We were determined to find a brewpub in Florence and luckily our travels led us to Mostodolce. With a young couple ahead of us filling up the Italian version of a beer growler, we knew we were in the right place. The beer, like the spot itself, was full of personality with placemat drawings lining the walls of past patrons’ odes to water, malt and hops in a land dominated by wine. Their logo (above) is the rear-end of an elephant, trunk triumphantly in the air.
All the beer is seasonal and fresh, which meant we couldn’t try their Black Doll Stout, so we settled on their multi-award winning Volpe, made from “five different kinds of malt and a lot of hop.” Potentially a little sour to some it is a beer that grows on you as you drink it. Or, is that just the affect of the beer?
We asked if there were other brewpubs in Florence, and the simple answer was we were sitting in one of two. The reason, as we suspected, this is the land of wine, not beer. I proclaimed beer WAS the next wine and instantly we had a series of glasses on the table to taste. The Saison dell’Arco had a distinct taste of pink pepper, as advertised.
We agreed our favourite was the Martellina (which means ‘hammer’ at 7.3%). I’m not really a fan of sweet beers, but the honey chestnut flavours in this amber ale were lovely.
Too excited by our find we failed to take snapshots, but I suppose that warrants a second visit. And, if you’re ever in Florence and tiring of fine wine and bottled beer, Mostedolce is the elephant in the room.