Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Days of the Beer, September 3

The beer for today is Amarcord La Puténa.

On September 3, 301, Marinus of Rab fled religious persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian and founded the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. San Marino is a country in the Apennine Mountains, completely surrounded by Italy. San Marino is the oldest constitutional republic in the world, it's constitution dates to 1600 and is the world's oldest written constitution still in effect.

San Marino has an area of 23.5 square miles, and has about 29,000 people.

In it's history, Napoleon refused to conquer the country when asked why, stating "Why? It's a model republic!" They made Abraham Lincoln an honorary citizen. It was the world's smallest republic from 301 to 1968 until Nauru gained independence. It became a member of the United Nations in 1992.

The brewery is named after Federico Fellini's film Amarcord, which won an Oscar in 1973 for foreign language film (Fellini may or may have not been born in San Marino). They produce beers named for women in the movie. La Puténa is the whore. La Puténa is a red double malt beer. Some places list it as a Vienna Lager, others have it as a Belgian Ale.

So, for the worlds oldest Republic, have the whore.

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