Category: Abroad

As part of the celebration of a significant birthday I decided to return to Brussels for the “Belgium Beer Weekend”, an annual beer festival that happens in the Grand-Place Brussels.

I had been to the event over ten years ago, and had visited many of the classic brussels beer venues (Cantillon Brewery, Au Bon Vieux Temps etc). This time I was armed with a long list of venues from Dan and Martha at Saint Mars of the Desert, and Eurostar tickets for my Wife and I.

We arrived early Friday evening and first had a delightful seafood meal at “L’Océan” where you select your own fresh fish from a wide range on display, and they then cook it for you. Next on to the bars!

We had to walk past the Poechenellekelder, as it had a queue to get in, so went round the corner to GIST. This is a modern feeling craft beer style bar, with outdoor seating in a square. Its beer list was almost all new to us, but for a first drink we played it safe with a 5% Pils and 6% Hoppy blond. The outdoor bar experience on a warm evening watching the world go by is something not to miss when you get the chance.

Around the next corner was La Porte Noire, which from the outside didn’t promise much, but is a proper cellar bar, with an arched roof and exposed brickwork, and a more traditional Belgium beer list, draft and bottles. For a couple of old rock fans the hook was the music being played all evening, a mix of old and newer classics (Hendrix, Nirvana, Sabbath etc), such that it felt like a sophisticated return to our old Sheffield Wapentake Friday nights. Beers we had included Manneken Pils 6%, Val Dieu Blonde 6%, Barbar 8%, and Noir de Dottignies 8.5% all on draft. I need to mention the bar snacks, where a “portion de fromage” turns out to be enough bread and cheese to feed a family!. We ended up leaving after midnight, having wisely resisted the excellent whisky selection on offer.

Saturday drinking started with À La Mort Subite, the first Brussels bar I ever visited, and which again allowed us to sit outside in the sun. It offers draft Timmermans Faro, a style not seen in the UK very often, that has always appealed to my sweet tooth (do I need to mention the Chocolate shops in Belgium?). Next we tried A l’Imaige Nostre-Dame, but sad to say it may be closed down for now.

So round the corner to À la Bécasse, a classic old Belgium bar, where I very much enjoyed the draft Bourgogne Des Flandres 5%. Unfortunately a group of very noisy tourists turned up to the small bar, so we moved on.

After a stop for some of the belgium classic, Moules Frites, we had to walk past the Poechenellekelder, as it had a queue to get in (can you notice a theme), so went round the corner to La Fleur en Papier Doré, a bar famous for its surrealist patrons. A shorter beer list on offer, but Stouterik was a nice change of pace, a 5% dry stout.

Next we went to Cafe Bebo on the way back to our hotel. It says a lot for the belgium beer scene that even an ordinary bar will offer an interesting beer list, so I tried a beer/brewery I’d not come across before Lutgarde IPA 6.5%, and La Chouffe blonde 8% for my wife. Even when we got back to the hotel bar we were able to have some classic Belgium beers, Leffe Blonde 6.6%, Karmeliet 8.4%, Chimay blue 9%.

Sunday afternoon, and time for the festival in the Grande Place. Over 50 breweries present, 500+ beers. A very modern festival, with no entrance fee, and all beer bought via a specific smart card you charged with money, and beer measures costed in “tokens” (2 euro each) taken by the brewer, including 1/2 tokens. In common with almost every bar you go to, the Belgium beer scene that insists you drink your beer in the correct glass, and this applied at the beer festival!!.

You were “charged” a deposit for the glass for every drink, which was put back on your card when you returned it. Alternatively if you liked the glass you could keep it for the cost of the deposit. We ended up keeping our favourites, from Barbar and Martha (for a gift). Highlights of the beers were Bruges Zot Bok 6.5%, Lupulus Hopera 6%, Vicaris Lino 6.5% (brewed with flax), Vicaris triple 8.5%, Barbar Rouge 8%.

The festival was busy but felt very relaxed, with children allowed in, and take your own food in if you wanted.

For a little peace on a Sunday evening we went to the quirky bar at Royal Puppet Theater Toone, which also has a quiet beer garden. It was perfect for avoiding the crowds, and siping a Bush Ambrée 12%.

On the way back we had to walk past the Poechenellekelder, as it had a queue to get in yet again. Finally we tried a random bar near our hotel, Meia-Bar Saint-Gilles and enjoyed St Hubertus Triple Ambre 7.2%.

For a nightcap in our room a bottle of Vleesmeester Brewery Black Pudding bourbon barrel aged impy stout 12% fit the bill, and for the first time in the weekend not in the correct glass.

I can highly recommend a beery trip to Brussels, for the Belgium Beer weekend festival or not, there’s always somewhere interesting just around the corner. I know I’ll return, if only to finish my list of venues, and finally get into Poechenellekelder.

Paul Rugg

The land of the rising sun.

Our vice chair Paul Manning and his wife Bev recently visited Japan and South Korea trying the local beer scene on their travels.

Our 18-day adventure started with a brief flight stopover in the UAE at the ultra-modern sand dune shaped Abu Dhabi airport where we had time to sample a pint of 1758 Belgium IPA but at £13 each, they were easily the most expensive of the trip.

After 16 hours total flying time we arrived in Narita airport and, after a 40-mile taxi transfer, reached the excellent Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo which was to be our base for the first three nights. Fighting off the dreaded jetlag we headed out on a prearranged night-time beer and food tour round Shinjuku. Our tour group consisted off ourselves, three Americans, an Australian and our Japanese guide.

A great camaraderie ensued during the four-hour tour which consisted of stops at some great
street food and beer stalls where the delights of fried chicken, dumplings and even raw
horse meat were tried, washed down with copious amounts of the local beers – mainly Kirin
and Asahi super dry lagers together with the local favourite, highball cocktail.

Shinjuku at night was like New York Times Square with neon lights, the famous 3D digital cat, a towering Godzilla and was crowded with people which wasn’t a surprise for the world’s most populated city where 34 million people live in the greater Tokyo conurbation. After a detour to a local Shinto shrine where we paid our respects, the tour finished in what could only be described as a dive bar and after more Kirin I tasted some snake infused liquor. It was basically a local Japanese whisky with a decapitated snake head occupying the bottle!

Having survived the horse meat and snake liquor our next two days were again on pre-booked tours of wider Tokyo and further afield. The city is an amazing metropolis but so safe and clean – no graffiti or litter in sight which contrasted wildly with home. We explored Tokyo far and wide on the first day visiting the emperor’s imperial palace, the royal Shinto shrine with hundreds of saki beer barrels, a trip to the top of the Skytree tower for amazing views and a trip round Tokyo bay.

Beer opportunities were a little limited, with some green matcha flavoured ale at lunch, followed by a dark Asahi pale at the tower summit and more Kirin on the boat. The 45th floor lounge bar in our hotel more than sufficed for a few more lagers and cocktails accompanying dinner with jaw dropping night-time city views.

The second day was bright and clear with the main highlight a visit to the snow-covered foothills of Mount Fuji which was out in her full glory (we were lucky as she is only seen out of cloud around 60 days a year). A cable car ride over a sulphur emitting dormant volcano and a pirate ship lake ride followed before another highlight being a super-fast return trip by bullet train to Tokyo. The ship had an excellent Gora Brewery Rising Sun IPA but our beer highlight was a visit to a Hitachino Brewing’s Nest Beer outlet just outside one of Tokyo train station’s numerous exits.

The craft beers were excellent at approximately £5 a pint, and we spent a good two hours sampling their Dai Dai Ale 6% IPA, Amber Ale 6%, Mikan Session IPA 4.5%, Nipponia 6% IPA, History 1602 Pale Ale 5% and Espresso Stout 8%. I’d recommend seeking them out if ever in Tokyo.

The second part of our trip was a 12-night cruise down the east side of Japan onboard the cruise liner Celebrity Millennium. A great ship with attentive staff, great entertainment and food.

Onboard, craft beers were either bottled or canned and mostly American. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Goose Island IPA, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale wheat IPA, Guiness (on St Patrick’s Day) were all sampled together with some more interesting brews including 90 Minute IPA 9% imperial IPA from Dogfish Head Brewery, a Unibroue Brewery (Canada) La Fin du Monde 9% wheat beer and a Terrapin Beer (Georgia, US) Luau Krunkles IPA 6.5% passion fruit, orange and guava IPA.

While the East China Sea was at times rather rough, the weather was mostly dry if a little chilly. Our ports of call were varied with trips to more Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, castles, spectacular underground caves, and exquisite Japanese gardens mixed in with spectacular views over the cities of Okinawa, Kagoshima, Osaka, Kyoto in Japan, Jeju Island in South Korea and paddling in the Pacific Ocean in Shizuoka.

Of course, the alcohol side was satisfied by trips to a saki brewery factory and museum with an 18% saki beer purchased, Nanto brewery in Okinawa and a sweet potato shōchū 25% proof beer purchase in Kagoshima.

All in all, a spectacular trip with plenty of opportunities to sample Japanese culture, cities and
the beer scene in Tokyo which is highly recommended.

In May last year I went on a short weekend break with friends to Wrocław, Poland to coincide with the Wrocławski Festiwal Dobrego Piwa, which translates as the Wrocław Good Beer Festival. Held over three days in late May or June each year. Last year was the 13th Festival held on 26-28 May.

The event took place on the concourse of the Tarczyński Arena, a football stadium in Wrocław built for the 2012 European Football Championship. It is indicative of the Polish love of cured meats that it is sponsored by a sausage company! Over 70 breweries from across Poland operated stands selling beers, ciders and meads direct to customers. Numerous stalls selling a variety of Polish savoury and sweet food options and a stage with live bands/DJs complemented the drink offerings.

Our plan was to attend the festival in the late afternoon and evenings and spend the rest of our time visiting some of the many nearby tourist attractions.

The historic city of Wrocław itself is located on the river Oder in the southwest of Poland. The German border is around 150 km West and the border with Czechia less than 75 km to the southwest. One of the popular landmarks in Wrocław is the market square in the old town. Here beneath the Old Town Hall is Piwnica Świdnicka one of the oldest restaurants in the world, open continuously since 1273. In front of the town hall we sampled some of their own beers from an outside portable bar. We then had a dark beer, Ciemne Piwo, at the nearby Spiz restaurant.

Friday morning day we drove out to the Stołowe Mountains National Park on the Czech border. Here we explored the unusual rock formations on this section of the “Table Mountains”. We then walked a few miles across into Czechia to small hostel to have refreshing glass of Krakonoš Czech Pilsner.

That evening we headed to the beer festival sampling various beers including Attack of Fruitiness (Fruited Gose) from TankBusters, Sangriale (Fruit beer) from Pinta, and much needed plate of golanka, a Polish pork knuckle dish.

Saturday morning we headed over to Książ Castle. A very impressive 400 room castle, once home to the Hochbergs, one of the wealthiest European noble families. It is built in the Renaissance style with surrounding terraces and landscaped gardens. Despite is fairy tale looks however it has a dark past. In 1944 the castle was seized by the Nazis. Under SS supervision, a vast network of underground tunnels was dug below the castle using forced labour from a nearby concentration camp. Parts of these tunnels are now accessible to the public on guided tours.

After following the interesting audio guided tour around the castle, while waiting for our tunnel tour,  we relaxed in the terraced gardens with a cheesecake washed down with a Książęce Cherry Ale.

In the evening we then made our way back to the beer festival. Beers sampled included a Podróż na wschód (Polish Session IPA) from Markowy brewery and a Berliner Weisse from Lobster brewery.

On Sunday we headed north to the town of Żagań. During World War II however, this was the German town of Sagan and home to the Stalag Luft III prison-of-war camp, made famous by the 1963 Hollywood film The Great Escape and also featuring in this year’s Hanks/Spielberg mini-series Masters of the Air. There is a visitor centre and museum, featuring a full-size reconstruction of Hut 104 from which the tunnel “Harry” was started. To the west of the site you can drive into the forest to the location of the North Compound used for British and Commonwealth POWs. Here are stone slabs marking the route of the “Harry” tunnel, memorials inscribed with the names and nations of the inmates and a reconstructed guard tower giving views across the site, where the foundations of the various buildings can be seen.

In the evening, we headed back into Wroclaw to see the multimedia fountains (one of the largest displays in Europe) at Szczytnicki Park near the UNESCO World Heritage Centenary Hall.

On the final day we visited various outdoor drinking locations in town, including a bar on a riverside floating pontoon. In the evening, we went to the Solidarity themed restaurant Konspira. Here we enjoyed some regional Polish dishes, washed down with some Polish cider, seated in the back of a jeep located in the venue’s courtyard.

This was my second visit to Wrocław, and I would certainly recommend it as European weekend break location. This year’s festival is from Fri 21 – Sun 23 June 2024.

Having been a regular visitor to India in the decade leading up to the plague, this was my first trip since that forced hiatus. India had never had a big beer culture (or at least not since the days the British were stationed there) but brewpubs were just starting to appear when I first went in 2010. Many more were to spring up over the next few years but very much concentrated in a few cities like Delhi and Bengaluru, and beer quality generally ranged from average to homebrew (with the honourable exception of Arbor in Bengaluru, an offspring of the eponymous brewer in Michigan (and not related to the one in Brizzle!)). However, in the last few years brewpubs have started to spring up all over the place, and with the exception of the dry state of Gujarat I was able to find craft beer in almost every city I stayed. Unsurprisingly, Untappd and Ratebeer are very incomplete for India, but I found simply searching ‘craft beer’ on Google maps came up with the best results.

As with previous trips, I had an ‘open jaw’ flight (in this case out to Mumbai, back from Delhi) and used trains to get between cities, generally paying around a tenner for an overnight journey in air-conditioned sleeper class. Local travel during the day was a mix of local trains costing 20-50p a trip, Uber (half hour ride from the airport costing the princely sum of £3), and autorickshaws costing between 50p and 2 quid a trip. Decent hotels were generally under £20 a room, food is cheap and contrary to stereotype perfectly safe if you follow Rule 1 – watch it being cooked fresh in front of you. In fact the only thing that isn’t cheap is craft beer! As with many cheap countries, craft beer isn’t noticeably cheaper than here, with a 300ml glass being £2 at the cheapest place I went and £4 at the most expensive.

Although I landed in Mumbai I didn’t plan to spend much time there (been before, and it’s humid as hell), so just the one bar before heading north, namely Doolally Taproom, an outlet for the eponymous brewery on the outskirts of Mumbai. A small bar, with lovely air conditioning, six beers were on offer plus a cider and a mead. I opted for the ‘flight’, six 100ml glasses for a bit under a tenner, along with some spicy masala topped chips with dips. The coffee and orange mead was really interesting, the beers were all decent if not exciting, the oat stout probably being the pick. From here we took a train to Anand for the overnight journey to Veraval.

Being as the next two days were in Gujarat there’s not much to report for a beer magazine, so I’ll skip ahead to Rajasthan…

I last visited Jodhpur in 2010, and was only really passing through this time, but had long enough to visit 4 Brothers brewpub. The brewery and restaurant are on the ground floor, but we were directed to the ‘sky bar’, though really it was just an upstairs room with a glass front.

Beers were a bit different from the ‘usual’ Indian brewpub offerings, with mango wheat, a strawberry ale and a rose wheat!

I spent three nights in Ludhiana (carefully planned mid-trip so I’d be able to avail of the hotel laundry service, halving the amount of clothes I needed to carry round), which happens to have three brewpubs all five minutes’ walk apart. First up was Underdoggs, a sports bar (no prize for guessing which sport was on, especially as it was the World Cup!). I tried the surprisingly refreshing Masala Saison and the German Wheat, there were also a lager and a cider.

Just down the road is Brew Estate, part of a small chain of brewpubs, on this occasion offering their ‘house’ lager and a German style Bock. The cricket was on here too.

Finally, round the corner was Brew Haus, which wasn’t showing the cricket but from the rooftop bar one could watch on a huge screen in the square. The beers were Gabru, a pale lager, and dark lager Boxer. Both very German in style, fairly sweet and a slight biscuity finish.

From here I popped over the Haryana state line to Ambala, where I visited Pyramid brewpub. Inside it was much the same as most of the other places, dimly lit and large screens showing the cricket. I picked the Belgian Wheat (well the Scottish Ale was off and the lager was, well, lager).

Back in Punjab the train took me to Bathinda, where I visited The Brewery Club, which has the brewery on the ground floor, a restaurant upstairs and a bar downstairs, though food is also served at the latter, and I had an egg curry with jeera rice. Beers were a German Ale, a German Lager, a Belgian wit and a dark lager. These were by far the cheapest beers of the trip, but were as good as any of the other brewpubs I tried in Punjab. The menu somewhat bizarrely referred to both 350ml and 550ml measures as ‘British Pint’!

*Tourism interlude* While in Punjab I decided it would be rude not to visit the Golden Temple at Amritsar, I took an autorickshaw from the station to near the temple then walked the rest of the way, which was slow progress as I got stuck in traffic despite being on foot! The narrow alleys are totally unsuited to motor traffic, but that doesn’t stop people driving autorickshaws down them, completely clogging the way. Once at the temple I checked in my boots, receiving a metal token in return, I then had to buy some loose-fitting trousers as shorts are not allowed inside, and finally was loaned a patka (head covering). I spent a good while exploring the temple, though at the risk of losing my Yorkshire green card I passed up the opportunity of a free meal at the langar as the queue was too long – well they do serve 100,000 meals a day!

Once I finished at the temple, binned the trousers and retrieved my boots I took an autorickshaw across town to a little cluster of craft bars, starting with the most familiar, Brewdog. Obviously I eschewed their own wares in favour of the local guests… inside it was like any Brewdog bar anywhere in the world, and was quite empty at the time I went. I had an excellent mango wheat and a decent IPA from Mobster brewery, and from Brew Nut a stout.

From here it was a short stroll to Beer Story, a small bar with just one craft beer among the Kingfisher etc, Beach Beauty Pilsner from Aquarian brewery.

Round the corner on the second floor of a shopping centre is Egyptian Brewery, another brewpub, offering light and strong versions of lager. At this point my internet connection randomly cut out, thankfully after I’d ordered my Uber back to the station and my final overnight train of the trip.

As with Mumbai I’d given myself little time in Delhi, as it has featured in almost all my Indian trips so far. There are a handful of brewpubs and craft bars in central Delhi, but the district of Gurgaon has loads, however I’m pretty sure not all the brewpubs actually brew – in particular there’s a square which had three brewpubs when I went and grew to at least nine, but all with suspiciously similar beer range! For my trip swansong I opted for Fort City Brewing in New Delhi, a modern brewpub seemingly popular with Indians and westerners alike. I worked my way through most of the beers, ignoring only the lagers, accompanied by a pulled duck burger for a bit of a change from spicy food three times a day (not that I was complaining!). The beers were definitely the best (and most expensive!) of the trip, including a dunkelweizen, a stout, a NEIPA and a berry witbier.

After that it just remained to get a £2.60 Uber for the half hour drive to the airport, exchange my online boarding card for a printed one (the airport procedures have got a lot smoother since that first trip when we queued an hour just to get in the building, but they still like to stamp the boarding card at the check-in desk, at passport control and at security control), fly overnight to Munchen and on to Brum, then a train back to Sheffield that made me wonder if I was still in India, taking 45 minutes to get from Birmingham International to New St and then absolutely crush loaded from there to Sheffield…

Once back at Sheffield station it was just a 15 minute walk home, or would have been had I not gone via Rutland Arms, Head of Steam, Vocation, Brewdog, Crow and Lost in West Bar. By that stage I was too tired to go to Shakespeare so just took a Bolt home and ordered a curry…

Dave Szwejkowski

After a considerable delay, I recently celebrated a significant birthday in Bruges. The first visit since 2019. A Eurostar deal gave us with an excellent ‘room with a view’ – top floor at Martin’s Bruges, a few hundred metres from the Belfort, a short walk from both Brugs Beertje and De Garre.

The main focus of the weekend was the 16^th Bruges Beer Festival. Located at the recently completed, Meeting & Convention Centre, this saw some 80 breweries providing over 500 beers. Included were 16 breweries new to this festival, including the, perhaps inappropriately named, Misery Co. – a reference to the Stephen King book. Their New England IPA (6.9%) was one of several beers sampled from the 12.5 cl customised glass. Among many highlights was the first appearance of Terrest with their 8% Golden Triple, brewed with both grain and hops from the family farm at Houthulst. Also available was, the rarely seen,  Westvleteren 12  (10.2%).

We had many conversations with other visitors – one memorable exchange was with the reserve mascot for Charleroi FC (‘the Zebras’).  Sheffield, ‘the home of football’ was a common topic of conversation, a theme which has world-wide resonance, a theme which Sheffield should extensively utilise.

We also visited several bars, some return visits, but also new experiences: Halve Mann provided the (almost) obligatory Bruges Zot (the only bar which serves this 6% beer unfiltered from the tap), Bauhaus gave us Brussels Beer Project Juice Junkie (5.4%) while old favourite, St. Bernardus 12 (10%), was sampled at Yesterday’s World. The latter is a quirky bar, or, more accurately, a two-floor antiques shop which serves a selection of beers: well worth a visit.

After sampling the excellent camerise sour, Cantillon Sang Bleu (6%), we were about to leave Brugs Beertje when De Struise Black Damnation XXVI (‘Freddy’), an excellent, but rarely seen barrel-aged Belgian Royal Stout, appeared on the bar. This 13% beer is an epic, not to be missed. Suffice to say, our visit to De Garre, and their 11% house tripel, was slightly delayed.

Fort Lapin Brewery was also visited on their Saturday tap day. Since my last visit, the brewery has expanded (four new fermentation vessels). In November, they are relocating to a nearby industrial estate in order to gain more space. Their 8% Triple was a good start to the day. Good to hear that the elder son of the owners, Tristan Vandenbussche, is now a sprint canoe European Champion.

In short, Bruges provided a much-needed break, good company, good bars and good beer.

A fabulous trip to New Zealand by our vice chairman Paul and his wife Bev.

We started on Harvey’s brewery IPA at the Hilton Heathrow Terminal 2 with some great runway views. Singapore airlines took us to Auckland via a lengthy stop at Singapore due to cyclone Gabrielle but time for a few beers including Archipelago brewery’s Summer IPA.

Auckland was very blowy but our 1 night stay allowed samplings of Emerson’s Hazed and Confused IPA and an excellent Black Duck dark ale from Hawkes bay together with Tuatara hazy pale ale and Speights gold medal ale.

We moved onto Mount Manganui for a 6 night stay for the first test. A lovely sunny and hot seaside resort. Canned beers included Puha road IPA and the Island’s Dawn Daze IPA.

We enjoyed hospitality at the cricket, met England legends Mike Gatting and Gladstone Small. It meant all our drinks were included with the beer offering being Boundary Road brewery’s Haze of our Lives Hazy IPA. An England win in 4 days allowed time for a spectacular wild life boat trip.

We then flew to Wellington after a short visit to a Maori thermal village for a Haka ceremony. Wellington was different again being very hilly and windy. Trips to see the Pinnacles famous for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and wine tasting at Martinborough a great little town set up by an English settler with streets in a Union Jack flag orientation. Many beers were sampled including Fortune Favours brewery Optimist and a bean to beer double chocolate stout.

A Wellington craft breweries tour started at Garage Project brewery for Pernicious weed (8% IPA) and Garagista (5.8% bitter). Next stop was Baylands brewery taproom for a taster flight of Esplanade, Woodrow Vero, Rail Slider and Hop Enforcer. Highlight was then a visit to Brewtown in Upper Hutt. This was a craft brewery Mecca in an old Dunlop tyre factory with numerous breweries including Panhead and Boneface . More taster flights followed with a favourite being Unf*ck the world 8% double IPA.

The second test match was very exciting but England lost by just 1 run. We drowned our sorrows in a great little dive bar sampling Wired Wireless brewery’s Black IPA, Garage Projects Leeds street rye ale and a Birdseye hazy IPA from Parrot Dog brewery.

A super trip for the beer and cricket with many fabulous memories.

My previous visit to Cluj Napoca was in November 2017, when my research found little of interest beerwise (both in Romania in general, and especially in Cluj) and on arrival became even less as the one independent brewpub was closed for repairs! Return flights procured for under £20 (out from L**ds, back to Liverpool, both with Wizz and as it turned out both with the same plane), and a decent enough ‘pension’ booked for around £35 for the Saturday night made for a cheap weekend. My research this time (including Dom’s ‘Hopping Around’ report in this august publication) yielded much better results including breweries and multitap bars. I won’t repeat the bars Dom reported but I found two others which proved well worth a visit.

First call was Beer Wall Cafe, a small bar next to a stream, featuring around 8 draught beers and four large fridges of cans and bottles. If you’d told me in 2017 that I’d be drinking wild sours with grapes in Cluj I’d have laughed, but what I had to start in the form of Red My Mind from Addictive brewery, followed by Threesome (fnarr) fruit sour from One Two, and various IPAs.

I then turned to the smallpack… it was like a kid in a sweetshop, I restricted myself to ‘only’ 11 cans and bottles to take away, oblivious to the fact I’d need to drink them before a lunchtime flight home next day.

Later I visited Brewhouse, another small bar in the old town, with 16 draught lines and a small fridge selection. A couple of beers were repeats of ones in Beer Wall, but mostly different. The bar is associated with Blackout brewery and naturally featured several of their beers, including Infochemicals Double NEIPA and Enter Vim West Coast IPA. I also tried their Ragequit chocolate porter, and several guests including Bere a la Cluj Rosetta raspberry hefeweizen, Acan E01 wild farmhouse ale and Ultima Here for the Hype fruit sour. I finished on the 10% Dystopian Future (not sure if it’s named after the current state of the UK…) imperial dessert stout collab from One Two & Metanoia.

By this stage I realised I’d missed the last tram back, as all public transport pretty much stops at around 2300, so a walk back to my pension and a nightcap of two of my cans purchased earlier.

In both bars smaller measures are available with Beer Wall offering 0.5l, 0.4l and 0.33l for most beers and Brewhouse offering 0.4l and 0.2l. The former unfortunately has ‘ticker tax’ with 0.33l being c80% of the 0.5l price, while the latter is more linear with only around 20p surcharge for the smaller glass… it’s not often I wish to see UK culture abroad, but I really wish everywhere correctly pro-rated smaller measures like here!

The staff in both bars spoke excellent English and were happy to talk about the various beers on offer, as well as craft beer in Romania in general.

Next morning I had a bit of a wander, drank a couple of my cans, then caught a train to Cluj Napoca Est and walked the mile to the airport rather than walk to get the airport bus… at least now you can pay for buses and trams on board by tapping a contactless card, previously you had to traipse round looking for a stop with a ticket machine or a shop selling them.

I then had five beers to drink at the airport(!) before I could go through security, I’ll be very glad when the new scanners are rolled out and the pathetic ban on liquids in hand luggage is lifted! Uneventful flight to Liverpool then a ridiculous train-train-train-bus journey home taking 4 hours instead of under 2 thanks to engineering work on the Hope(less) Valley line and a CBA attitude from certain train companies.

Never did get round to trying the brewpub I’d been denied in 2017…

Dave Szwejkowski

I last wrote about Ukraine for this esteemed publication in 2013 – I booked a follow-up trip for 2014, and two days later Russia invaded/liberated (delete as applicable) Crimea, and by the time we were due to fly from Donetsk airport it had been reduced to rubble. The Curse of Unpro strikes again! I then planned a trip in 2020, didn’t end up going, can’t remember why… then last month I was idly browsing Skyscanner for inspiration when I saw Manchester to Lviv, out that Friday morning, back Monday night, fiver each way – I couldn’t say no!

I’ve never been a fan of morning flights, I’d have far rather flown Thursday night, but beggars can’t be choosers and all that… the 0245 alarm to get up for the 0325 train to the airport did nothing to change my opinion though! Flight was pretty empty and so I took advantage of a row of three seats to get my head down for a couple of hours. Landed on time at Lviv airport, showed my passport and vaccination certificate and I was in, no longer have to fill in any forms unlike previous visits. Got some cash out as wasn’t sure how widespread card use would be (practically non-existent apart from bigger hotels and restaurants in 2013) and bought a SIM card (200 hryvnia/£6 for 20GB valid for a month, bargain) from what looked like a market stall selling knock-off DVDs, then went outside and summoned an Uber to town for the princely sum of £3.

I’d done some preliminary research on Ratebeer and Untappd, and for Friday focussed on Untappd ‘verified venues’ (i.e. ones with real time taplists so knew what beers were available). First up was the Drunken Duck, nestled in the old town, a smallish place but with about 16 taps and a fridge of interesting cans and bottles, the food looked good but I didn’t have time to partake. As well as the 0.3l and 0.5l measures seemingly standard in Ukraine, they also offer 150ml (just under a third of a pint) so I set about trying as many as possible in the time, as well as grabbing a couple of ‘train beers’ for my journey to Ivano-Frankivsk. I tried a couple of sours, but they missed the mark a bit with some odd aftertastes, several stouts and porters, and a somewhat bizarre Borsch (yes, as in the beetroot soup!) gose from Red Cat.

From here it was a short walk to Choven, a few steps down from the street in an old building, and with 18 taps of local craft. I didn’t have long here so I focussed on having a beer from each brewery I hadn’t encountered at the Duck. This led to a variety of IPAs, an imperial stout from Gentlemalt, and the best beer so far Ten Men Not For Breakfast, a raspberry sour absolutely packed with fruit.

Third and final bar for the day was Lviv Craft Beer University of St Christopher, another downstairs bar, where among others I had Double Travmato from Didko, Hot Salsa V3 from Hoppy Hog and Blackberry Rolls stout from Kyivska Manufaktura. The former was one of several beers I found made with tomatoes, seems to be a big thing over there, but what can I say when I just brewed a Branston Pickle beer…

I then took the train to Ivano-Frankivsk, again far easier than previous trips – in 2013 you could book online but had to take the booking to a ticket office to get the actual ticket issued, and in 2008 there was no online booking at all, you had to go to the ticket office to try to communicate what you wanted, and if you resorted to writing it down it had to be in Cyrillic… now you simply book online and show your ticket on your ‘phone to the provodnik/provodnitsa (each carriage has its own attendant) along with your vaccination certificate and you’re good to go. Another advantage of the online booking is you can choose your place, so I’d made sure to pick a compartment with nobody else in. Drank my train beers, an excellent Black Bean tonka imperial stout from Varvar, and Apricot Sorbet Sour from Underwood.

Arrival at Ivano-Frankivsk was around half an hour late, unusual for Ukraine, and by the time I’d walked to Hotel Nadiya and checked in it was past 11pm and as I’d been up since 3am I called it a night rather than seeking any of the bars, even though they were close to the hotel.

Saturday I partook in the excellent buffet breakfast at the hotel (it cost 50p more to book with breakfast than without so I had to get my money’s worth…) before heading out to explore the surrounding area – train to Vorokhta, another to Kolomiya, then a third back to IF to complete a triangular trip. Not much beer-wise at Vorokhta but was a scenic journey. At Kolomiya there’s nothing on Ratebeer or Untappd, but I stumbled upon Beer Zhe (Beer Men) opposite the station, a ‘draught bottling’ bar similar to the one I discovered in Luhansk in 2013, where beers are dispensed from kegs into PET bottles between 500ml and 5 litres, so I got a couple of small bottles for the next leg of the journey, nowt special, just a couple of pale beers from a local brewery.

Back in Ivano-Frankivsk, I had intended to go to the Tsypa Taphouse, the highest rated bar on Ratebeer, sadly at some point in the last two years it seems to have closed down. However I found a few other bars to keep me occupied for the evening and Sunday. First up was Pivni Klub Desyitka, an underground bar with a glass street level entrance not much bigger than a ‘phone box, indeed I walked straight past it before I knew what I was looking for, once inside it’s got a kind of German brauhaus feel. Only three craft beers so didn’t stay long, these were Hoppy Lager and Milk Stout from Varvar and Kohane lager from the bar’s eponymous local brewery but not actually onsite.

I then went in search of brewpub Pinta Pab, I found a pub in the right place but called Fyst Pab, guessing recently taken over as Untappd still showed the former identity. Similarly the house beers appeared as Moi brewery but on the beer menu were shown as Fyst Pab. Of their own I tried IPA One, a fairly 2005-era East Coast IPA being dark amber with sweetness and bitterness, and Stout, then from the guests had Apache red ale from Stanislavska Galba and Medova Rosa amber lager by Good Brewery.

Gost Bar is a fairly modern looking bar and has a couple of craft beers on draught, I had Gonir IPA before moving to the fridge or bottles of MOVA Stout V and CNR IPA. I got chatting to a local at the bar who spoke very good English, and she told me a couple of other places to try that weren’t on my radar. The first of these was Prom Bar, in a multi-outlet factory conversion – from outside it looks almost derelict with almost every window on the lower floors smashed, but the top floor has been renovated in a similar vein to Cutlery Works. At the far end is the bar, I only had time for a quick sour from 2085 brewery before they closed at 2100.

I ran out of time to visit Copperhead brewpub but had tried a couple of their beers in Lviv at least so my final stop was another brewpub, Bartik. The brewery is visible behind the bar, and a number of beers were available. Luckily they did a ‘desyitka’ (tasting board) of 6 x 150ml, unluckily it included the Ginger Ale! The beers were fairly German in style, apart from the last one I tried, Kriekbier, it lacked the sourness I could tell it was aiming for but was at least not alcoholic cherryade as so many non-lambic ‘krieks’ seem to be.

Sunday night I took a train back to Lviv, alas rather busy so I couldn’t get a compartment to myself, but still managed some sleep. After three days of cold but crisp dry weather, Monday was decidedly damp and later turned to snow. I spent the morning being touristy before heading to Re:Bro for lunch. This is a fairly modern setup, with a kitchen offering a wide range of traditional Ukrainian dishes as well as burgers, pizzas etc, and a bar with a dozen taps. Unusually, 0.5l is the only measure offered, but as prices were around 70-80 hryvnia (less than £3) it was no big deal, just meant I didn’t get to try as many beers as I would otherwise, just had the two sours: Didko Never Again, a citrus sour, and the slightly crazy Odd Brew (aptly named!) Smth Odd: Sea Buckthorn Tonka Lactose El Dorado Sour, which was very fruity, slightly sour with a sweet edge from the lactose and tonka.

Next I walked to Lemberk, only to be defeated as the opening hours on google turned out to be incorrect, and it wasn’t open. Luckily, next door was Krani, another ‘draught bottle’ shop plus also had cans and bottles in fridge. I bought three draught and a couple of cans, drinking the draught ones as I walked to the next bar as I’m classy like that…

One of the few Ukrainian breweries known outside the country is Varvar, not seen them on sale in the UK but used to be able to order from Dutch website Beerdome until they stopped shipping to the UK for some reason… They have a taproom in Lviv (as well as at least Kyiv and Odesa), Mad, which is arranged over 5 floors, the concept being each floor up is higher in alcohol, so the beer bar is on the ground floor, then the wine bar, finishing with a spirit bar on the top floor. On this occasion I stayed on the ground floor, trying a couple of Varvar’s IPAs and taking away a bottle of a barrel aged wild ale which I ended up drinking at the airport.

100 yards from Varvar and opposite the impressive Town Hall in Rynok Square is Pravda Beer Theatre, formerly a brewpub but with the beers now brewed elsewhere. Beers are mostly served from tanks, and many are Belgian styles, not really my cup of tea but I had to try a couple, plus a mint wheat beer!

Less than half a mile from there are two more bars on the same pedestrianised street, where I was to finish my trip. First up, Bratyska is a fairly industrial looking bar, a dozen taps, I went for Copperhead Triple Berry Sour, Kyiv Local Mango & Passionfruit Sour and MOVA C.C.Citra IPA. Finally a few doors down is Zolotij Kolos (‘Golden Ear’), a beer and pizza place with a superb range of both, but one thing missing – seats! I’d been looking forward to sitting down with a few beers and a pizza but they only have standing tables, bizarre. Still the pizza was good, and I had some good beers including Volta Sangrita Red Orange Gose, Bad Beaver Double IPA, 2085 14 Kveik Vanilla Lemon Tart sour and finishing on another excellent smoothie sour from Ten Men, my favourite brewery of the trip, Berry Smoothie: MBR Blueberry Raspberry Marshmallow Gose.

All that remained was a Bolt to the airport, drink my remaining bottles and cans, and fly home… on the Saturday I’d seen the news that the PCR test scam was coming back and this time with quarantine requirement until result, fortunately by Sunday it had been clarified this would apply from 0400 Tuesday, so I beat the deadline by just a few hours! Another quiet flight back, making the last train to Sheffield by the skin of my teeth (why TPE can’t run a later train I don’t know, given how many flights land late at night…). An excellent trip overall, I’ve always enjoyed Ukraine and now it’s easier than ever to get to, and easier when you’re there (Bolt and Uber so much easier than communicating directly with drivers who speak no English, cards taken most places, SIM cards easy to acquire so can use google maps etc), and still cheap as chips with craft beer mostly under £3 for half litre (and unlike the neighbour to the west, smaller measures are correctly priced pro-rata), good hotels around £20 a night, a 12 hour overnight train in a sleeper around £20, Uber/Bolt £1-2 a ride, local trams and buses 25p a ride, etc. I can thoroughly recommend a visit and intend to head back early next year, Covid-permitting.

Budmo! Dave Unpronounceable

Our trip was drawing to an end, but there was still time to fit in country number 11, Moldova. The quick way from Bucharest to Chișinău would have been to fly, taking just over an hour. Being as thrifty as ever, we opted instead for the 10-hour night bus instead. This was as fun as it sounds, but eventually we made it to Chișinău, a mere seven hours early for our hostel check-in. Luckily, they let us drop off our backpacks and we set off exploring. Walking around Moldova is almost like stepping back in time 30 years or so. The Russian influence is still strong here, with grey concrete buildings and orthodox churches dominating the skyline. Now Moldova probably isn’t the first destination on most beer drinkers’ radars. This is unashamedly a winemaking region. In fact, just a few kilometres outside the city is Milestii Mici, the world’s largest wine cellar with almost 2 million bottles (well worth a visit by the way). Nevertheless, we were determined to find some beer worth writing about. Our hostel gave us a handy map of the city, marked with dozens of bars and restaurants. We picked out the Smokehouse, an American-style BBQ joint also promising a range of local craft beer. It didn’t disappoint: on the extensive beer list were plenty of local breweries. Poppy went for the Elvis Coffee Porter (7%), while I went for LaBREWtory Merge (4.2%), a delicious session IPA showcasing juicy Mosaic hops not often seen in this part of the world. The food was alright as well!

Just next door to Smokehouse was the pun-tastically named Taproom 27: A Hoppy Place. Actually, the two have the same owners and much the same beer range. However, the vibe is completely different and if it’s just beer you’re after, you can’t go far wrong at the Taproom. We decided to stay for a couple, my favourite being the fiery Tenemu Lemur Ginger Ale (4.6%). Anyone who’s read these articles over the past months will know how much I love a brewery visit, so you can imagine our delight at learning that the LaBREWtory Brewery was just a short bus ride from town. We hopped on the charming number 5 trolleybus – a true bargain at just 2 lei (10p!) per person – and arrived at the brewery, a fairly typical-looking building in a small industrial complex. It seemed strangely quiet, but we ventured inside. We entered a small room with a desk and a door but nobody in sight. We thought we must have got the wrong place and were just about to turn around and leave when I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard an American voice: “You’re not from around here, are you?”. He led us through another door and suddenly we were in a warehouse with a bar and seating at one end of the room, and a full brewery setup at the other. Our American hosts introduced themselves as Bill and DeEva and guided us to the bar. There were 5 beers on offer; the Merge IPA I had enjoyed at the Smokehouse, alongside a pale, an amber ale and even a Belgian-style grisette. The best of the bunch though was the Brut IPA 3 (6.4%). It’s not usually my favourite style, but this was a really good example, pale and dry but still with the fruitiness you expect from an IPA.

We got chatting to the owners and they told us how they had originally moved to this part of the world for Bill’s work. Bill, a keen homebrewer, dreamt of starting his own brewery and in 2016 the couple found two locals to help them get started. While showing us around the brew-kit they told us of their trials and tribulations with the Moldovan authorities, especially getting their brewing vessels into the country from neighbouring Ukraine. All’s well that ends well though, and the pair are now regularly crafting beer styles never before seen in this corner of Eastern Europe. There was still time to squeeze in one or two more beers before our night bus back to Romania. We hopped back on the trolley and headed to the Botanica district in search of Craft Baza, recommended to us by Bill and DeEva. This was a good find, a classic craft beer bar with bare brick walls and 18 taps offering different local beers. Poppy, still loving the dark beers, went for the Elvis Porter (5.4%), while my beer was at the opposite end of the spectrum. Litra Smoozik Blackcurrant Sour (3.5%) was decent but could’ve been a bit sourer for my liking. Nevertheless, it was great to see the local breweries branching out to new styles. Who knows what they’ll have by the time we make it back? It’s been a pleasure writing these articles over the last few months – thanks for reading and hopefully we’ll have some more adventures to bring you soon! Dominic Nelson