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Osteria di Birra del Borgo, Rome's latest craft-beer pub

Rome's hottest pizzaiolo is rocking a new craft-beer pub near the Vatican.

By Katie Parla
Osteria di Birra del Borgo
Since it's foundng in a remote corner of northern Lazio more than a decade ago, Birra del Borgo has grown from a rural craft brewery into an international player known for its heirloom-wheat beers, including one brewed with einkorn, and seasonal specialities such as Perle ai Porci, an oyster stout brewed in the winter with Italian bean clams and French oysters.
The brewery's latest project is Osteria di Birra del Borgo, an open-plan pub with a pair of wooden bars and halo-like skylights in the Prati district near the Vatican.
Beer-based cocktails round out the drinks list.
Owner Leonardo Di Vincenzo has opened several joint-venture pubs in Rome in recent years - Open Baladin and Eataly's Birreria among them - but Osteria di Birra del Borgo is the first in the capital bearing his beer's name. The new entry joins the growing number of brewery-affiliated pubs in Rome.
While the focus is firmly on beer, whether it's fermenting in terracotta amphorae near the entrance or poured from two dozen taps at the bar, Osteria di Birra del Borgo serves a full menu designed by Gabriele Bonci, the acclaimed baker and owner of Pizzarium, the renowned pizza-by-the-slice joint nearby. In step with Birra del Borgo's growth, Bonci opened a stall in Rome's Mercato Centrale market late last year and will open a pizzeria in Chicago in the next couple of months.
Gabriele Bonci.
Bonci's team prepares flatbread sandwiches stuffed with the likes of burrata and salami, and rectangular slabs of pizza by the slice with classic toppings. Other dishes include artichoke ravioli with butter and sage, grilled veal, and quail roasted in hay. 
Rounding out the drinks offering is a thoughtful list of Birra del Borgo beer-based cocktails created by Alessandro Procoli of the Jerry Thomas Project, Rome's premier cocktail bar. A crowd favourite is Por La Calle, mezcal mixed with lime, agave syrup, cucumber and pineapple extracts, and Borgo's Saracena beer, brewed with buckwheat. 
Osteria di Birra del Borgo, Via Silla 26a, Rome, osteria.birradelborgo.it 
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  • undefined: Katie Parla