Subjective ramblings about beer, pubs and associated topics

A few beers in Bratislava

The capital of the Habsburgs for centuries, then reduced by wars and barbed wire to a provincial city, Bratislava has awakened from its slumber. A bustling city centre where, house by house, the old quarters are restored to their former beauty. Shops are crammed with food and other consumer goods, but there are also beggars in the streets and old ladies peddling apples and walnuts showing that prosperity has not reached everyone yet.

The Slovaks have been overshadowed by their Czech brothers in most aspects, including their beer. They are coming into their own, and it well worth checking out the scene, particularly as Bratislava is only an hour or so from Vienna and it’s not much of a detour from Budapest, either. In summer you can travel in style on a boat on the Danube, if you wish.

So, what about watering holes? It does not look much has survived from the period before the velvet revolution. The restaurant in my hotel was very much East Bloc-1970ish, but apart from that most of the places seem to be post-communist, even if some of them are in old houses. The Slovak Pub was recommended on the web, located in an old house with creaky floorboards and filled with nooks and crannies. They seem to aim mostly at students, who dominated the place when I was there. No noisy music, a menu well tailored to beer drinking (lots of dumplings and pasta) and very low prices for a foreigner. You don’t pay many cents (Euro or dollars) for a glass of beer. They have a range of beers on tap, but they only had pilsners on when I was there on a Sunday evening. They were perfectly all right, both the Topvar 12 and the Zlaty Bazant 12, very similar to Czech pils, but I was looking for something more challenging. Better then to take a stroll and see if I could find something else.

Sparx is an old beer hall that has been spruced up in a nice way. Quiet at lunchtime, I suppose this is bustling in the evening. www.sparx.sk. A nice glass of the dark version of Golden Pheasant (Zlaty Bazant. Smells faintly of tasted malt. A little hoppy bitterness but it is rather sweet, almost syrupy. Coca-cola colour.

The best beer I drank in Bratislava vas a dark Corgon, with more aroma than the other beers I tried. But the supermarkets had a good selection, so I brought some home to try at my leisure. I will keep you posted!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:07 | link | comments
beer, pilsener, slovakia

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