retiredmartin

February 2026. Genoa.

Well, this is the post you were waiting for, I guess.

Hand pumps in Genoa, according to Untappd. You just need to find the Public House*, tucked behind Piazza Banchi,

only 5 minutes, but hard to follow the map in the drizzle. If you see this you’ve gone too far.

Ah, here it is;

Europeans don’t do pub signs, or pubs come to that. The Public House’s own pic shows a small bar awash with English beer mats, identical in style to 80% of European craft bars on the planet.

I’ll leave the Italian experts amongst you to decipher the beer board.

Oh sorry, this is the beer board.

I don’t know about you, but I see lots of strong beers there. The Italians don’t seem to distinguish much between ABVs in their pricing, as I was to discover to my cost in Turin.

But I see two hand pumps, and the one closest at the bar is the 3.8% Bitter Owl, so that’s OK.

There’s a couple of locals at the bar, and the barman is as chatty as language allows, telling me about the natural spring water of Trento used by Birra del Bosco. I feign interest, and attempt to score it NBSS 3.5 on CAMRA as a well conditioned session beer, forgetting that CAMRA doesn’t care about foreign cask any more.

Foolishly, but of necessity, I stay for a half of the other cask. The barman gives me the full rundown on the 12.5% Imperial Stout, but all I’m interested in is the size of the glass.

It’s gorgeous, an Old Tom on steroids or something. Wouldn’t it be great if the Good Beer Guide had a European chapter, forcing Simon to come to Genoa (or Copenhagen or Sofia) to get those last GBG ticks ? Sark is hard enough, mind.

I emerge into the Genoan light, somewhere near Piazza San Giorgio, and somehow stumble home.

*_{Public House, Via dei Giustiniani, 56r, 16123 Genova GE}