Restaurant Vist: Pilu at Freshwater

So my Mum's birthday is tomorrow, but we're all busy tomorrow night, so last night we trekked out to Freshwater to have a family birthday dinner at Pilu at Freshwater. Awesome restaurant, we've been there a couple of times before, but I'd never really paid close attention to the drinks list. This time was different

Dat Beer List

I was pretty much blown away by the sheer selection of premium Italian beers on offer. I a little bit wanted one of everything. Unfortunately that wasn't quite an option. So for my first beer, I grabbed one of the OpperBacco TriplIPAs. 

Pictured: Specialty Beer Glassware... Aww Yiss

A cloudy, golden-amber pour with heaps of frothy, off white head, the nose was of strong orangey marmalade and a hint of caramel or toffee. The initial taste was sweet, biscuity malt, followed by zesty citrus, fading away to a roasty, lingering astringency.

The Tripl matched the intensity of flavours in my ravioli entree fantastically, with the strong malt and hop flavours going up against strong truffle and cheese flavours. For main, I'd decided on a slow-roasted pork, and asked the somellier/cicerone what he'd recommend to match it. I ended up with a Birra Barley "Sella Del Diavolo", which sounded like a big, biscuity amber ale.

Photo taken the day after, as I managed to not get a photo on the night

The SDD poured a cloudy, golden-red, with sparse, off-white head. The nose was of slightly sweet citrus, with a big hit of hops, that mellowed out as the beer warmed a little. The initial taste was saccharine sweet, with a quick followup of smoky, caramely malt and a lingering smoke they faded into hoppy bitterness.

The caramelised, smoky flavours of the beer really matched the pork to a tee, far better than any wine I've had with pork has before!

Overall I had a fantastic night, and really enjoyed matching some stellar Italian craft beers with delicious, full-flavoured Italian dishes. Now to try and track down a few of these beers outside of the restaurant!