Day 7, 1.7.11, Amarcord

I fancy myself pretty in tune with Italian food and beverage culture.  I've worked in Italian restaurants for the past several years.  I'm familiar with ossobuco and falanghina, and I know my angelotti from my corzetti.  Just an amazing culinary tradition, a wonderful culture of delicious food and beverage.
But I've also tried their beers, (Peroni, Birra Moretti are the big two) and they are... what's the word?... oh yes, god awful.
So whenever I see a new Italian beer, I think to myself, "hmmm, maybe this one is palatable".  And this one was no different.  My wonderful wife Lesley picked me out a few beers to get my project rolling and Amarcord was one of them.  It comes in a large handsome swing-top bottle in sort of the shape of an inverted maraca.  The bottle's labels reads "premium amber ale" and "unique Italian craft beer"
Popping it open and pouring it into the glass, I found it very lightly effervescent.  It's rich amber in color and crystal clear.  On the nose, it's a bit smoky and smells syrupy sweet (if that makes sense).  And on the palate?  It is absolutely terrible.  I hate to say it, but this beer is just disgusting.  As the nose suggests, it has a full sticky body.  The front palate is almost cloyingly sweet; heavily malted with not an inkling of hop balance.  And the finish is so disgustingly sour and skunky that it makes me gag with every sip I attempt.  I tried to think of a redeeming quality of this beer to give it another point or two, but I could not.  And since the scale is one (not zero) to ten, I will score it a 1 out of 10.  Not recommended.

*click*

And so my quest for a good (I'm not even looking for great anymore) Italian beer goes on.  If you have any recommendations, please leave them in the comments.  I love you.