Nova Runda Brewery Tour: 1st Post-Covid Craft Beer Festival
“Are you going to stay on Krk Island forever?”
“Not really. I’m ready to check out Slovenia – the last of my Pivoslavija countries.”
“Stay in Croatia for another week. Nova Runda Brewery is finally opening again after the pandemic. They’re going to have a little welcome party.”
Trying to remember events from that day is impossible. I was simply happy to attend a beer festival in The Balkans again after the long COVID pandemic. Technically, it wasn’t a beer festival, but an “open house,” where two of Croatia’s craft breweries, Nova Runda and Zmajska Pivovara, allowed the public to visit.
On paper, it was a celebration of the two aforementioned breweries’ collaboration beer with another brewery, Varionica Pivovara, and also Nova Runda’s 6th Year Birthday. But we knew what it really was about. It was a celebration of a return to relative normalcy after a horrible yearlong lockdown with the breweries barely surviving off beer deliveries.
Nova Runda + Zmajska Pivovara + Varionica Pivovar = Croatian Collaboration Beer
Precautions were still in effect. We had to wear masks inside the breweries while ordering and taking tours. Bottles of sanitizer were on every table. Yet it felt more a formality than serious health measures.
Boko was coming from Rijeka and had offered to pick me up in Zagreb so we could continue to Zabok, the town where Nova Runda brewery is located. The original plan was to party all afternoon at Nova Runda, then catch a train back to Zagreb. The train line had a stop right in front of Zmajska Pivovara, and they coordinated their activities to start in the early afternoon. Some bands would play in the evening. Riding on a train meant we could keep drinking nonstop.
It didn’t happen that way. But we did manage two beer tastings that day.
Boko and I met at a craft coffeeshop, Monocycle. He had recently married his long-time girlfriend (“a small Covid wedding,”) and she introduced herself as the assistant brewer of Brk Lee Brewing. We all had dark bitter expressos, carefully made by the owner. Mine was a pour-over, the only one I’ve had in Croatia so far. We chatted, and I ordered a second coffee to keep me amped during the 45-minute drive to Zabok. The trip was only broken up by a stop to pick up some empty beer bottles to reuse for brewing. Boko and I talked about our respective bands and played them while his wife commented on the tunes. The low hills of northern Croatia slowly rolled past the window.
Nova Runda Open House
We arrived around 11am, and the Croat brew crew was already there. The Oracle had brought more of his Czech beers. I had more American brews. And Boko had brought his own Brk Lee Brewing homebrewed beers. Inside the Nova Runda brewery an old record player was connected to a sound system. People were invited to choose the party’s soundtrack from a selection of classic rock vinyl. Led Zeppelin echoed off the high brewery ceiling.
Miro, one of the managers, was at a register inside taking orders. He greeted me with a beer, “As you see, we still have room for expansion. We’re going to arrange you a tour here.”
I was elated.
We arranged a tour of the brewery before we started the tasting. First, I ordered their collaboration beer, Kolaboracija 2, while we waited for the other tours to finish. Any fruited sour is difficult for me to enjoy, and this was no different. I gingerly sipped it, and by the time our tour was called, I had switched to their Small Batch Series 2: Export Stout, which was much more to my liking.
Our guide was Nova Runda’s head brewer. Boko translated his Croatian words as I casually listened. And here’s why I never became a brewer: I suck with numbers. The guide rattled off brewing capacity, fermentation tank amounts, grain brought by import and produced nationally, etc.
The numbers were all a blur. I was only on my second beer, so it wasn’t the alcohol.
Perhaps recording it would’ve helped, but that would mean long translations and a possibly useless recording since the loud rock music and guests’ noise made it hard to hear our lone guide. As well, (without giving antivaxxers any fuel,) it was harder to hear anyone speaking with their masks on.
The guide called me in front of the group. “Hey, Pivoslavija guy from Serbia,” and pointed out several grain bags of Serbia’s 3bir Brewing laying in storage. Nova Runda had done a Croat-Serb collaboration recently. As I heard several times, many Croats thought that Pivoslavija was a Serb blogging about craft beer in English, and not an American living in Serbia.
After we finished the tour, Boko went to his car to bring the cooler full of our tasting beers. He had a novel and much more efficient way to transport the heavy cooler into the brewery so we could place its contents in the office’s refrigerator.
Skateboarding: it’s not a crime.
The Croat Brew Crew gathered in the shade around a tree on the property grounds. We started with The Oracle’s Czech beers, then my American gifts and finally Boko’s homebrews. We kept ourselves hydrated, and constantly drunk, with fresh pints from inside the brewery.
In the end, I placed all my money on the Croat homebrews; they were excellent. Even in the summer heat, Brk Lee Brewery’s Pretzels Coffee Pastry Stout was like smooth rocky road ice cream.
So, who was still OK to drive back to Zagreb?
Zmajsak Pivovara Afterparty
We scrapped plans to take the train, and returned to Zagreb by car, where we went to Zmajska Pivovara. The outdoor brewery grounds were already full due to the festival activities. Clearly, people were tired of lockdown and looked for any reason to get the hell out of their house. After we found a table, we started round two of the tasting with Andrej, the head brewer of Zmajska Pivovara.
Later, the band started up. It was hard, fast punk rock – just what I prefer. Unfortunately, my ride had an obligation to leave. Probably to avoid drinking too much. He had stated that we would have to drive a particular route to avoid streets where the police often patrol.
South of Strossmayer Park, I stepped out of the car and realized I was a few hundred meters from Harat’s Beer Boutique. Against my better judgement, I stumbled into the bar. There was a group of Zagreb Dynamo football hooligans inside: not an ideal group to hang out with if you’re a foreigner. Especially an American who loves Serbia. European football hooligans like trouble, regardless of the country. Yet I made it out alive.
Despite a full day of drinking at beer festivals, I suffered minimal damage. The following day, I returned to Harat’s Beer Boutique, feeling I had missed something. The bartender, annoyed, wanted to know where had taken his bar’s pint glass. I had no idea.
