The world's most intricately composed orchestral symphony is but a rudimentary gesture when performed for a deaf crowd; so are the fates immovably poised against the great Teo Musso, famed Italian brewer.

Musso is of the eccentric mold - quirky, confident, passionate, and strangely mysterious - one of the rare and special few who candidly parade through life without inhibition. He is renown for the art of producing highly regarded craft beer - no small task in a nation of wine-lovers.

The tale of Teo Musso and the story of Le Baladin, begins in 1996, in the village of Piozzo. It is there, at his bar and brewery, Musso offers some of the most amazing and bizarre creations the craft beer circuit has ever known. Take, for instance, the Xyauyu - a 13.5% ABV black ale aged outdoors until completely oxidized and almost wine-like.

Brewing techniques like this are not only uncommon, they're virtually condemned- regarded a surefire way to spoil the batch. Shamelessly showcasing blatent disregard for convention, Teo Musso has become an icon to the growing community of craft brewers in Italy.

The Jim Morrison of Beer

I found an absolutely outstanding article from British writer Adrian Tierney-Jones which offers a comprehensive look at Musso and Le Baladin. Don't let the poorly designed website deter you from checking out the full read, I assure you Jones' award-winning writing is some of the best I've linked to thus far. Of Teo Musso, the author's illustration is vivid:

He certainly has the aura of a man who believes his own publicity (‘he is the Jim Morrison of beer,’ I am told by one Italian beer writer). He is tall and rangy, draped in a long scarf, leather-jacketed, stick thin, heavily stubbled and blessed with the sort of distressed, windswept hair that must take forever to do in the morning. Even though he’s in his early 40s, there’s a boyishness about him, an enthusiasm, a sense of adventure or exploration, plus a easy charisma — he greets people in his bar with the sureness of one of those infuriating people who seem to have limitless self-confidence. ...Ask him about beer and the last thing you will hear will be marketing double-speak.

I don't know when Jones' article was published, but I can only assume the depiction of Musso is as true today as it ever was; it's the sort of image I have ingrained in my head - The Jim Morrison of Beer. I can tell you from just one look he's got the sort of confident swagger I will never carry.

While navigating the brewer's website, I came across a section dedicated to music. It turns out Musso's got a heck of a taste for blues, particularly old classics like the legendary Muddy Waters. According to Jones' article, Musso has found creative means to merge his passions for music and brewing.

Many hail him as a genius, though others of a more conventional stripe might think some of Musso’s ideas as thoroughly bonkers. For a start, most of the fermenting vessels have headphones attached to them. This is due to Musso’s belief that as yeast is alive it can respond to music, in the way newly born babies like a spot of Mozart. There is even a tango guitarist who has composed movements for the different phases of fermentation.

Just when you thought you had seen it all, I tell you - put that in your pipe and smoke it... but I think Teo Musso may have already beaten you there.

Experience

What poured as a towering white creamy head quickly subsided to a fading finger's width, overtaken by larger foamy bubbles until the cap was completely diminished. Le Baladin's Nora is honey-colored, cloudy, and bright with golden highlights; copious sweet fruit toyed with my nose almost immediately. Among the fruit smells are rich underlying spices (and some esters from the yeast, almost Belgian in character), and while I can't quite dissect the nuances, clove and coriander come to mind... I'm sure the myrrh is up to something in there as well.

The flavors are fruity, but vague and varied: grapefruit, apricot, tangerine and even semi-sour apple are all insinuated but never quite committed. The delicate bubbles are active and plentiful, suspended in a light-to-medium slick body, hazy and dotted with yeast. The finish leaves a thin coating on the tongue, but the tangy, bitter close draws saliva to quickly cut through the remnants.

The beer brings the kind of sour funk at the tail end that makes you question, just for a moment, if it has turned south. The finish seems to last for days, and the intriguing off-tastes twist and toil mostly in the tail. During the resolution, the ending flavors somehow come to harmony and leave me smacking my lips in contemplation; I hastily return for more as the brew is deliciously inviting, easy on the eyes and palate. In only a few sips, the alcohol begins to warm my belly, though the complicated flavors had me forgetting there was any alcohol present at all.

Final Thoughts

I haven't had a beer quite like Nora, but then again, I don't see many Egyptian style ales on the shelves. It was hard to place some of the flavors, but the balance was outstanding - this is surely a beer I will return to in the coming warmer months. While the front of the palette speaks to sweet malt, the back end is defying and dry, sour and citrusy like orange zest.

There are a number of beers that exhibit these types of flavors and scents, but this is the first I've had that lends itself across multiple styles; Nora drives further into unexplored territory than many of the sours, wits, and spiced ales with which it shares its heart and soul. Moreover, there's a lot to take in at every sample, but none of it is overpowering.

The bold flavors intermingle in instantaneous synergy, the outcome is thirst-quenching and refreshing- molto delicioso. From the moment I first read of the intriguing Teo Musso, I knew that Le Baladin was a label that had to find its way to this site. I hadn't anticipated, however, just how much I would enjoy the Nora, and I was exceptionally pleased to have experienced this grand concoction from one of the most inspiring minds in craft brewing.

Italy - 6.8% ABV

Birrificio Le Baladin [website]

Egyptian Style Spiced Ale