Meet The Brewer | Whitepony Microbrewery Beers without compromise in Padua, Italy

THE EXTREME ART OF BREWING

A PASSION FOR THE RICH, COMPLEX, MULTI-FACETED BEERS OF BELGIUM LED ROBERTO ORANO, THE ITALIAN SON OF A BELGO-ITALIAN FAMILY, TO PURSUE HIS OWN CAREER IN BREWING. JUST DON’T EXPECT HIM TO FOLLOW CONVENTION, QUITE THE OPPOSITE IN FACT.

The monks of Abbaye Notre Dame de Saint-Remy, in Brasserie de Rochefort have left an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of many beer lovers across the globe. Whether you’re a brewer, aspiring producer or just fond of great beer, the fan club for Rochefort 10, the 11.3% Trappist beer they brew, spans the globe.

Boasting a warming glow with aromas of cherries, figs, and dark chocolate, the beer is brewed with natural spring water from the local Tridaine spring, pale malt and Munich malt, unmalted grain. It features Hallertau and Styrian Golding hops, Rochefort’s own yeast, and candied sugar. And in the eyes of Roberto Orano, the founder of White Pony Microbrewery, it’s the definition of a ”perfect” beer. The Italian son of a Belgo-Italian family, Orano has long been a fan of heavy Belgian brewing and for the last eight years, he’s been using that passion to influence and inspire the diverse, award-winning beers he produces himself.

“My love for beer came from my father, who was born in Belgium to Italian migrants. When I was a teen I used to drink bad commercial beer, mainly from Germany,” he recalls. “Growing up in Italy, Belgian beer wasn’t particularly popular but my father would always tell me that the best beer in the world was Belgian. That stuck with me.” For a few years Orano would lose interest in the beer world, at least until travels to Belgium opened his eyes to the flavoursome, rich, world-beating beers his father always talked about.

He explains: “When I travelled to Belgium, I discovered that people would happily drink 10% beers, sometimes even at lunch. Those beers have a great complexity and many layers, which really appealed to me because at every sip you can discover something new. “But let’s be clear, it’s not purely a passion for high ABV. It’s about the taste, the flavours, the aromas. There are bad strong beers and great low ABV beers, but brewing big, bold beers is a pleasure. It’s like comparing pop music with jazz or metal, there is no match!”

Orana would enjoy beers from countries like Belgium and Holland. He would travel more; visiting breweries, bars, abbeys and beer festivals, as well as collecting old bottles and glasses.

“The passion was real!” he laughs.

Before long, he would move into home-brewing. Beers such as those from the St. Bernardus brewery in Watou, Bel

gium and the aforementioned Rochefort 10 had definitely made their mark. “I love these, but I would soon taste a lot of hop-forward American beers and that really helped inform my views on brewing, too. It changed and inspired my idea of what beer could be,” he says. Despite his love of home-brewing, Orano was initially destined to become a nurse in Italy. This, however, didn’t materialise, so he turned to the very different field of coaching basketball.

“I was doing several different jobs, but the beers I was making at home were receiving great feedback,” he says. “I was 23 and thought to myself: ‘Hey, I don’t want to see myself hanged by someone else, I prefer to hang me with my own hands’ so after a bit of planning, I brewed my first major batch of beer.”

And for someone that ignores convention, it’s unsurprising that this beer would be a hybrid of a Belgian Quadrupel and an English Barleywine. Called ‘The Oracle’, it featured Pilsner and Cara Malt,

with Styrian Golding and Saaz hops. The 10.7% copper strong ale was full in body, with aromas of caramel and dark and dried fruits.

“It sold out in one week,” he recalls. “So I reinvested everything back into the process. It also allowed me to could get some glasses printed!” He adds: Those early days were crazy. I was brewing the beer in Belgium so needed to travel back and forth. Before long, strangers were requesting my beers in six-packs to take away. When that happens you feel pretty small, that you’re involved in something way bigger than you. “It was all unexpected because this project started out as me just brewing a beer and having no expectations. If I could make enough to survive then that would be great!”

But people’s expectations increased, and Orano had to meet them.

It’s like comparing pop music with jazz or metal, there is no match!” Roberto Orano, White Pony Microbrewery

I’d be checking the ratings they’d receive online. It made me nervous but to be honest, I’ve since deleted all of those. It’s not worth it!” he laughs. The beers of White Pony Microbrewery fall into four categories. The Oracle forms part of a flagship range that also includes releases such as ‘Black Sheep Imperial Porter’, ‘Autonomy Lost Imperial IPA’ and ‘Stongest Than Ever’, a 15.1% Barleywine. Its limited and seasonal ranges also boast an array of heavy-hitting numbers but its oak barrel-aged collection that have also helped Orano and his brewery make a name in the world of beer.

Here you’ll find releases such as ‘U Make Me Sick’ a Quad aged in Aquavit barrels with cherries and chocolate, rounded off with the infusion of cigars while ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ is a Highland whisky barrel aged Belgian Ale with spices. Orano will also frequently take his ‘Stongest Than Ever’ Barleywine and age it in barrels such as Rum and Bourbon, sometimes adding a dry-hop to the mix.

White Pony primarily brews its beers at Brouwerij Eutropius in Menen, sometimes also using De Graal, both of which are in Belgium. Though he brews his beers in Belgium, Orano also runs the White Pony pub in Padua, a city in Northern Italy’s Veneto region. Offering 10 taps and 240 bottles, it’s become a destination for fans of great beer.

Orano’s sales come from exports.

“Only 2% of what we make is sold through the pub,” he explains. “In Italy, we have a loyal following, and do our own distribution, but there is a lack of a beer scene for complex strong beers. It’s a case of education as people don’t really understand the price and ABV of much of what we make.”

He adds: “In Italy, much of what I see falls into the category of IPA, NEIPA and APA. Sure, these sell very well because the demand is there but for me, it’s not an art! “Some breweries branch out into barrel-aged beers but it’s probably 0.001% of their production. It is one of the reasons I brew in Belgium.” Orano’s beers are brewed in Belgium and around 50% of everything he makes is sold there, too. The rest is distributed to countries like Holland, Japan, Spain, Germany, Canada, Denmark and the UK.

“I think White Pony beers have touched all the continents except Africa. We used to work well in Russia, USA and China but we are searching for new importers there,” he explains.

And eight years in, Orano and White Pony are in no mood to compromise now. They could just do with a helping hand a long the way. “The recent pandemic has been a challenge,” he explains. “We’ve spent several months without selling any beer,

In Italy, much of what I see falls into the category of IPA, NEIPA and APA. Sure, these sell very well because the demand is there but for me, it’s not an art!” Roberto Orano, White Pony Microbrewery

apart from some in Belgium. I’m waiting to hear what the Italian government can help with regarding taxes.”

He adds: “But I will continue to experiment. We expanded our barrel cellar a great deal so expect to see more oakaged beers and wan to release more sour ales, too. It’s exciting and we’ll do our best to make our fans happy.”