Italy, though it is shaped like a boot, is not a natural vessel for beer. Italians drink wine, and the politicians — because they, too, drink wine, but also own fields of grapes that make it – are particularly vicious about the tax rate on breweries. But the biggest hurdle for Italy’s brewers is the simple fact that its drinking culture is inherently tied to food; Italians are not apt to go out to the bar after dinner to have a few pints. Italy consumes the lowest amount of beer per capita of any European nation, and when it has been drunk, it’s as a simple, watery thirst-quencher for field hands.

And yet, here we are in 2017, and it’s a well-known secret in world of international craft brewing: Italy is making some of the best damn beer in the world. In fact, Italian brewers are so savvy about combining the best brewing traditions of Belgium, Britain, Germany and especially the U.S., that it could be said the truest melting pot of craft beer today is not America, but Italia.