MICROBREWERY SCENE IN SLOVENIA
What better way to quench your thirst on a hot summer day than to grab hold of a nice local beer. And Slovenia has many to choose from.
A massive craze has spread throughout the world to veer away from the traditional big breweries and opt for a quirky full-of-flavour concoction crafted by a micro brewer who has started brewing most likely as a hobby. This craze came to Slovenia less than 10 years ago and since then it has grown into a colossal (in Slovenia’s terms!) market with a variety that will not only satisfy your thirst but also your curiosity for different flavours surrounded by excellent personal stories of the different brewers.
Historically, beer has been brewed in the area of Slovenia for thousands of years. The first traces go back to the marsh dwellers almost 4000 years ago – testified by the numerous brewing pots that were discovered in Ljubljana marshes. The Celts and the Romans in these areas seemed to appreciate a good drop and the Slavs only continued the traditions and developed the growing of hops that is still around today. In the 19th century, many breweries were owned by German, Italian and Czech owners and after WWII, two major breweries, Laško and Union, were established as the two main choices for beer and most Slovenes lost almost all memory of any other beer.
Until recently that is, when a revolution started with breweries emerging out of the woodworks. One such is Human Fish, a product of Slovenian and an expat-Australian connection. They started to brew beers that fitted their tastebuds better than what was on offer at the time and apparently it also fitted Slovenian tastebuds in general, as they became a real hit. Named after the famous inhabitant of the popular Postojna cave, the Human Fish brewery welcomes visitors at both their tap room and the brewery, located in an old dairy-farm in Vrhnika, just a short drive from Ljubljana.
The list of microbrewers in Slovenia is updating so quickly that it is almost impossible to follow. Another microbrewery that has extremely good ratings on RateBeer.com, is Reservoir Dogs Brewery. Four guys, not six as in the cult film, and rather than gangsters they are a mathematician, a neurologist, an economist and an electro-technician working in the gambling industry, started making beer a couple of years ago. It started as a small home brew which eventually grew into a bigger production that received excellent responses from the public.
Another, regretfully expatriated, microbrewery that became one of the leading names in Slovenia in this microbrewing bloom, is Bevog. Brewed by a Slovenian, Bevog is actually located in Austria - just across the border - due to (as most Slovenians will resentfully tell you) a bureaucratic ordeal that ended up with the entire brewing process moving to Austria. Currently they reign at the top of best beers from Austria on RateBeer.com.
The list of these excellent beers is long. You can have a look here. If you decide you want to try them all, you may want to extend your holidays in Slovenia. If you want to try as many as possible in a short span of time, visiting one of many beer related festivals, such as Beer & Burger Fest in Ljubljana, would be a great idea.