One night back in early Sept., I was trading texts with @WheatlandSpring co-founder John Branding. He was razzing me for something I had written (“Southern Bavarian Pils,” which doesn’t exist), when I replied that what I *really* wanted to talk about was our collab Italian Pils.

John likely thought I was kidding and/or mildly intoxicated. (He was half right.) He jokingly asked what we would call this lager. I said Alberto, after my grandfather. At this point, I expected John to hit the eject button on our conversation. He replied: “It would be an honor.”

Alberto Giovanni Runkovich was born in Trieste on March 4, 1904. At 16, he immigrated to American via Ellis Island. He settled in Brooklyn and rose to head chef of the @NYTimes, before passing away in 1960. I never met him, but he lived on in the stories of my dad and aunt Linda.

Early on, John had the incredibly thoughtful idea of incorporating Alberto’s story into the beer by sourcing craft malt from New York. He connected with Hudson Valley Malt, who works exclusively with nearby small farms upstate. The availability of this malt dictated our timeline.

In October, I sat down with John, Bonnie, and head brewer Austen Conn to discuss what we wanted this beer to express. Its malt character, its hop presence, its finish. Wheatland Spring’s creative process — from sourcing ingredients to a beer’s presentation — is so deliberate.

Italian-style Pilsner is a relatively new style, a spry 25 years old. The original, @IlBirrificio’s Tipopils, is distinguished by fragrant dry-hopping with floral, herbal German varietals and a soft, complex maltiness. (A German Pils, by contrast, is drier and never dry-hopped.)

Another side note: @Beervana’s May 2020 post on Italian Pils, which debunks some misconceptions about the style, is a quick and helpful read: https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2020/5/26/more-to-italian-pilsners. We also referenced his book “Secrets of Master Brewers”, wherein Agostino Arioli breaks down the Tipopils recipe.

Choosing what varietal to showcase in Alberto’s dry-hop, Austen suggested Mandarina Bavaria because its distinctive zesty citrus notes would evoke the orange fields of Sicily, where the family of my grandmother Aurelia “Laura” Tomaselli originated. Another wildly thoughtful idea.

We brewed on Nov. 16. The night before, Hudson Valley Malt owners Dennis & Jeanette Nesel personally delivered Germantown Pilsner and 6-Row Pale malts, freshly bagged that a.m. By chance, this barley had been grown at NY’s Migliorelli Farm — founded by Italian immigrants in 1933.

That morning in the Corn Crib, Dennis & Jeanette helped mill in their grain, alongside 2-row barley harvested on Wheatland Spring four months prior (then turned into Pilsner malt by Cville’s @MurphyRudeMalt). Together, they make an Italian Pilsner by way of New York and Virginia.

Yesterday, after four months of long conversations and lagering, we packaged Alberto. On the front of the vibrant red label, in its bottom left corner, are the ranseurs (called “alabarde” in Italian) featured on the Trieste city flag. On its back, the stars of the American flag.

Over on Wheatland Spring’s website, John wrote some beautiful words about my grandfather’s story and how it and this beer connect to bigger ideas of America, community, empathy, resilience, and more. I’d encourage you to give it a read: https://www.wheatlandspring.com/beer 

It’s truly an honor to make a Pilsner with, in my view, one of the country’s premiere lager producers, not to mention a farm, brewery, and company of such principle. They elevated this project in so many ways I couldn’t have imagined. Alberto could only have been made with them.

I can’t articulate everything this beer means to me. It honors my grandfather, but in my heart, it’s for his namesake, my father, Richard Albert Runco, who I know loved his dad as much as I loved mine.