2026-08-24
A group of farmers and craft brewers in Italy’s Piedmont region is moving closer to seeking Protected Geographical Indication status for a regional beer made with local barley and hops, in a step supporters say could help protect a supply chain that runs from the field to the bottle.
The proposal is being advanced by the Consorzio Birra Origine Piemonte, a consortium created in 2019 by agricultural and craft producers. According to La Repubblica Torino, the group has now drafted product requirements that it plans to discuss in September with brewers, growers and trade associations before sending the file to Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
The recognition has not yet been formally requested or granted. The September meetings are expected to focus on the technical rules that would define what can be sold as Piedmont beer under a geographical indication.
The consortium brings together about 30 members in a region that has nearly 100 breweries. Its push comes after the beer was already recognized as a traditional agri-food product, a separate Italian designation that supporters see as an earlier step in building a stronger regional identity for the sector.
At the center of the project is an effort to secure local raw materials, especially brewing barley and hops, in a market where industrial products still dominate. The consortium says industrial beer accounts for 97% of consumption in Italy, leaving limited space for a regional chain built around farm production, malting and independent brewing.
One of the most advanced parts of the work has been the recovery of a historical two-row barley variety suited to brewing. Claudio Conterno, who leads the consortium and is a wine producer in Monforte d’Alba, told La Repubblica that the project grew out of a basic problem: Piedmont had cereal production, but it lacked the malting step needed to turn local barley into brewing malt.
From a small quantity of seed found in a farmhouse, the group began a multiplication process that has now reached about 150 quintals, equal to 15 tons, for larger-scale malting trials. The work was carried out with support from CREA, the Italian public research body for agriculture, and led to the registration of what the article described as the first certified barley specifically for beer.
Supporters of the proposal say the goal is not simply to copy established beer styles but to define a product linked to the region. The draft specification calls for a blond beer with an alcohol content of 4%-6%, made with barley and hops from Piedmont. Producers involved in the talks have also described it as a clear beer with balanced bitterness and relatively low alcohol.
That approach reflects a broader attempt to present beer in terms that are more familiar in other food and drink sectors in Italy, where protected names often depend on origin, local varieties and production methods. Backers say a PGI could help distinguish Piedmont beer from mass-market brands and support growers, maltsters and brewers working within the region.
The planned discussions in September are expected to include other industry groups, among them Unionbirrai, which represents independent brewers, and AssoBirra, the main beer industry association. That stage is likely to be important because the final production rules will need to balance agricultural goals with brewing practice and market demand.
Antonello Musso, of the Frè farm in Carrù, told La Repubblica that consumers are paying more attention to ingredients and that malt and hops remain central to a beer’s identity alongside water and the brewer’s recipe. In his view, the same raw material can produce different flavors depending on where and how it is grown, much as wine grapes do in different parts of Piedmont.
Other brewers interviewed by the newspaper described the recognition as a logical next step for businesses that have already shifted toward regional sourcing. Carlo Colombara, of Nuovo Birrificio Nicese in Nizza Monferrato, said beer is still often treated as a standard supermarket product rather than something rooted in agricultural raw materials and local production. Diego Botta, of the Kauss brewery in Piasco, said his brewery has used only Piedmont raw materials since 2018, most of them grown in its own fields and the rest purchased from farms working to the brewery’s technical specifications.
That farm-to-brewery model is central to the PGI effort. A geographical indication would require clear standards on origin and production, and supporters argue that this could give formal value to a chain that includes barley cultivation, hop growing, malting and brewing inside one region.
The project also highlights a less visible part of beer production: malt. While craft brewing has expanded across Italy over the past two decades, many breweries still depend on raw materials or processed inputs from outside their immediate area. In Piedmont, advocates say that building a recognized regional beer depends not only on growing barley and hops but also on creating the technical capacity to process them locally.
For now, the initiative remains at a preparatory stage. No sales projections, production volumes for finished beer or estimates of economic impact have been made public. What exists is a draft set of rules, a growing supply of regional barley for malting tests, and a coalition of growers and brewers trying to establish whether beer, like other protected European foods and drinks, can be defined by place as much as by recipe.
If the draft survives the September discussions, it will move to the agriculture ministry, where the formal path toward recognition would begin. That would place Piedmont at the front of an effort that, according to the consortium, has no direct equivalent in Italy’s beer sector, where most consumption remains tied to industrial labels rather than geographically defined regional production.