A chance encounter in a tavern near the Military Academy of Modena… A certain Riccardo Pignatti, who chatted agreeably about beer and about the city in the 19th century, subjects he loved. He was an author of noir mystery stories with a sinister erotic undertone,
set in modern times, but a year earlier he had found by chance in his readings about Modena in the Belle Epoque, a story and a recipe for beer. So he had decided, purely for pleasure, to write a more cheerful novel mixing history with picaresque matters. After finishing a first book, Il birraio di Modena (The Brewer of Modena), he found that he couldn’t have it printed because of contractual complications with his Milan publishing house. From here derived a project based on the book and on the beer, the purchase of the copyright, the birth of Birra di Modena, and the production of a beer according to that recipe found by the author.