Italian Brew Pub – Il Birrificio di Como

Where:  Como, Italy.  A few minutes off the Como Sud exit on the A9 highway.  See map.

Why you should visit:  In a description I read online, they call themselves the “beer kingdom” (Il Birrificio di Como) and I can understand why after visiting the brewery and restaurant. The massive space inside could fit every single resident of the town where I grew up in Pennsylvania – apparently it holds “up to 1,200 people and is Italy’s biggest for a brewery.” If I lived nearby, this is the place I would go to with large groups of friends for a fun night out. My husband and I were both impressed by the layout of the brew pub and space. You can see the fermenters and other brewing equipment in clear view. There is no glass to separate the brewing equipment on the main floor from the restaurant, which also means it really has the full smell of a brewery, and you can watch the brewers in action if you happen to be there at the right time.

Overall Comments:  There are 5 types of beers available. I had the All Black, which was a double malt black stout. Great stout flavor followed by a smooth finish.  Jim had the Roxanne beer, more of a red color but also fairly strong in alcohol content at around 6%. We stopped in at 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon on our way back towards Milan airport, expecting to be the only customers, but there were at least 50-100 other people there. We didn’t eat, but wish we would have when we saw the selection of food. There was also an additional open section that displayed all the fresh cold meats.  See picture below!
The owners of Il Birrificio did not skimp on any details, down to the glasses they use to pour each beer. Each beer is poured in its own unique glass with the logo printed on it. I very much enjoyed stopping by this brew pub and would recommend it to anyone visiting the Como area.