Tag Archives: #realperoni

Birra, wine

Tomatoes, cold beer and plenty of vino bianco….

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sauce-13

Whilst Monday was a public holiday in Victoria, some of my family got together to make the sugo for this coming winter. Whilst peel tomatoes (especially San Marzano) are fantastic, nothing beats your own sugo and this year we made it over two weekends.

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The tomatoes this week was a massive improvement on those from a couple of weeks ago. These contained less liquid and more concentration: key ingredients to a good sugo.

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These bottles will keep for at least a couple of years an if you know any Italian friends, see if you can beg, borrow or steal a few bottles from them and try the real deal…..

Food, restaurants, wine

December: a crazy month for all….

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Well there is no such thing as a quiet December. I am sure everyone is trying to get as much done before Christmas rolls around.

Containers of Peroni Rosso arrive from Italy.
Containers of Peroni Rosso arrive from Italy.

Over the last couple of weeks it has been all systems go with lots of containers of Italian beer and wine arriving which will keep everyone well stocked well into summer. I have spent the last two weeks at home which has been great and really only have two more dinners before we break for Christmas. Tomorrow night will be one of the years’ highlights with lots of great wine on the menu.

I will report back later in the week on the wines we will drink tomorrow night.

Birra, wine

A week like no other…

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Well what a crazy week we have just had.

Four containers in five days has stretched us to our limits but it has been well worth it. Heaps of new wines and lot’s more of the same.

Gran Sasso Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2010

Gran Sasso still amazes me. 10,000 bottles of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2010 were unloaded Tuesday morning and by lunchtime 10,000 bottles were dispatched to various restaurants and wine stores around Australia. We have another 40,000 bottles due in the next few weeks just to keep up with demand.

#realperoni

Also more stocks of #realperoni which should keep us ahead of the game for the next couple of months.

Plus new wines from Le Vigne di Alice, Corte Sant’ Alda, Lucarrelli, Pipoli have all arrived and been unloaded this week. We have a couple of weeks break for the next batch of containers arrive.

restaurants

Back up the truck: #realperoni has arrived….

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#realperoni

Whilst I have been in Italy, we have been busy @mondoimports loading up on a heap of different #realitalianbeers.

In Italy,  I had a number of different people ask me what #realperoni was all about? When I told them how their national beer Nastro Azzurro, was now been made in Australia but sold off as an Italian beer they were shocked. How could this be?

Well it is and the good news is that nearly every decent restaurant around Australia has decided that #fakeperoni will not appear on their wine lists. It is either the real deal or nothing at all. So the team @mondoimports have been busy supply most of the restaurant trade with the #realperoni from Italy. Forza Nastro Azzurro!!

restaurants, wine

#realitalianbeer and why it should always be the case….

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It is like asking to go to Venice in Italy and instead been flown to the Venetian in Las Vegas. It is not the same.

Below is an article I wrote for  #brewedunderlicencefreemarch movement which we started to raise the issue of #brewedunderlicence beers in Australia. The movement worked in highlighting just how many ‘imported beers’ were actually brewed in Australia.

This was my take on it:

Being of Italian heritage, I love all things Italian. I ride a Vespa which I restored from Italy. I drink wine made in Italy, and importantly I like to drink beer brewed in Italy. I also love drinking Australian wines, German Riesling and so on. So much to my dismay, a few weeks ago, I ordered my favourite beer in the world, a Peroni from an Italian restaurant wanting to start the evening off on a good note. However when I tried the Peroni it tasted different. More like drinking a Crown Lager than the Peroni I have come to love.

Bizarre! How can a Peroni made and brewed in Italy taste like Crown Lager? Well after examining the bottle, it was revealed that this had been brewed under licence by Coca Cola! What shocked me is that I had no idea that my favourite beer in the world, is now made in Australia!! I felt cheated, like I had caught my wife in bed with another man!!

I posted this on twitter and much to my surprise over the space of a few days, fellow Peroni lovers had also been caught unaware by buying what they thought was the genuine Peroni brewed in Italy but had been given an Australian equivalent that tasted to us, Peroni lovers, as something totally different from the original. We started the hash tag #realperoni on twitter for fellow Peroni lovers and the response has been phenomenal. In the space of a few short weeks, people had been going to restaurants and wine stores and asking first where the Peroni was brewed before buying it. If they were told it was imported and the ‘brewedunderlicence’ Peroni was served, they were sending it back.

The aim of the movement is not only to encourage people to buy and drink imported beer from the country it originated from but also educate people who might be thinking they are drinking Peroni from Italy, Becks from Germany but have been given these beers brewed in Australia. Why is this big deal? Well they taste different. They are not the same product, it is different. It is like asking to go to Venice in Italy and instead been flown to the Venetian in Las Vegas. It is not the same.

If I want to buy Peroni, I want Peroni. Not a beer brewed in Australia, using Australian water.

It is easy to check if your imported beer is made in Australia. Beers under licence in Australia have an Australian barcode which signifies that it is Australian made. So the Australian Peroni has a barcode that starts with 93. The genuine Peroni has a barcode starting with 80 which signifies it has been brewed in Italy. The back label should also mention if the beer has been brewed under licence in Australia or made in the correct country of origin.

#brewedunderlicencefreemarch is about drinking your imported beer of choice, from the country which it has originated from. So Kirin from Japan, Stella from Belgium, Becks from Germany and most importantly Peroni from Italy.

From our #brewedunderlicencefreemarch movement, Max Allen took it one step further and wrote a brilliant piece in the Weekend Australian Magazine highlighting this issue nationally.

Click on the link below to read the article and his own taste test:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/executive-lifestyle/the-real-thing/story-fn845mx8-1226006911607

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/local-v-imported-the-taste-test/story-e6frg8h6-1226006934415

And now?

Now nearly every decent restaurant in Melbourne is serving #realitalianbeer made from the country it originated from. It gives me great satisfaction to actually be able to go to Cafe Di Stasio, Il Bacaro or Grossi Florentino now and order a Nastro Azzurro brewed in Italy. Twelve months ago this probably wasn’t the case. Furthermore, these iconic restaurants were not even told that it had changed from being brewed in Italy to brewed under license in Australia. How bad is that?!!!

The next step for me will be to get the packaging cleared up for beers that are brewed under licence in Australia. If the beer is made and brewed in Australia? Why is all the details on the front label in Italian? It is not Italian. I will save that for next years #brewedunderlicencefreemarch ……