Am I really in Bosnia?

The chatter of rapid Spanish broke our deep sleep.  In my foggy state, it took a moment to realize I was in Balkan Han Hostel, Sarajevo, in a room full of Spanish Erasmus students.  Last night at the Sarajavska Pivara Craft Beer Festival was a lucky find, but I didn’t know how well hunting for craft beer in Sarajevo would go today.

The Russian, hungover, rolled on her side and groaned in my ear.  While we chatted in broken Serbian, I distractedly listened to the Spaniards.  When I caught a flat Mexican accent among the lisping Castilian, I shouted out, “Oye, compa! Que onda, weeyy?”  The Latinos stopped, shocked.  They had only heard us speaking in indecipherable Slavic mix.

I told my Southern neighbor that after The Russian and I did sightseeing, we would be at The Brew Pub Sarajevo for a craft beer fiesta.  I would play guitar and, yes, the gringo knows Mexican tunes.  The conversation quickly progressed into light-hearted teasing about tequila, tacos, illegals and how, absolutely, no fucking way, will that orange pendejo build The Wall.

When you’re an American living in Europe, you realize how much you miss your Mexicans.

Hunting For Craft Beer In Sarajevo

Finding tequila, craft beer, or, for that matter, any alcohol, would be difficult today.  Sarajevo’s Turk-Ottoman Muslim past has resulted in a city where, in certain quarters, alcohol is nonexistent.  For the short term, that was in our favor.  Instead of hitting up bars, we could engage in genuine sightseeing.

But the Turkish influence has resulted in a good thing.  Bosnia excels in my second favorite liquid libation: coffee.

Turkish coffee is a thick brew prepared by boiling the fine grounds in an ornate tin pot called a dzezva.  In the hostel, I made one such coffee, knowing well whatever we would find in Sarajevo’s Old Town, Bascarsija, would be better.  Properly caffeinated, we sent out to find Sarajevo’s other specialty, burek.

Burek is one of The Balkans’ principle street foods.  Of all the region, Bosnia has some of the best burek, and it’s easy to find it on many of Sarajevo’s corners.  No matter whether you have it with meat, cheese, potato or a variety of other fillings, yogurt on top is key.

Burek found.  Time for the Sarajevo craft beer hunt.

Bascarsija Has Great Turkish Coffee And That’s All

Hostel Han is in the modern Western part of the city.  The historic Turkish part is to the east.  One long pedestrian street connects them.  The division of the two parts is clearly delineated by a metal line set in the street.  Once across that line, the modern glass-and-steel European buildings are replaced by old wood-and-stone Oriental structures.  This is Bascarsija.

The Russian and I stepped into the one of the courtyards that lay to either side of the pedestrian street.  Although it was cool, and a damp mist hung in the early April air, the courtyard was full.  The cafes and restaurant all seemed to share the same tables.  We took a seat at one, not sure from where we would receive service.

I grabbed a menu and went straight to the drinks.  There was beer.  I prepared to order, then paused.  Next to the beer’s name, there was a harrowing description: bez alkohol. 

No alcohol.

Two other beers on the menu were the same.  For me, drinking anything without the vice – be it non-alcoholic beer, virgin daiquiris, caffeine-free coffee, or sugar-free soda – is liquid masturbation.  You pretend to like it, but you miss the real thing.  So there’s no real beer.  With a dejected sigh, I settled on Turkish coffee.

On cue, the damp mist became a grey drizzle.  We moved from the open courtyard to shelter underneath a café’s awning.  A waiter, whose mood matched the weather, grudgingly took our orders.

Turkish coffee should be consumed slowly.  The rain gave us a fine excuse to dwell for the following hour over the elegant set the waiter presented us.  The ornate cooking dzezva is brought, with the hot coffee in it, on an equally ornate plate.  This plate has small cups for drinking, sugar cubes for dipping, and water to cleanse the palate.  Usually, the sweet, powdered candy known as Turkish Delight, or ratluk in the Balkan countries, accompanies it.

During the last sips of our coffee, the sun reappeared.  This did not affect our waiter’s mood.  He found our requests for the bill to be an annoying distraction from his never-ending cigarette break.

Eventually, we paid and left the center.

What Good Is A Scenic View When You’re Bez Alkohol?

Essentially, Sarajevo sits in the middle of a long valley.  Although this was not to their advantage in a record-setting siege during the wars of the 1990s, now it affords many stunning views of the city for those willing to walk uphill.  Perhaps the most easily-accessible scenic viewpoint of the city is at Zuta Tabija, a half-hour from the center past a white-stone graveyard up Jekovac Street.

By ‘easily-accessible’ I mean, ‘lots of tourists.’

Fortunately, save for a brief appearance from a rowdy Arabic tour group, Zuta Tabija was empty.  The Russian and I sat in silence on a stone wall which formed the perimeter of the spectacular viewpoint.  After a few photos, we both agreed that scenic viewpoints are overrated and kind of corny, so we went on to better things, like hunting for craft beer.

Most tourists do not think scenic viewpoints are overrated and kind of corny.  Consequently, we had a choice of three nearby cafes that all boasted of “point-of-view” locations.  We choose Café Kamerija which, slightly hidden within the woods, perches precariously off the edge of a one-lane road, Pod Bedemom.

The view was, again, spectacular.  And the Turkish coffee was great because, again, there was no beer (not even non-alcoholic).  I accepted my beerless fate.  The Russian sardonically quipped that my plan to visit Turkey might not be the best idea considering my travel priorities.

It wasn’t until evening that I broke my sober fast.

The Brew Pub Sarajevo

Finally, after a nap back at Hostel Han, we went for Bosnian craft beer at The Brew Pub.  I checked my mobile messages.  The Brew Pub’s marketing manager, who we had met at the previous night’s craft beer festival, had enthusiastically invited us to meet him there and perform some songs.  Yet he had not answered my messages the entire day.  Still, I brought my guitar with me just in case.

The Brew Pub Sarajevo has, for Bosnia, a wide selection of tap beer.  There are 20 taps and several bottles.  The problem is, as with many new breweries, if they try to spread themselves too thin, too early, many of the experiments go wrong.

As it turns out, I didn’t have to drink too much.  I had already had a few of their beers at the festival the previous night.  And of the 20 taps, only eight were available.  The most promising one, Jaffa Porter, was already gone.  I went with their Maher APA.

The APA had just the faintest of hoppy bitterness and seemed unnaturally cloudy.  I can guess that The Brew Pub doesn’t filter their beer.  The Furka Red Ale and IPA were also very cloudy, and too malty sweet.  I finished with the Hefewiessen, which, at least, was supposed to be cloudy.  No beer stood out, but at least I was drinking beer.

Gastro Pub Vucko With The Pivopija Familija

Although I never heard from the marketing manager, I did get one nice message.  The owners from Pivopija, a Belgrade craft beer bar, had seen my pictures from the Sarajevska Pivara Festival online.  They were also in Sarajevo!  We arranged to meet at another craft beer pub, Gastro Pub Vucko, (named after the Olympic mascot) later.

The Mexican and the Spaniards never arrived too.  But one of The Russian’s friends, another Russian, was in the pub with her friends.  We joined them.  I tried in vain to communicate in bad Serbian.  Eventually, I gave up and pulled out my guitar to sing a few songs.  No one stopped me from playing in the noisy bar.

After a while at The Brew Pub, we left to for Gastro Pub Vucko.  Vucko is a restaurant with great food and around 60 craft beer bottles available.  I recognized many, such as Gelender, which I started with.  Pivopija’s owners recommended beer from Semizburg.

I gave their IPA a shot.

It was a hoppy surprise, and I soon ordered another one, then another one.  I took out the guitar and started a tune.  There was good company and good beer.  Finally, the Sarajevo beer hunt was over.

For a guide to craft beer bars in Sarajevo and Mostar click: here