And for my 100th beer, and also to finish good my birthday dinner, here's a special one! The Inverno 1936, a limited edition and numbered (mine was #598) barley wine from Il Maglio, aged 10 months in casks of Amarone! It features an intense and clear amber color without foam. To the nose intense mature fruits notes with slight toasted and wood notes. The mouthfeel is full but smooth, bittersweet with strong malt notes counterbalanced by the hops. The high alcohol volume provides a mean of heating in cold weather, as "Inverno" means winter. The mouthfeel is quite alcoholic and more bitterish, and perfectly pairs with the dark chocolates provided with this barley wine. Overall it was my first ever barley wine, and I extremely enjoyed it!

My first ever beer from Il Maglio, an artisanal brewery from my zone! Their Munich Dunkel has won the Best Beer Of The Years 2019 so I was eager to try it out. It has a nice dark brown color with a fading hazelnut head. To the nose it has a toasted and rye bread crust scent. The mouthfeel is complex: the body is quite important despite a medium low carbonation. The taste has an overall sweetish toasted taste in which the malts have the main stage but they still leaves enough space to fully enjoy the strong notes of chocolate and dried fruits. The aftertaste is more bitter, despite the strong presence of a biscuity caramelized malt, but not too persistent hence it leaves asking for more. Overall a really nice offering from Il Maglio, which made me eager to try more of their lineup!