Open Baladin (Via degli Specchi 6, Rome, two minutes from Campo de' Fiori, in the Regola quarter) is the flagship Rome location of the Baladin brewery founded by Teo Musso in Piozzo, Piedmont in 1996. Baladin (the name from the Piedmontese dialect word for "the jester," a reference to the specific medieval street performer tradition that Musso identified as the spirit of his brewing project, outside the mainstream, entertaining, skilled) was the first Italian brewery to produce beer with the specific ambition of the Belgian and American craft beer traditions: complex, ingredient-focused, brewer-as-artisan rather than brewer-as-production-manager. The Open Baladin bar format (the Italian Baladin network of bars, of which the Rome location is the largest and most central) made craft beer accessible to Italian urban bar culture in a format that the Italian aperitivo (pre-dinner drink with snacks) tradition could absorb, the bar, the high stools, the specific display of the tap handles as aesthetic objects, the menu that explains each beer's ingredients and fermentation profile as a wine menu explains its vintage and terroir.
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Open Baladin Rome: The Experience
The 40 Taps
Open Baladin Rome offers approximately 40 beers on tap (the specific count varies by season and supply) plus 100+ bottled beers, the largest craft beer selection in Rome and one of the largest in Italy. The Baladin own-brewery range (the Super Baladin barleywine, the Nazionale made with Italian hops, the Isaac white beer with coriander and orange peel, the Elixir barleywine aged in whisky casks) is the core of the tap selection. The guest taps bring in the best Italian craft breweries (Birra del Borgo, Extraomnes, Montegioco, Loverbeer, the specific Italian craft breweries that have developed in the past 20 years following Baladin's initial demonstration that Italian craft beer was commercially viable) and the international references (Belgian trappist and gueuze, American West Coast IPA, German weizen). Price: €5-9 per glass depending on style and size.
Food and Format
Open Baladin Rome serves food designed to accompany beer rather than substitute for dinner: the cheese boards (Italian DOP cheeses, the Parmigiano Reggiano, the Pecorino Sardo, the Taleggio), the salumi (Italian artisanal charcuterie), the burger (the Open Baladin burger has been a reference point in the Italian craft burger movement since the early 2010s). The format: standing at the bar or seated at the high bar tables, in the specific craft beer bar social format that makes the Open Baladin experience distinct from both the Italian enoteca (wine bar and shop) and the traditional Roman trattoria (informal family-run restaurant).
Q&A: Open Baladin Rome
Is Italian craft beer worth trying if I'm primarily a wine drinker?
Yes, the Italian craft beer tradition, which has developed largely independently of the German and Belgian reference traditions while being influenced by American craft beer, has produced specific styles that have no equivalent elsewhere: the incorporation of Italian agricultural products (the Chardonnay grape in the secondary fermentation, the Piedmontese chestnut in the malt profile, the Sicilian blood orange in the wheat beer), the specific Italian brewing sensibility that favors complexity and food compatibility over sheer hop impact, and the Italian terroir concept applied to malt and fermentation. The Super Baladin barleywine is the specific introduction: a complex, warm, darkly fruited strong ale that shares more with aged Italian red wine than with the northern European beer tradition.
