Today is Paul’s birthday, and I couldn’t think of a better post to write than this one! 

I do not drink a lot of alcohol, because I don’t like how it makes me feel, but every now and then I do enjoy drinking a special beer. My first introduction to craft beer was in 2014. A friend of mine, who was really into craft beer, invited me to come and have a drink in his local pub called ‘De Markies’. An amazing and knowledgeable place for craft beer. 

One of my first beers was an IPA. Probably not the best one to start with when you are not a beer drinker, but I finished it! That was the start of many, (don’t worry, I am not a heavy drinker at all) and we also subscribed to a beer app called: ‘Untapped’. This is an app where you can keep track of all the different beers you’ve drank from all over the world. Really cool to see where you’ve been and which ones you’ve tried.

When I first started drinking craft beer I didn’t like sours, gose or heavy IPA’s. I preferred to drink porters, stouts and brown beers. They tasted like coffee and chocolate! Yum! Funny how taste can change, because as my pallet started to develop, I actually prefer to drink sours and IPA’s over the stouts, browns and porters, and there are many more different types of craft beer. 

In 2015 I also introduced Paul to craft beer and together we’ve been to several beer festivals and tried a lot of different beers all over the world, but it started in the Netherlands (and Belgium). Every month we tried to go for a weekend away to a different city to try all sorts of craft beer. A few cities in the Netherlands we really enjoyed were: Den Haag, Zwolle and Groningen. After that we ventured outside of the Netherlands. Germany was surprisingly disappointing. I expected really amazing beers, but they are more focussed on lagers and weizen. Poland was a completely different story! In december 2016 we went with two of our best friends to Gdansk. My goodness, the beers here were amazing! So many different flavors we’ve never heard of before! Wonderful!

We tried a lot of different beers in Czech Republic, Italy, Australia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Vietnam, Malaysia and Serbia. Unfortunately for us there is not a lot of craft beer in Montenegro, Thailand, Kosovo or North Macedonia. Or maybe a good thing, because when we started this new ‘hobby’, we both gained a few pounds! (oops!)

I like that we have a ‘hobby’ that we can enjoy together. This week we are going to Serbia again and we have a week off work. Fingers crossed they have some nice craft beer places in Nis!

A few of my favorite craft beer places so far (in the world):

Netherlands:

• De Markies – Leeuwarden
• De Koffer – Groningen
• Brody’s American Taphouse – Den Haag
• Beertemple – Amsterdam

Poland:

• Cathead Multitap – Gdansk

Italy:

• La Botticella Pub – Rome
• Il Tasso Birroteca – Giulianova

Australia:

• Beerfarm – Metricup (Western Australia)
• Little Creatures Brewery – Fremantle

Serbia:

• Dogma Brewery – Belgrade 
• Gunners Pub – Belgrade
• Samo Pivo! – Belgrade

Vietnam:

• Nha Hang Tap House – Hoi An
• Hops & Crust – Da Nang
• 7 Bridges Brewing – Da Nang
• Turtle Lake Brewing Company – Hanoi

Malaysia: 

• Bottle Shop by Taps Group – Georgetown
• Taps Beer Bar – Kuala Lumpur

Borneo:

• Porkie’s BBQ – Kuching
• Zozo Beans & Booze – Kuching

Spain:

• Siopa – Estepona

Croatia

• Glam Café – Dubrovnik

Have you ever tried craft beer and what did you think of it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.