According to the last annual competition organised by the Slovenian Home Brewers Association it is Domen Srebot, the main brewer of the Loo-Bla-Nah brewery, who currently reigns on the local homebrew scene of Slovenia, Croatia and elsewhere. Since our home and professional brewers are very intertwined and connected, they both can apply to the competitions.

For a while, Pelicon 3rd Pill was the best beer in our country. It’s a classic American style of IPA, a light beer with rich hop flavours and a long bitterness in the aftermath. It is made from hollow water, four types of barley malt and up to five hopes. The beer is a completely cloudy orange-amber colour with a medium and sufficiently persistent white foam on top. The connaisseurs are impressed also by the pleasant and fruitful aroma with slight tropical fruits, citrus, elderflower and even a mild pine odour at the end. According to the experts from the website www.pivo-man.blogspot.com, this is undoubtedly a beer for the IPA style lovers, due to its immense refreshingness characterized by its full flavour and a very pleasant aroma. Already after the first glass, a beer lover is clearly confident with the fact and the reason why this IPA beer has been chosen several times as the best Slovenian beer.

At this year’s international Gastexpo Food and Beverage Fair in Ljubljana celebrated Dark (dark lager) from Castra brewery. The beer has a black coal aspect with a higher beige puffy foam. Its aroma recalls a fresh bread with a slight roast touch. The taste reminds a gently roasted coffee with a sweet chocolate character and almost no bitterness. The second place went to the Baltic porter Baltic State of mind from Omnivar brewery and the bronze medal won a Belgian Quadrupel from Loo-Bla-Nah brewery. Last year winner was the sour beer 0 Order from one of our youngest breweries Barut Batch. Their first official beer is the Flemish red ale, the traditional Belgian style of beer, which matures for a year in red wine barrels.

“The appearance of the beer is clear copper red with a thinly whitish head,” as reported on the website www.pivo-man.blogspot.com. The aroma is slightly gentler with acid tones of red wine in combination with smoother notes of berries with a wooden taste note. Its taste can also recall a sweet cherry liquor and vanilla cigarillos. “A gentle, slightly caramel, initial sweetness soon takes on an acidic character with a bit of wine quality, followed by a woody and nutty taste with some mild herbal supplements, but the gentle acidic character nevertheless remains the main thing for a while,” as the expert points out.

The best rated on the Ratebeer platform is Starvation by Reservoir Dogs, which has been one of the top ten black IPA beers in the world for two years now. You can taste this beer and learn something about it at the beer tasting in Ljubljana. This black imperial IPA with 8% alcohol was described on the Pivopis website as a dark brown to black beer with an attractive and persistent creamy brownish foam. The smell is characterized by citruses, pine trees and grapefruit which also include delicate aromas of coffee and chocolate where even a shade of caramel is detected in the background. The taste is smooth and well balanced with malt, so alcohol is barely perceptible. Bitterness is appropriate for the number of hops, but it is still pleasant as it completes in the perfect beer experience. Even in a rather dry taste, you can find some bitter attributes of coffee and dark chocolate. The carbonization is fairly low and the feeling in the mouth is slightly creamy. The predominantly dry aftertaste and a pleasant bitterness last for quite a long time.

On the Untapped application dominates Lobik brewery from Styria region. It was primarily presented at the Ljubljana Beer Festival in 2016. They started with experimental and alternative beers, such as the chocolate stout and elderflower ale, becoming among the first in the region with New England pale ale beer. Because of their commitment to being different, they also produce particular sour beers as they added the local fruit and Provencal lavender to the bacteria and yeast.

TEKTONIK

A wide range of high-quality raw materials from renowned global producers enables them to create an unlimited range of flavours that can satisfy even the most demanding drinkers. Tektonik brewery focuses on creating original recipes supported by the knowledge of the rich tradition of English, Belgian and German brewing practices. They offer eight types of beer with the most original names that will quench your thirst and make you laugh.

MISTER

Mister is a modern boutique brewery that produces one of the most stylish beers in Slovenia, combining gourmet pleasures with aesthetics. They turned the beer into a top-notch appearance since beer can also be a perfect drink for ceremonial events. A 20-years old student of philosophy and Russian language fell in love with the hop flavour overnight and began to brew beer from his own ingredients according to his own recipes. This is how the first quality beer started to bloom. At the Slovenian brewery competition, his wheat Ale was even selected as one of the best.

HUMANFISH

The Humanfish brewery was one of the first alternatives to the big Slovenian breweries, and its revolution in the field of craft beer began to rage back in 2008. After the initial production in Slovenj Gradec, the brewery moved to a larger space in Vrhnika. They produce more traditional, “session” and special beers. At first, they have been available mostly on the Slovenian market and in recent years their export has increased and won the popularity also in the rest of the world.

LOO-BLAH-NAH

Loo-Blah-Nah is a local craft brewery from Ljubljana. Although it has been operating since 2016 they have become super popular among beer lovers and is available primarily in the bars across Ljubljana. Their beers are closer to the English ones and their most popular are pale and golden ale, marked by an American character.

RESERVOIR DOGS

Everything started with four friends from Ajdovščina. Apart from the Slovenian hops, they also use American hops with fruity flavours. Their most popular beers are ales of different styles. They can praise eleven different beer types, including the double matured Black Hole, which has been lauded in rum barrels for 18 months. 

“Our general belief is that light beers are more summery and the dark ones that usually contain more alcohol are preferred in the winter,” explains the brewer and beer expert Sašo Drobež who runs our Beer Tasting in Ljubljana. “In the summer we drink beer with less alcohol and moderate bitterness. We have a long lager beer tradition and the most famous are Laško and Union, which are excellent for the summer thirst. Worldwide as well as in our country we can witness the trend of sour beers. Due to their acidity, fruit flavour and low alcohol level are ideal for quenching thirst,” Sašo says.

An example of Slovenian excellent sour beer is Summer Snow from Barut brewery. It is a Berliner Weisse, fermented with wild Brettanomyces yeasts. Summer Snow is a gentle beer with acid notes of white grapes with a characteristic dry wine character as a pleasant freshness. This beer is also recommendable for the sour beer beginners.

Another great summer friendly Slovenian beer is a lager Šlagerica from a boutique brewery Mali Grad. Other wonderful summer ale beers are also Nolan (Mister brewery), Vega (Maister brewery), Combat Wombat (Human Fish brewery), Fruitpocalyps (Lobik brewery), English Pale Ale (LOO-BLAH-NAH brewery). We also need to mention the new style of NEIPA (New England IPA), which, due to its strong fruit flavour, is similar to an alcohol juice. Among these excellent beers shines out Cashmere from Green Gold Brewing. Its taste resembles forest fruits with a feeling of a pleasant refreshing taste in the mouth. It is suitable for summer indulgence or refreshing fun as it is enriched with the smell and taste of summer fruits. Their beer is a European novelty and because of its sweetness, it will please all those who are not really bitter beer lovers.