It was suggested by the group that we should perhaps at some point find food and I agreed with that, but after we visited a bar. This seemed like a fair compromise. I noticed that this venue was listed on Untappd, so I thought it was a sensible place to visit for a few apéritifs. Six to be precise.
I thought that this looked really quite lovely, a traditional bar with modern craft beers. There were no tables available so I thought that we might as well sit at the bar to be near the beer.
Bar staff hate doing these and I apologised in advance. The barman, who was very agreeable, admitted they are a nuisance to do, especially as Steve wanted one and then another customer saw it and wanted one as well. I probably wasn’t flavour of the month. Incidentally, note that food is provided with this, so I felt sufficiently well fed.
Anyway, the beers from left to right:
(i) Pale Ale brewed by Zmajska Pivovara – this was a malty, fruity rather lovely little number.
(ii) Pale Ale brewed by Pivovarna Hopsbrew – a very rare cask beer in the country, it was hoppy, light and fluffy.
(iii) Maya : Spontaneous Red/Burgundy Barrel Aged brewed by 22brewing – delightful, this was punchy, tart, plummy and delicious.
(iv) Purple Rain brewed by Clef Brewery – this was a pastry sour with a taste of berries and it was gentle, verging on decadent.
(v) Square Hammer brewed by Nova Runda – this was hazy with a taste of grapefruit, a bit of stonefruit and hoppy.
Susanna had a beer as she’s becoming more cultured, whilst Bev was busy downing a bottle of wine or whatever she was doing.
As I don’t get out much, I was excited to see that I had an Untappd friend (ooooh, friend) who was in the same bar. Unsure of whether he wanted someone introducing themselves, I did anyway. I neglected my group of friends for about half an hour leaving them to their own devices whilst talking to him and I now have a list of bars to visit this weekend.
Whilst we were talking the barman heard me say about Polish beers and he pointed out their collection of Funky Fluid beers, which is the best brewery in Europe as far as I’m concerned. And this bar continued to surprise and delight me by stocking such fine craft beers.
I was rushed with my final beer because the others were getting hungry or something. I had intended to stay another three hours, so that plan disappeared but I didn’t complain for long. Anyway, this was the ACCOM from Bevog Brewery and it’s an imperial stout, it’s rich, with roasted flavours, toffee, chocolate, coffee and quite decadent.
I very much liked it here, this is a proper bar where the service was knowledgeable, engaging and friendly. The prices were very reasonable and I liked the range of beer styles that were available. The beer selection is excellent and as it’s my first time in the country, just about all of the breweries were new to me. It was great to meet an Untappd friend in person and I left with a list of breweries to try as well as bars to visit. I’ve made clear to the others that I want to go to them all, but they probably think I’m joking.