Name: Cassissona
Style: Fruit
Brewery: Birrificio Italiano website
Country: Italy
Region: Lurago Marinone
ABV: 6.4% Abv
How served: 750ml foiled capped bottle poured into a Troubadour glass.
My Overall Opinion: Very Good. 
I paired this beer with: Grilled salmon.
Tasted on: Monday April 12th, 2010.
Note: I originally obtained this beer while I was a member of the Michael Jackson beer club. I have been out of the club now for at least 2 years, so this bottle has been sitting in my fridge for some time now. It was bottled on January 18, 2006. On the label it says “sparkling beer” and it pours like a sparkling wine/champagne. The taste is very light with a huge amount of carbonation; the black currant (cassis) flavor is very subtle. I wish I had more in the fridge. But I don’t. So I’m going to be heading to Italy in search of some unique brews and set up a Beercation to Tuscany in 2011!
On the Label: Sparkling Beer Brewed with Black Currant (Cassis)
Exuberant, effervescent, sweet Cassissona, the beer with a punch, has a rich, complex fruity aroma – primarily black currant – besides other innovative and intense flavors and scents. It was designed for several very special situations, and is best when served with fruit desserts or – another valid alternative – savory cheeses.
From their website: Exuberant, effervescent, sweet Cassissona, the beer with a punch, has a rich, complex fruity aroma – primarily black currant – besides other innovative and intense flavors and scents. It was designed for several very special situations, and is best when served with fruit desserts or – another valid alternative – savory cheeses. A certain “winy” flavor makes it perfect for “Cantucci” cookies from Siena, for instance.
Its sweetness and strength impart a certain languidness and mellowness to mind and soul. It is suitable for unflappable folks or appropriate as a specific remedy for people suffering from hyper-efficiency. After Cassissona®, there is the void: an astronomical number of tiny bubbles carry – at the velocity of the expanding gas – fragrant molecules (esters and superior alcohol) and massive doses of ethyl alcohol to the few agitated and awed neurons in the brain. There is no time for questions, nor is it a time for answers, so just sit back, get comfy and enjoy a mouthful of life. I indubitably placed it on the 7th level of the B.I. Scale, and with the same certainty, I called it: “Rien va plus!”
Cassissona Sketch of Life n.1
After a Tantric rite on the riverbank, she speaks of clouds, their movement and essence, while he replies with a heartfelt hymn to the pure water of crystalline mountain streams. Amidst leaping trout and bursts of sunlight, the best conclusion could only be a devastating and all-consuming Cassissona. After Cassissona, oblivion. Later that evening, under the stars, a reawakening in a semi-conscious state, a revival of the rites or a huge headache.
Cassissona Sketch of Life n. 2
In Alsace, in the country home of “Aunt Giselle”. Lace bonnet, terra cotta stove, dark wood. Ducks, geese, cabbage and garlic. Herbal tea, cookies and .. Cassissona!!! Oooh Auntie!
Technical chart:
“SPARKLING CASSIS-FLAVORED DESSERT BEER”
Double amber malt produced by way of decoction, with approximately 6.5% alcohol by volume (17 Plato degrees).
A small amount of Cassis syrup is added at the beginning of the fermentation with S. carlsbergensis. It is prematurely bottled to obtain high gas saturation, and matured for at least six months at a temperature of approximately 6-7 °C.
As in the case of Amber Shock, this is not re-fermentation, but an exclusive procedure adopted by “Birrificio Italiano®” of Lurago Marinone .
Ingredients:
Water, with a total hardness of approximately 30 French degrees.
Hops: Hallertauer Magnum (1st and 2nd addition) and Hallertauer Hersbrucker (3rd addition).
Pilsener, Munich and caramel malts from Germany and France
Saccharomyces carlsbergensis brewer’s yeast from the laboratories of the Brewery University of Baviera (Weihenstephan)
Original recipe developed by Birrificio Italiano® of Lurago Marinone.
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