Craft beer in Slovenia:
Kamnik is a brewing hotspot
Craft beer in Slovenia: Kamnik is a brewing hotspot
While Slovenia’s charming capital Ljubljana often steals the (beer) travel spotlight, there are plenty of great microbreweries and taprooms also elsewhere around the country. A short and scenic trip north from Ljubljana lies the picturesque town of Kamnik, nestled in the foothills of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. In this small town, rich in history and natural beauty, you’ll discover a surprisingly vibrant and growing microbrewery scene. Kamnik is home to several passionate brewers crafting unique and flavourful beers that are well worth seeking out. In this post we’ll introduce three wonderful breweries that call Kamnik and its immediate surroundings home; Barut Brewing & Blending, Maister Brewery and Pivovarna Mali Grad.
Barut Brewing & Blending is a unique gem in Kamnik
The classic series includes easy, enjoyable Pale Lager Pér, malty, a tad earthy Kellerbier Kletak and hoppy, mildly bitter Session IPA Sešn. The Wild Beer Series is all about playing with the yeasts and includes classic styles with a twist; Summer Snow is a Brett Berliner Weisse, soured with lactic acid bacteria and fermented with 100% Brettanomyces yeast to create a rich bouquet of fruity and funked-up aromatics. Roadside Picnic is Barut’s take on classic Pale Ale, infused with Slovenian Aurora hops, fermented with Brettanomyces yeast and spiked with a pinch of Szechuan pepper. And Space Goat is a Brett IPA, with fruit-forward Brettanomyces yeast combined with large doses of Amarillo and Hallertau Blanc hops.
The star of the Premium selection Sour Red, the first sour beer the Barut crew barrel-aged, a sophisticated and balanced Flanders Red Ale Sour matured in various wine barrels, mostly local Refošk barrels, for at least 12 months. Furthermore, there is Sour Gold, blended golden ale, aged for at least half a year in different wine barrels and treated with carefully selected strains of wild yeast and bacteria.
Barut Brewing & Blending
https://www.barutbrew.com/
https://www.instagram.com/barutbrew/
Maister Brewery honors history and the art of brewing
Pivovara Maister is a modern artisan brewery established in 2015, initially as a contract brewery. Maister pays homage to General Rudolf Maister (1874-1934), a Kamnik-born military strategist, freedom fighter, political activist and poet renowned for his dedication to the Slovenian nation.
The founder of the brewery, chemist Janez Skok, found his passion in home-brewing more than then years ago, brewing with a 50-liter Braumeister kit. Hi soon managed to brew good-quality beers, and his Pale Ale was awarded as a best beer in a home-brewing competition in Slovenia. This victory then lead to brewing his beers in bigger batches as a gypsy in 2015, in collaboration with Vizir Brewery.
Maister beers are named after historical Slovenian notabilities, and painted pictures of them can be found in the labels of the core series beers. The bestselling Maister beer is a Pale Ale called Vega, named after Jurij Vega (1754-1802), Slovenian mathematician and physicist especially known for logarithmic tables. This is in fact the first beer of Maister, based on the same recipe with which Janez Skok won the brewing contest!
The other beers in Maister’s core range are;
- Karlin, an American Pale Wheat cold “hopped” with jasmine green tea, named after Slovenian world traveler, poet, writer and polyglot Alma Karlin.
- Linhart, a Cold IPA hopped with Citra, Motueka and Nelson, and named after Anton Tomaž Linhart, an initiator of the Slovenian Enlightenment, a playwright and historian.
- Novy, a juicy NEIPA with Amarillo and Mosaic, named after poetry translator and the first Slovenian lyric poet Lili Novy.
- Gallus, a Pilsner hopped with Slovenian Aurora and Styrian Golding hops and named after Slovenian Renaissance composer Jakob Petelin Gallus.
- Noordung Interstellar Porter, a Porter named after Slovenian rocket engineer and pioneer of cosmonautics, Herman Potočnik “Noordung”.
- And of course, the namesake General Maister also has his own beer, an English-style IPA hopped with Amarillo, Citra, Columbus, and Simcoe.
Should you travel to Kamnik, a great way to get to know Maister Brewery and their beers better, is to participate in a brewery tour, with a tasting session in the adjacent taproom. Maister also has a pub in Ljubljana, with a great selection of Maister beers, served with burgers and pub snacks.
Mali Grad is one of the pioneers of Slovenian craft beer
Pivovarna Mali Grad was founded in 2014 and named after Kamnik’s iconic Little Castle, that stands on a hill above the city center. Mali Grad was one of the first microbreweries of the country, and one of the pioneers in brewing experimental artisan beers. In 2016, production moved from Kamnik to nearby Šmarca, where the crew brews with a 700-liter Brewiks brewhouse, with a monthly capacity of around 15,000 liters.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary recently, Mali Grad’s identity is deeply intertwined with the history of Kamnik. Their logo features the “snake-lady” Veronika, a figure from local legend said to haunt the Mali Grad castle. The story tells that Veronika, who was known to be a greedy and stingy lady, was turned half a girl, half a snake due to her selfishness and greed. She is said to still live under the Mali Grad castle, miserably trapped in a cave, guarding her precious gold coins.
The ownership of the brewery changed in 2024, but the partially reformed new core team continues to manufacture familiar Mali Grad products – there are six core beers that are always available and several seasonal products. The best-selling Mali Grad beers are Pale Ale and Šlagerica, a Slovenian Pale Lager. In addition to these two, the core series includes Easy Blonde Blonde Ale, India Pale Ale, Black Magic Woman Black IPA and No Bullshit Vienna Lager. In general Mali Grad beers are known to be balanced and highly drinkable, aromatic but not super bitter.
Beyond the core series, Mali Grad brews small batches of more experimental special beers in different styles – the best place to taste both the core series and the specials is the and taproom restaurant Tavern Mali Grad, located right next the brewery. Mali Grad core beers are also in craft beer pubs, restaurants and bottle shops around the country, and some are available in supermarkets too. Beyond craft beer, Mali Grad also manufactures artisan gin.
Pivovarna Mali Grad
https://pivovarna-maligrad.si/
https://www.instagram.com/pivovarnamaligrad/
Beer trip to Kamnik
In addition to these three breweries that we had the pleasure to visit, there is one more interesting microbrewery in the area, Pivovarna Menin’c. Menin’c Brewery is located in the picturesque Tuhinj Valley near Kamnik, and embraces the natural beauty of its surroundings in its brewing approach. They focus on crafting clean, balanced, highly drinkable beers, that are available in local pubs and bottle shops.
Kamnik is also the home town of Beer Way Slovenia, an organization that arranges brewery tours, beer tastings, excursions and themed trails combining beer and outdoor activities. If you’re looking to explore Slovenia beyond the capital and discover some hidden gems in the (craft beer) landscape, Kamnik should definitely be on your radar!
About Craft Beer Nomads
Craft Beer Nomads is a blog about artisan beer, microbreweries and craft beer culture in Europe and beyond. The blog is written by FinnsAway, a nomad couple who has been on the road since 2017, and enjoys tasting new craft beers all around the world.
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