Introduction
Ichnusa is the beer produced in Sardinia, for which the people here is proude. The Sardinians in fact are very enthusiastic for their regional beer, despite the property of the factory today belong to Heineken group.
The curious name come from the ancient Greek. That is the name of the island Ichnoussa or Icnussa, but we don’t know why the founder chosen that. Amsicora Capra established the factory in 1912 at Cagliari. The factory worked until the World War II, and then has to stop his the production until 1963, when a new factory was established in Assemini, near to Cagliari and freshwater spring, where the beer is still produced today.
The new plant start to produce the beer with the vertical fermentation tanks with a conical and cylindrical shape in 1967, as first in Italy. The Ichnusa is the main fixture in the island for what concern the beer as much as the production was 400,000 hectolitres in the 80s 580,000 in 1986, when it became part of the Haineken Group.
Characteristics of the Ichnusa
The Ichnusa is a Lager with an alcohol content of 4.7%, made by corn. For the 90th anniversary of the factory, in 2002, it has been created the Ichnusa Special, with an alcohol content of 5.6%, made by different hops, while to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary, the plant begun to produce the Ichnusa Cruda, an unpasteurized Lager beer with a 4.9% alcohol content. Another anniversary, this time of the plant in Assemini for his 50th year of production, seen the brewery produce a non-filtered Ichnusa, aesthetically veiled, made with the residue of suspended yeasts, with an alcohol content of 5%.
Editions, events and anniversaries
Ichnusa has produced also special bottles, for example inn August 7, 2010, for the Ichnusa Live Festival, or for the centenary in 2012, with four historical labels is proposed, and a 75cl bottle with a blue label in limited edition.
The company is involved in cultural events like Mondo Ichnusa, a music festival for Italian and Sardinian musicians. This is a free event hosted in Poetto, Cagliari and Quartu Sant’Elena, since 2008. In 2013 the event has been organised in Marina di Torre Grande in the province of Oristano. For this festivals, the brewery has put on the market two celebratory bottles. Then, in 2008 the Ichnusa started a collaboration with Nikon the Ichnusa Beer Photographic Competition, to describe, by pictures, the values and beauty of the island thanks the participation of the inhabitants of Sardinia. In May 2013 it has been started the Ichnusa Music Contest in collaboration with Rock TV, aimed again for the emerging misucians of Sardinia. The brewery is also the official sponsor of the Cagliari Footbal club, since 2016, and since 2012 the official sponsor of Dinamo Basket Sassari.
Ichnusa Cruda Beer
Ichnusa Cruda beer is an unpasteurized alcoholic beverage with a characterized flavor, made by yeast microfiltration process. It is a fine beer, with a bitter aftertaste and golden color, with an alcohol content is 4.9% vol, to be served very cold. It is anothert low fermentation beer, with fragrance and a bitter aftertaste, very light in color and with compact and fine-grained foam.
