ROSBETTOLA
As soon as I stepped into ROSBettola, while I was watching her preparing takeaway coffee, politely answering the questions of the customers who had climbed up here on a Sunday in March 2021 to enjoy what Covid-19 partial lockdown restrictions permitted, Edith encouraged me to look at the menus: “Read the first two pages, they are the most important ones”. Those two pages tell about the Gastinelli family’s credo: ‘We have decided not to offer any products coming from multinational companies, because we are convinced that the world can change if each and every one of us does something to change it”, explains the first page, while the next tells the story of “a kind of reverse globalisation, a dimension in which it is not goods that move around, but people”. This is the story of ROSBirra, the only craft beer on sale in just one place, in Italy and all over the world: at tavern ROSBettola, of course. The menu explains: “Under its foam is our heart beating amongst the woods of the Bisalta”, the massif of the Western Alps that dominates the village, whose summit reaches 2,231 metres above sea level. The profile of the Bisalta massif is also outlined in ROSBettola’s logo and on the label of ROSBirra, which, technically, is an IPA (India Pale Ale) flavoured with elder flowers. The original recipe is Edith’s secret, but she scoffs when her father calls her a “master brewer”.
Label
“ROSBirra is the courage of the lion, the beauty of the lynx, the mystery of the owl, the strength of the wild boar. It is our heart beating amongst the Bisalta woods. It is the magic of Rosbella in a pint” explains the label of the beer created by Edith Gastinelli using the elder flowers found in the woods around the village. On the label are the four mentioned animals, each associated with a family member: the lion is Leo, the lynx is Edith, the owl is Marzia, and the boar is Sandro.
Edith’s passion started when she was less than eighteen years old, and led her to collaborate with one of the first Italian craft breweries, the Troll, in Vernante, in the province of Cuneo. “At ROSBettola, customers can only drink ROSBirra, as was the case in old-time taverns, where there was no choice, only the house wine”, says Edith. Beer is also sold in 0.75-litre bottles, for those who want to take some home. In five months, despite the intermittent opening in autumn and winter of 2021 due to the Covid-19 emergency, the Gastinelli family sold around 4,000 litres of it.
