The Lesster Brewery on the Cibus 2022 podium

On May 3, the “Twenty-Nine Twelve — Barrel Aged Bourbon” beer from the Lesster Brewery won a silver medal at the 2022 Beer of the Year competition, in which almost two thousand different artisanal preparations participated: the numbers of this edition were remarkable, as was the quality of the products presented.

The live return, organized thanks to Unionbirrai and Birra Nostra, saw 45 different styles of beers competing, selected by 244 producers and evaluated by a large jury of Italian and foreign experts, gathered in Bologna at the end of March. Category number 35 is the one in which we find beers aged in wood, competed regardless of color, type of fermentation and alcohol content: in second place in the selection, awarded by Roberta Careddu, we find the Twenty-Nine-Twelve, aged in the barrels that housed the aromatic liqueur from Kentuky.

Fosco, how was the idea for this beer developed?

Twenty-nine takes its name from the date on which we started the first trial production of the Lesster brewery, on December 29, 2011: this is an experiment started three or four years ago, with relatively small production volumes, waiting to understand how valid it was. The award received at Cibus and the comments collected by the judges can only push us to carry it forward and improve it, even increasing the quantities of product: immediately after the award ceremony we have completely exhausted the reserve of this Imperial Stout aged in barrels, but fortunately in a month it will

Obviously, before thinking about aging, we worked a lot on the beers from which we started, since at the time we didn't have beers with a high enough alcohol content. The twenty-nine twelve, in fact, are actually three different beers: the award-winning's' sisters' are our Strong Scotch Ale 'Angiolina', which is aged for four months in the barrels used to store rum, and the 'Double Flag', left to rest for the same

The award ceremony comes after a period of forced break from participating in the competitions. How was it to get back on stage?

Due to the pandemic, we were forced to suspend the sending of beers for tastings, but this year we decided to try to get back in the game also from this point of view: it was difficult to cope with Covid, but the satisfaction received at Cibus pays us back for past efforts, mainly linked to the crisis in the restaurant sector.

With Unionbirrai we participated in the Beer&Food Attraction in Rimini, we won awards at Riva del Garda and beyond. In the “Award Winning Beers” section of our site you can find all those classified as Golden, Silver or Bronze Hops in the FederBirra competition, but returning to winning on such an important stage, after the period marked by the coronavirus, was a pride for us with an extra meaning, of recovery and recognition of

Among other things, we remind readers that the jury performs the tastings without knowing which brewery the nominations come from, as a guarantee of impartiality. The beers with which you participated in Cibus were six in total, right?

Exactly, three of which made it to the final: among the best ten, the Double Flag and the Angiolina were also selected, starting beers for the barrel aged versions. And right now we are already thinking about which ones to apply for the next competitions

To be honest, however, it is also essential to receive the least positive reviews in order to modify our preparations and understand how to innovate our products: we grow thanks to constructive criticism, which suggests in which direction

Chiara Tomasella