After many years, I had a long-due reunion with a friend, George, in Zagreb, Croatia. He had work in nearby Ljubljana, Slovenia, so we agreed to meet on Saturday at the Opatovina Craft Beer Festival. Like most college students, we had spent our first years chugging Nattys, Bud Lights and 40ozs. I had moved on to craft beer; he was still (in his words) “an Asian who only needs 3 beers to get drunk”. This was a Zagreb Beercation for Craft Beer Virgins.
Zagreb Beercation For Craft Beer Virgins
We met at the bus station. Almost 10 years had passed, but George looked exactly the same. As with any good friend, the conversation was the same too. After coffee at the station, we walked to Strossmayer Park, and the Air B’n’B that I had checked into the previous night. It was in perfect order, because I hadn’t slept there…for good reason.
After a short nap, we walked 10 minutes to Opatovina Street for the craft beer festival. Our destination for the night was Craft Room, at the top of the street. Outside, on the pedestrian street, were several tables with tap machines and kegs. Due to the festival crowds, ordering was a lengthy process. It was further complicated by the additional wait we had to get tasting glasses – for a 15 Kuna deposit.
As if you will remember to return the glass after drinking all that beer?
While we waited, we were lucky to score a table across from the bar. Eventually, we got our beers, two easy-drinking Hladovinas, a Session IPA from Nova Runda. I watched George to see how he would gauge the beer. He sipped it and answered with a simple, “It’s different, but good.”
Good enough for the beer virgin.
Opatovina Craft Beer Festival Madness
My Croat friends joined us briefly. Since they saw we couldn’t keep up a craft beer discussion with George around, they went off to engage in beer geekery. We gained another American, Rick, of Croatian descent, who was spending the summer in Zagreb. As we ordered stronger IPAs, the conversation quickly went political. Fortunately, the three of us agreed on the USA’s shitty situation, which is normal for Americans abroad.
We left the crowds of Opatovina for a quick dinner at Bistro Dolac, a 24-hour diner right on Dolac Market Square. The typical meaty Balkan food was fast, cheap and filling. It gave us the protein support to return to Craft Room to try stronger beers inside.
If the food was to prevent us from getting drunk, it wasn’t necessary. The inside of Craft Room was far busier than the outside. Even though I ordered directly at the bar, it still took a half hour for the staff to bring beers to our table. We tried brews from The Garden Brewery and waiting out another round before admitting we were all tired of waiting.
Sunday morning came too soon, although fortunately without a hangover. George and I returned our Air B’n’B host’s key at the nearby café that he owned. After coffee and a light breakfast, we spent the late morning strolling through Zagreb, talking a lot. We walked to the cathedral, then Josip Jelacic Square and chilled in Strossmayer Park. Soon, the walk was enough to make us hungry again, so we went for lunch and craft beer at Pivovara Medvedgrad.
Zagreb Pivovara Medvedgrad
Pivovara Medvedgrad is on Tklaciceva Street, Opatovina’s sister street for nightlife. Most of the bars and restaurants here have sprung up recently. But Pivovara Medvedgrad has been at this location since 2006, and has been a microbrewery in Zagreb since 1994. From early on, they experimented with brews other than industrial lagers, and could be considered Croatia’s first craft brewery.
Our waiter was deft at ignoring us. Still, we prevailed. If he spoke English, I wouldn’t know, as my primitive attempt to order in Serbo-Croatian was good enough for him. We got massive meat platters: typical Balkan fare of cevapcici sausage, pljeskavica hamburgers and spicy kobasica (another sausage) accompanied by fries and salad.
We drank ideal summer beers, Baltazar India Pale Lagers. The Simcoe and Citra hop presence made it easy to forget that they were simply lagers. If I blind-tasted one, I might even have thought it was an IPA. It was pleasantly surprising. I asked George what he thought.
“It’s interesting.”
Craft beer virgins.
Journey From Hop-In To Tolkien’s House
He soon had to return to Ljubljana for an appointment. We stopped for a final, quick beer at Hop In Craft Bar, located in a park across the street from the bus station. I ordered a round of BaD Brewery’s Pale Ale 77. For George, it was another Croatian craft beer. For me, I was comparing it to last year’s batch, when I’d had it at Zagreb’s other craft beer festival, Beeryard. It was significantly improved, with more bitter hoppiness and balance.
After my friend left, I wandered back to Opatovina Street to visit a place that brings me much nostalgia. Tolkien’s House, at the top of Opatovina, is a Lord Of The Rings-themed pub. It was one of Zagreb’s first bars to serve import beers. In 2009, on my first visit to Croatia, their list of Belgium and German beers was a welcome relief from the pissy industrial lagers that were everywhere else in The Balkans then.
Now, in addition to imports, they serve Croatian craft beer. As is fitting for a bar from Middle Earth, they feature beer from Zmajska Pivovara, or “Dragon Brewery” in English. I drank their Pozoj, an American IPA that’s juicy, hop-forward and has a clean dry finish. Slowly, I drank it, then went next door for a goodbye beer at Craft Room.
Bok Bok And Goodbye Beer
Because of Opatovina Beer Festival, all weekend it had been too busy to truly savor the beers. On this Sunday, in complete contrast, Craft Room was empty. The bartender, the same one who had worked during the madness, was happy to relax and have a drink outside with me. Some local homebrewers and beer geeks joined us. They gave me several recommendations, but I had one in mind already.
I was keen on The Garden Brewery’s Bok Bok, their new Doppelbock. The Balkans’ craft beer movement has gone full steam into American-style IPAs and APAs, often at the expense of not experimenting with traditional European styles. I myself am guilty of not being more familiar with traditional beer styles.
So I cannot properly compare Bok Bok’s grape aroma, sweet caramel tones and hints of banana bread to its German forebears. Like a craft beer virgin, I will say: It’s interesting.
