It was a long trip to the Zagreb Opatovina Craft Beer Festival. The bus ride from Belgrade, Serbia to Zagreb, Croatia is a rather dull 5 ½ hours through the flat farmlands of Vojvodina and Slavonia. This will put anyone in the mood for heavy drinking. Fortunately, one of Zagreb’s notable craft beer bars, Hop In Bar, is located just 200 meters across the street from the main bus station.
I have to be at the Air BnB in a half hour. But now, I need a brew.
Hop In Craft Beer Bar
I purchased a Croatian SIM card for 10 Euros – with one week of data included – then headed to Hop In Craft Beer Bar. It’s located at the edge of a small triangular park. When I arrived, I counted 8 taps available, all Croatian craft beer. Immediately, I went for Nova Runda’s IPA, the C4.
I had had it the previous year. At that time, I was with the brewer, and told him it was underwhelming. But this time it was excellent. The hoppiness and citrus aroma were up front, yet still light enough to refresh me after the long bus ride. Quickly, I had another.
It is not surprising that Nova Runda has won Ratebeer’s #1 spot for craft beer in Croatia. They are not afraid to make their beers as hoppy as their American counterparts.
Often, in The Balkans, breweries shy away from extremely hoppy beers. Craft beer is still relatively new, and some brewers think they will frighten away potential customers who find IPAs “too bitter.” Additionally, many try to save money by not purchasing pricey import hops, not realizing this is detrimental to them in the long term.
The friendliness of people in The Balkans surprises me everyday. The bartender remembered me from my trip to Zagreb the previous year. Naturally, she would be at Opatovina Craft Beer Festival later in the weekend, and suggested Craft Room as the best option for availability of new beers.
Balkan Hospitality And Air B’n’B
The hospitality continued. My Air B’n’B host was waiting on the street corner at Park Strossmeyer in front of the flat. This saved me considerably from getting lost. He had seen that I lived in Belgrade, and asked if I could say something typically Serbian.
I went with, “Ajde, tebra, breeee!”
We continued speaking in Serbian and Croatian while I checked in. If that sounds strange, consider that, despite what their respective governments say, Croatian and Serbian languages are only about as different as British English and American English.
The flat was pristine, modern and the air-conditioning felt great. I wanted to take a nap. But I knew that “just one hour” after my long trip would became “Shit, twelve hours?”. There were people to interview at Opatovina Beer Festival, so I considered my options in the cold air-conditioned room before stepping out into the hot July evening.
I had three classic options: brains, brawn and beauty.
- Pivarium.hr’s moderator and craft beer encyclopedia, Marko
- Nova Runda’s brewer and awesome stoner rock dude, Miro
- Pivski Mjehuric, craft beer writer and rockstar model, Natasa
I already knew Miro, so I figured he would be the best option. Pivarium’s moderator also knew me, but as I am usually rip-roaring wasted at these beer festivals, I could not remember that we had meet. Since there’s rarely foreigners at these festivals, people remember me as “American Beer Guy”.
I left my Air B’n’B flat and walked the quick 10 minutes to Opatovina Street.
Zagreb Opatovina Craft Beer Festival
Opatovina Street is not only the the beer festival’s location, it’s also Zagreb’s emerging craft beer row. The thin pedestrian street stretches for about 300 meters from the Zagreb Farmer’s Market up to the small Opatovina Park. Here, the most notable craft beer bars are: Tolkien’s House, a Lord of The Rings-themed pub; Ro & Do, considered Zagreb’s first craft beer bar; and Craft Room, its largest one now. I would spend most of the time at Craft Room trying their local and foreign taps.
All the other beer geeks would be there too. But priorities: Beer first, mingle second.
The street was packed, and the bartenders had their hands full. Outside, a row of tables had the foreign taps and some local brews. Inside, the pub was all Croatian craft, as well as a few regional imports, like Serbia’s Dogma Brewery.
The list had 48 beers, but only the ones marked with red were being tapped. First, I had to purchase a glass for 15 Kuna, which I had the option to keep or return for the deposit. I considered being a true beer geek: start with a light lager, then a pale ale, progress to a stout…
Fuck that. Again, I saw Nova Runda on the list, and it was their heavy metal DIPA, the ThroaTTwister. Perhaps a malty palate-killer, but I needed a good strong hopbomb.
Some Fake Beer Journalism
While waiting for the next beer, Miro introduced me to another American, Matt. He has lived in Zagreb over 10 years, and is responsible for the region’s largest homebrewing competition, Hrvatsko Homebrew Prvenstvo. It is rightfully an international competition, with Slovakia and Slovenia being particularly well-represented, and with participates from as far away as Israel.
I conducted the interview. Half of it was in English, and the other half in Serbo-Croatian. I am no ‘60 Minutes’ moderator. Most of it consisted of Marko and Miro running on about brewing and the beer scene while I nodded my head…especially during the Serbo-Croatian half. You can see it at Zanatsko Pivo.
The crucial thing was to make mention of Beeryard Festival. Beeryard, organized by Miro, is Zagreb’s other big craft beer festival. Now in its second year, it not only features 11 Croatian craft breweries, but 4 foreign brewers, 4 local restaurants and 4 local independent bands performing.
After the interview, I started drinking. I had a few nondescript pale ales, but was curious to try Croatia’s first locally-produced cider, Buzdovan. I had to wander back down to the farmers market by Harats Pub to find it. It was not annoying sweet like Sommersby, but slightly sour and very dry. This dryness may put others off, but I found it a wakeup call. I needed something easy before the big beers on tap at Craft Room.
The Craft Room Closeout
Back at Craft Room, I saw another familiar face. I remembered him as a New Zealander with whom I’d gotten black-out drunk with at last year’s Beeryard Festival. I asked how that night had finished after the craft beer was gone and we ended up downing industrial Tomislav Tamno beers.
“Mate, I woke up in the hospital the next day.”
This New Zealander was Nick, The Garden Brewery’s head brewer. The Garden Brewery is Zagreb’s large, fashionable, well-financed craft brewery. They were founded by the same team responsible for Croatia’s Garden Festival, Garden Resort Tisno, Barbarella’s Discoteque and the Garden Lounge. They have a large portfolio of beers, both regular and seasonal, including a nice sour Berlinerwiesse that I found myself sipping on.
As the night went on, I did, in fact, go up to progressively bigger beers. Many of the foreign breweries were debuting in Croatia, and the beer fans were eager to try Cloudwater, Magic Rock and Dry & Bitter Brewing. At the end, Danish brewery’s Dry & Bitter’s massive Black Flag Imperial Stout knocked me out.
After Craft Beer, Palenkovac And Worse
It was almost 2am, and the festival was wrapping up. We finished the last of our beers and debated on where to continue next. Sleep was the consensus, which after my trip from Belgrade, was a sound choice. Unfortunately, after I reach the 7th or 8th beer, the reptilian part of my brain takes over.
On the walk back to my Air BnB, I became engaged with three girls in the main square, Trg Josip Jelacica. Whatever I drunkenly rambled to them was entertaining. They pulled me into a nearby late-night dive where they bought me bad Palenkovac shots and sang even worse Croatian pop.
Although I was only a few hundred meters from my flat, I did not spend the night there. Somewhere in East Zagreb, I ended up at their flat explaining exactly what the hell craft beer is.
The rest of the night did not involve beer. Still, there is one more day left for the Zagreb Opatovina Craft Beer Festival…
For a guide to the best craft beer bars in Zagreb click: here
