Arrogant Sour Festival

Having heard about the Arrogant Sour Festival in Italy for some time already, we got prepared in June 2018 for our first dedicated sour trip. We chose our joint birthdays as the perfect occasion for this special holiday. Including not only the craft beer festival, but also a one week road trip in Umbria, “il polmone verde di Italia”.

The Organization.

Arrogant Sour Festival is the largest festival dedicated to sour beer and one of the most important on European level. Arrogant started in 2013 from the mind of Alessandro Belini. This year, we enjoyed 50 international breweries, 150 beers on rotation and more than 5.000L of sour beers. Arrogant’s goal is to create a network between brewers, press and customers, and educate the market towards the arrogant market of sour beers.

Entrance was €7 and included the glass and the printed guide. A token system was in place and on average a beer was 3 up to 6 tokens. The beers were categorized for easy navigation on the site. You could find lambic, spontaneous, sour ale, gose, fruit ale, bruin, and more.

The Location.

The festival is located right in the city centre of Reggio Emilia, in the prestigious Cloister of the Ghiara, built in the 1600. Expect a charming sunlit garden with long wooden tables, live bands at night, food trucks and a 40m bar serving more than 164 beers. This 7th edition saw an affluence of more than 5.000 participants and lovers of sour beers.

The beer.

Finally, for all those sour lovers out there, believe me, this is a paradise. Some of the beers we would like to highlight are:

• Birrozzo Genziana (2016), 6%,  Fruit Ale, Birra Savio
• Biere de Syrah, Wild Ale,  6.6%, Jester Kinf Brewery
• Oud Bruin Oak Leaf, Flanders Oud Bruin, 6%, Brouwerij ‘t Verzet

We enjoyed classics and made new discoveries, including Cantillon, Tilquin, Vento Forte, Birrifico del Ducato, Ritterguts, Brouwerij ‘t and many more.