What's your favorite Polish beer?

My cousin tells me I should try Warka STRAG when I get to Poland. Has anyone tried this?

Never seen it anywhere in US. Try Polish club in Phoenix AZ.

Zubr :)

Recently, I had Tatra beer in a can. Good flavorful taste. It better taste good for $5.00 per can! There's something about bottled beer though, that seems to make it taste much better.

I think you are referring to my favourite beer of all time, Warka Strong. It's a dark, sweet beer, 7% ABV and goes down a treat. It can be purchased in many Polish deli's in England. Enjoy!!!!!!!!

becksi. That's far too much to pay for this beer. It costs under 3zł in Poland. Even with importing expenses your supplier is overcharging.

It may be different now but years ago when Warka Strong was still a fresh brand it stank and tasted of the rectified spirit
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectified_spirit


very very true - give me bottled beer over canned one any day (not everyday though :P)

there were times that I actually couldn't stand the taste of the canned beer

Warka Strong ranks amongst the worst beers I have ever tried. Just not for me at all.

Oh, I dunno. If you are the type that likes getting up in the night to rehydrate, and then suffer a blinding hangover in the morning, it's just the ticket.

Warka Strong is not for drinking all evening. Three made me thick-headed and wanting to go home. I'm sure it would be very good for cooking, though. Beef in beer perhaps.

I'm no expert on Polish beers (I don't drink beer that match already some 8 years) but back in the times I used to drink beer more often there just wasn't a good stronger Polish beer except perhaps for Kaper Królewski from Gdańsk Brewery - a discontinued brand AFAIK - the other brand from the same brewery was Heweliusz

Kaper is still in production. Sadly Heweliusz is not.

I really liked Heweliusz - one of the better beers back then

EDiT: just read some reviews of present day Kaper - it stinks of rectified spirit - it didn't when it was still made in the Gdańsk browar (no longer the case AFAIK the production was moved to Elbląg and Braniewo in the early 2000's after Heineken's acquistion of the Gdańsk brewery)

Is there any Polish beer similiar to Miller?

Nothing so bad.

If you are looking for the taste that beer nerds tend to refer to as "Americana" * (Miller, Moosehead, Coors etc) I'd say you might be looking a long time.

Any Polish beer I've had is pretty robust, hoppy, earthy.

*whether it's Amercian or not.

Moosehead is a nice Canadian beer, not so far different from Perła or £omża :)

Yep, but not so different from Miller etc - is it?


OK, not sure I know these. Thanks.

I could easily differentiate the two, Teffle.

Oh, hunt them down in Żabka. Well worth drinking.

I love Perła :)

The Polish beer was costly, because cans were sold individually at a Polish festival, held in Los Angeles, CA.

There is some Polish beer which is very similar to Ukrainian beer. And vice versa, in fact I have heard of Ukrainian beer being tried to be passed off as Polish beer, but never with any success.

Ciechan Miodowy (to get in Warsaw, quite expensive)

what do you guys think of Perła?

Tried it once years ago...in Lublin (of all places!), but can't righjtly recall the taste.. I like their current TV slogan: 'Najbardziej lubelskie piwo śwata' ('the world's most Lublinian beer!'). Is it still an independent bvrewery or is it owned by one of the internatioanl biggies: Carsberg, Heineken, SAB, etc.?

Unrelated, but yesty I heard on Discovery or suchlike that 99% of the world's beer is pilsner (lager). Exaggeration or round figure?

Lech Premium is my new favorite because of the price, and if you're in Poznan, you must try the Lech Pils. Also fantastic.

Unfortunately, Lech Premium tastes like crap in many bars because they don't know how to store/serve it properly. There used to be a place called Estadio in Poznan that got it bang on every single time - but it closed, unfortunately.

Lech Pils is a good beer though - good out of both bottles and on the tap. I've got the feeling that they're about to go national with it, too.

But really - why bother with big name beers such as Lech (although Lech Pils is grand) when you can drink much better stuff for the same price? Heck - there are plenty of decent regional beers available for the same price as Lech Premium.

If you're in Poznan - Setka, Ministerstwo Browaru and Cooliozum all have a cracking selection of Polish beers.

I'd love it if Lech Pils went international :) I get the Premium in bottles and it only cost me $1.50 for 500ml. It's also most available besides Zywiec which I used to drink religiously. Unfortunately, I can't find my favorite Bosman here :/ It was even difficult to find outside Szczecin, but I think Piotr i Pawel started selling it...love that place

Zywiec and Okocim.. only good ones I can find here, in Wisconsin. Which I have to travel a half an hour to get.. but, definitely worth it!

All strong beers, 8% and above:

8% is too strong for me as it spoils the taste of the beer.

I recently found £omźa Niefiltrowane-unfltered. I really like it.