About

Il fiore di luppolo (started in 2014) develops the beer culture in Lugano (TI, Switzerland), and surroundings by informing people about and getting them familiar with the unique characteristics and large diversity of beer, ultimately giving it the recognition and status it deserves. Il fiore di luppolo does this through its (online) bottle shop (discontinued in 2020), thematic guided tastings and professional consultancy.

Founder Nico De Backer was born and raised in Belgium, famous for its unique beer culture, recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since 2016. After having worked as a web developer in Belgium, he retrained himself to become a beer culture advocate, spreading the (Belgian) beer culture in his adopted country Switzerland and its Ticino canton.

Nico studied at the CVO Elishout (Anderlecht, Belgium) and The Beer Academy (London, UK) and is a “Certified Beer Server in the Cicerone® Program” and “Swiss beer sommelier”. He is a member of The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and Zythos, the Belgian beer consumer association, and a board member of Associazione BIRA.

Looking to buy beers? What happened to the bottle shop?