a rich antipasto lively.
What to Avoid
Bionda loses against dishes of great weight and depth. Braised red meats, slow ragù, game and dishes with dark wine sauces cover it completely and make it taste watery; they need a red wine or a darker, stronger beer. Long-aged cheeses such as mature Castelmagno or old Parmigiano Reggiano also overwhelm its soft aroma.
Rich desserts, chocolate and creams make the beer taste bitter and empty, and intensely smoky or truffle-driven dishes leave it without a voice. The problem is never quality, only proportion.
Price and Availability
Bionda is the flagship of Menabrea's main range, and in Italy it is everywhere: supermarkets, bars, pizzerias and restaurants, in bottles and on draft. Outside Italy, availability depends on importers and local distribution; prices vary by state, format and retailer, so we print no reference price.
In some markets Menabrea is brewed locally: in the United Kingdom the brand's own site states that its beers are brewed in the UK. In the United States, look for bottles imported from Italy in shops and Italian restaurants, read the label to see where the beer was brewed and check the best-before date: a pale lager is at its best young.
The Beer Across a Meal
In an Italian menu, Bionda belongs at the beginning and in the informal heart of the meal: with the aperitivo, fried antipasti, seafood, vegetables and, above all, pizza, where in Italy beer is the natural choice. It can follow a whole pizzeria meal from supplì to margherita without changing glass, then leave room for wine if a red-meat main course follows.
Bionda should be drunk fresh, when its floral and citrus notes are bright. Served at 43°F (6°C), it is crisp and cleansing; allowed to reach 46°F (8°C), it shows more of its round malt. Either way, it is a beer built to accompany food, not to compete with it.
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