Travelling to Parma, Italy, is tiring at the best of times, whether you go there from Norway or just about anywhere else. There is a matter of a flight to Milan, which usually ends up at Malpensa, the largest airport. In my case this took two and a half hours plus an hour delay, and I was lucky there was a direct flight that day. On arrival in Milan, there is one hour drive on the circular road around the city before you actually are on the motorway crossing the Po plain which takes another hour, minimum. I was lucky again, this time the transfer actually took two hours. The air conditioning in the mini bus, however, did not work that day.

But craft beer can compensate for lots of things. When I checked in at my hotel sweaty and sticky, the man in the reception told me he had a few packages for me. "Beer, I believe". He even arranged for them to be sent up while I went to have a shover. So, here they are. The "American" Version of the sour Panil Barrique. The Panil Enhanced, where the secondary fermentation in the bottle is done by adding wine yeast. The Biona, which is their take on a pilsener. And the new Panil Divina, a spontanously fermented beer.

Bliss.