“Ask them to play some David Bowie, ya gun-coddling Yankee cunt.”
“You know if I had the guitar, I would play you Bowie anytime, you inbred Aussie convict. These guys, though, they gotta play Serbian songs for the Serbian masses.”
With that, I went back to join the acoustic duo, and Brkati Pub’s drunken choir, in singing their slurred rendition of Darko Rundek’s ‘Apokalipso’. A Serb might point out that Rundek is not, in fact, Serbian, but Croatian. But that is the point of the Pivoslavija Belgrade Craft Beer Tour. We celebrate everything Balkan and Ex-Yugoslavian, just so long as we celebrate with good craft beer.
Pivoslavija Belgrade Craft Beer Tour
In Serbian, as well as in Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian, and most every Slavic language, ‘pivo’ means beer. The Slavic spelling of craft beer is ‘kraft pivo’. Although the more Slavic word, ‘zanat’, is also common, so you can order ‘zanatsko pivo’. Pivoslavija’s craft beer tours will always feature zanatsko pivo.
(Map Note: Gunner’s Pub was not on this pub crawl as we could not get reservations at the time.)
I tested my inaugural Belgrade Craft Beer Pub Crawl Tour on the easiest guinea pigs I know, the local Hash House Harriers. This is an international expat “drinking club with a running problem.” For them, getting lost in an unfamiliar city, and looking like fools while drunk, is not a demand: it is a challenge.
That night, everyone in the club: Serb, Croat, American, English – and the Aussie convict – met the challenge. We would visit three craft beer bars, then finish in the late hours at (non-craft bar) Soprano Cocktail Bar, where they had a ‘Dress Like An Idiot’ party. The person who dresses as the biggest idiot receives 50% off their bar bill.
Naturally, I was dressed my best (or rather, worst).
Miners Pub Kicks Off The Pub Crawl
First, we began at Miners Pub. Miners Pub is perhaps the most beer geeky of all the craft beer bars in Belgrade. A homebrewer, who now runs a major craft brewery, Dogma, started the bar. As its name suggests, the bar is a dark, underground concrete bunker, hidden in a corner of the Dorcol neighborhood. People do not go here for the scenery or the social scene. They are here for beer.
There are 15 taps to choose from. For people not used to craft beer, it’s overwhelming, but the staff and I resolved these issues. Since this pub is affiliated with Dogma Brewery, their taps are normally the freshest option. I chose their Albino White IPA; the rest of the group ordered either an light APA or a stout. With glasses in hand, we toasted to the inaugural tour.
Looking Fancy at Krafter Pub on Silicon Valley
Next, we went to Krafter Pub. It’s on Strahinjica Bana street, more famously known as Silicon Valley. Due to its location, this bar is often busy, and reservations are recommended. Regarding craft beer, there are 16 taps, but be aware they are not always stocked. Still, they have improved a lot in recent months, and the round of Tron Stouts we ordered, All On Black, was a favorite with even the beer novices.
Through the magic of Twitter, I met here briefly with the Irish brewer of Zagreb, Croatia’s newest craft brewery, Positive Brewery. We didn’t discuss the brewery, as this was not his “beer-centric trip” to Belgrade. Before Croatia, he used to brew in the state of Indiana, so I quizzed him on Munster and the juggernaut that is Three Floyds Brewing. He states they are good, but now “it is more about their hype”.
He listed several other notable Indiana breweries; all of which escape me now.
I had to keep my rag-tag group of Hash House Harriers in motion, so we paid our bill and stepped onto Strahinjica Bana again. My beer-swilling fellas, blokes, bros, brate, or whatever they are in your country, are the core of any pub crawl, so I must keep them entertained. I attempted to recruit three lovely girls to join our group.
#Beerstagram Famous, Bitches!
‘Zdravo, zeno! Join our pub crawl! We’re going to the ‘Dress Like An Idiot’ party. You can see, I’m ready.’
One of the girls looked directly at my ridiculous outfit. Her eyes went wide, then she smiled. Aren’t I smooth?
‘Hey, I know you from Instagram! You’re the foreign beer guy!”
Now I’m Instagram famous? Lame. Well, at least I don’t have any duckface selfies.
I processed her for a moment, and realized that, besides her pretty face, I also recognized her because of beer. But, one minor problem…
‘I like your photos with beer. Put more of those up, and less with the boyfriend.’
Yeah…those girls didn’t join our pub crawl.
Finally, around midnight, inside the Belgrade Arts District, we arrived at a teeming Soprano Cocktail Bar. The ‘Dress Like An Idiot’ party was in full swing. People spilled out of the open front of the bar, dressed in bizarre, outlandish costumes. It resembled a drag show at Brazilian Carnival. My Serbian military jacket, winter slippers and beer-print tie were tame compared to the menagerie there. I wasn’t winning any 50% discount on my bill.
Music And Mustaches at Brkati Pub
Some of the pub crawlers had gone home already. The remaining ones looked wary. They were not dressed as idiots, and didn’t want to wait an infinite amount of time for drinks with idiots. So I urged them to follow me for five more minutes to nearby Brkati Pub, where I knew it would be less busy. We could order quicker there, and have decent beer.
Brkati Pub is another underground bar, just inside an entrance to the Belgrade Arts District. They advertise as a craft beer bar, but only have two taps. Still, I love going there anyway. There is live music on the weekends, and their two fun female managers enjoy serving after-hours until the last person drops.
The managers greeted me with hugs. An acoustic duo was leading the bar in Serbian rock tunes. The bar was busy, and the voices of the drunk patrons reverberated off the walls. ‘Have we been here before’, the Aussie asked. ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘but we were really drunk.”
I ordered Kors Brewery’s Grizzly IPA, then claimed us a table in front of the band.
We drank two more rounds before Brkati Pub closed. Everyone was sufficiently drunk enough, so I brought them back to Soprano Cocktail Bar. By the end of the night we were total idiots, and in the Pivoslavija Belgrade Craft Beer Pub Crawl Tour, we don’t have to dress like it to prove it.
For a tour of the best craft beer bars in Belgrade click: here
