Birra Impavida: No fear

The tanks and broader infrastructure of the brewery itself all come from Italian producers, too, while the rays of sunshine that glitter over the lake are also harnessed by solar panels fitted to the exterior of the brewery. “We produce almost 70% of our own energy from solar panels, and we buy the remaining 30% from renewable sources,” says Raimonda. “It is more expensive to buy that energy, but in Italy you can choose to.”

“We also bought this building from a local farmer who had a very deep abandoned well in the land, it's about 50 metres deep and we can get really cold water from below the ground,” she adds. “We use that geothermal energy to partially chill down the beers, the taproom, and even the chilling system of the offices.”

It's choices like these that justify Raimonda and Serena's decision to name their business Impavida, the Italian for "fearless". And these touches have also given Impavida a profound sense of place, something that's accentuated by the brewery's proximity to the Austrian border. The local town of Arco was once part of Austria, and the relationship with the country's northern neighbours has had a profound effect on Impavida's approach to beer culture. 

“It's really a German-influenced beer territory,” Raimonda says. “One of the first three beers we made when we started in 2019 to 2020 was a Vienna lager, called Vivienne. It's a very old style that was abandoned at some point over here but it's been coming back in recent years, and I'm seeing it in more and more taprooms.”

While Germanic beer has certainly had an influence, Raimonda and Serena view Birra Impavida as being more closely aligned with American craft brewing culture. The co-founders met in the United States and worked together on various non-beer-related projects, including in real estate, before beer became their line of work. They remember mingling in taprooms and falling in love with the “energy and values” these craft beer establishments represented. 

Serena grew up in Arco while Raimonda moved there as a teenager; as the Italian craft beer scene continued to build, it felt like a natural move for them to set up a brewery of their own. Still, it was a risky move opening a medium-sized operation during a global pandemic. The question of what it means to embody fearlessness as a brewery is an interesting one, but this seems like a prime example of that ethos.

“The name was given to us by a collaborator who helped us with the graphic and logo,” Raimonda explains. “He said 'I feel both of you are very fearless, in wanting to put your ideas out there, wanting to make a statement'. Impavida is about living your idea, working really hard, and making sure you actually create it.”

'Impavida' is also a nod to the pair's status as female brewery operators working within an extremely male-dominated industry. While their extensive experience in the business world meant this was never seen as much of an obstacle, it would be naive to think that it hasn't created some challenges. 

“It's a male world, so this has never been a problem in terms of our mentality. The only thing is about networking,” she says. “Unfortunately there is not a strong networking of women in beer, just because there aren't so many, and without going into stereotypes, the ways we network and communicate are different to men. Being out of the men's network, I guess, has been a challenge. But when beer is involved, that always makes things easier.” 

For Impavida, there's a clear drive to create beers that don't steal the limelight, a determination not to veer into "crazy experimentation". This is understandable in Italy, a country without a deeply rooted beer culture, in which the goal is often to try and ease consumers into new styles and reshape their perceptions of beer. 'Drinkability' may have become a slightly overused phrase in recent times, but in a region where craft beer can still be viewed as niche and wacky by some, it captures the essence of what the co-founders want to achieve. 

“I don't like the term 'drinkable' because it makes it sound like it doesn't have a personality when it's really the opposite: it's more difficult to create really well-balanced craft beers than the opposite,” Raimonda explains. “People will try our helles or our blanche and say 'This is really good beer and it doesn't taste weird', and I'm like 'yeah, exactly!' This is not part of the territory's tradition at all, so we introduced that.”

The taproom setting plays a key role in creating these opinion-shifting beer experiences. Raimonda describes how Impavida finds “a lot of joy in hospitality”; it regularly hosts events, and encourages customers to visit the bar space to experience its beers in the ideal space. The scenic backdrop certainly helps get people onside, and as the brewery continues to establish its place within the Italian craft beer scene, those strong geographical roots will remain crucial.

“What really makes us happy is the possibility to create beers that challenge people's sense of beer,” Raimonda says. “We are in a country where there are tons of wine philosophers and narratives, but beer is always badly treated. That is a challenge that we really took on, and every day, we have people's affirmations that they love this type of beer, they would love to drink it and buy it more. That is my wish for the future.”