What's your favorite Polish beer?

It's a Perla product, so it should fairly easy to find.


Yes. I keep wanting to go but accommodation there is in understandably somewhat short supply. I was booked in to go the year before last but the hotel (where I'd booked and paid in full six months in advance) wanted to double the price of my room, so I cancelled.

I could ask the same question. And they are all lagers, taste the same and very boring. And the big breweries do anything to cut costs. Less hops equals less taste, you might as well drink water. Ale is always better than lagers and in Poland the best beers at the moment is made by Browar Pinta, AleBrowar and Browar Artezan. Buy one of theit brews and discover that Polish beer actually can taste something. Żywiec actually make a good beer: Żywiec Porter.

I just returned from a short trip to the lake region and discovered £omża, delicious really. It's my new favorite Polish beer.

you just returned? I thought, you're in the states? Anyways, I agree, I tried Lomza too and I liked it too.

Here is great website with lots beer's reviews (not only Polish ones):
website: browar.biz/piwa.php

it's in polish only, but each beer has a green/red bar with rank ('ocena redakcji' - editor's rank, 'ocena uzytkownikow' - website users rank) - more green - better beer ;)

The list is ordered by brewery name (brewery name,beer name) - some of the beers on the list are no longer brewed

My personal opinion: beers from Amber brewery (i.e. 'Zywe','Kozlak','Grand Imperial Porter'), 'Noteckie' or made by 'Fortuna' or 'Haust' are worth trying :)

Which one? There are a few £omża beers now, some of them better than others.


The problem I have with Amber brewery beers is that they all seem to be slightly sweet and somewhat cloying. I prefer more bitterness and often a clean crisp taste.

If anybody does want to try some seriously good Polish beer, I strongly suggest that they make haste to one of the multi-tap bars. Here in Warsaw we have Cuda na Kiju (16 taps of beer, usually about half are Polish), Chmielarnia (again 16 taps, usually a bit more than half are Polish, beer starts at 6zl for a half litre and the place serves very acceptable curry) and Kufle i Kapsle (ten taps and the only two hand-pull pumps in the city).

Harry and others - what do you think of Bojan , from Bojanowie in Wielkopolska? They have a beer called Toporek, which although "artificial" at 6.0% vol, and slighty fizzy, and pasteurized - ugh - still manages to resemble Timothy Taylors' amber ale.

They must be using Goldings hops or probably some American hop extract?

Not complaining! :) Their dark caramel flavoured beer ain't half bad with Christmas pud either!

I tasted for the first time the beers from the Koreb brewery, at the Christmas Fair here in Warsaw. Really good stuff. We talked a lot with the co-owner. They are mainly a local £ódż area brewery.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browar_Koreb
koreb.pl
He explained that they brew their beer in a traditional way (not like the chemical soup called Żywiec), and so the bottled ones only stay drinkable one month at the most.

They produce foremost for the £ódż area.
I am looking for a place in Warsaw where they have it on tap.

How about Warka Jasne Pelne ? has anyone tried it

Often. It's OK. Nothing special, a standard European lager, fine to drink, not as bad as Żywiec and a bit more flavour than Lech. Not quite as good as Zubr, about the same as Okocim, Królewskie or Tyskie.

People don't bother saying the 'Jasne Pelne' bit when they order in PL, just 'Warka'. There's also a 'Warka Strong' which is what the name suggests :-)

I wouldn't seriously object to drinking it (or at least to drinking one or two, anything more than that I would object to, mainly on the grounds that the hangover from it is likely to be terrible and very easy to get) but I certainly wouldn't choose to drink it either. If somebody bought me one, I'd drink most of it (unlike Zywiec, which I'd either discretely change for something else or just 'accidentally' spill). There are much much better beers in Poland, even when you're talking about the 'big beers'.

Ever had a Warka Strong hangover?

I know that darker beers result in bigger hangovers, and that the more commercial the brewer the worst the hangover, so I'd very much imagine that a Warka Strong hangover is a three-day event. I must emphasize the "imagine" there: I have absolutely no interest in actually finding out.

Very wise. Once was enough for me. Oh, how I regret not buying all the Abbot Ale from Lidl when I had the chance.

You can get superb Polish bottled beer delivered to your door by these wonderful chaps in Warsaw for about the same price Lidl were charging for Abbot's Ale esklep.piwazdusza.pl

Spend an extra zloty or two per bottle and you can get Polish beer which knocks spots off Abbot's. They also have some pretty good Czech beer for about the same price as Abbot's.

I recently returned from Krakow, visiting Poland for the first time, and was amazed at how many different and delicious beers there are in Poland.

Tyskie and Zywiec are very popular here now, but they are a poor representation of what is really possible!

Looks like a great shop, but I'd need convincing that anything there can beat Abbot Ale. Could you recommend a few names from the website?

Happily. How do you like your beer? Hoppy? Dark? Crisp? Bitter? Sweet? Light? Strong? IPA? Pills? Lager?

Nothing on the Polish market beats Budweiser Budwar on price and quality IMO.

That is some assertion Harry that any Polish beer can beat English bottled ale, mass produced though it be. You are obviously fully versed as a beer lover with the chemistry of same, so I too would love a few names.

If they are expensive I wont bother though and just stick to Abbot et al, even at 10 zl a bottle.
The Olsztyn Kormoran brewery is trying but still add extracts:(

Attempts at IPA at 7 zl a bottle is decent but still oft leaves a hangover, a no-no sign of bad brewing.

Do these brewers used fresh hops? Using American pelletised hops is brewing, but not as we know it, Jim.

Hoppy bitter, strongish but not too sweet.

Budweiser Budwar is the best beer in the world imho.

As far as Polish beers go? Zubr, Lomza and Lech are my top 3.

I'd strongly recommend Rowing Jack from the Ale Browar brewery. It's a double hopped IPA (probably closer to American IPA than British) with a very mild initial sweetness, rather citrus sweetness, a bit of herb and loads of hops. Distinctly bitter and the bitterness lasts quite a long time. It's the first Polish craft beer I ever had and is still a top ten for me. It's best on tap but I doubt you'll find it on tap in your neck of the woods. For bottles, try these people:

sklep.piwaswiata.com/sklep-stacjonarny-pm-23.html
I'd also suggest this one, it's a rice IPA with hops from Australia, New Zealand and the USA (one of my three favourite beers):

sklep.piwaswiata.com/pinta-oto-mata-ipa-p-509.html
This is a stunningly good American IPA which makes my top five of draft beer but from the bottle demands careful pouring:
sklep.piwaswiata.com/grand-prix-aipa-p-507.html
This is probably my favour beer (although I drink the tap version, not the bottled one):
ratebeer.com/beer/artezan-pacific-pale-ale/202127
This APA is probably the best new beer I've tried in 2014 but I think it might be draft only (I've certainly never seen it in bottles):

dzikiedrozdze.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/space-sheep-z-browaru-podgorz
This IPA is well worth trying but I personally prefer the Summer Ale from the same brewry:
sklep.piwaswiata.com/doctor-brew-cascade-ipa-p-759.html
And you can't overlook Ciechan Wyborne, it's the beer which kick-started the whole craft beer movement and showed that good beer which used to be only regional could make it on the national stage:

sklep.piwaswiata.com/ciechan-wyborne-p-6.html
One last one, I think that this Pils is probably the best value beer in Poland at the moment:
sklep.piwaswiata.com/manufakturowy-pils-p-408.html


You very badly need to get yourself down to the local beer specialist. Admittedly, in Ceske Budejovice and served from a tankowy system, Budweiser is a very nice beer; but it gets blown away by the new wave of craft beers (and even more than a few of the old school regional beers).


Not just the bottled ale, there are lots of Polish beers that will beat English draft ale. You seem to forget that in Warsaw there are places with English ale on tap, both Legends and the British Bulldog have ales such as Spitfire, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot's Ale and so on all the time. I can't remember the last time I had a pint of it, certainly not for the last 15 months and quite possibly not since 2012. Why would I want to? There are far better Polish beers on offer. Just go to Kufle i Kapsle and try what they have in their 12 taps and 2 hand pumps, or go to Cuda na Kiju or Chmielarnia: they both have 18 taps. Or try Piw Paw: 57 taps and sometimes one of them has an English ale (not often, apparently the stuff doesn't sell well).

Rowing Jack is good, but Atak Chmielu and Imperium Atakuje by the Pinta brewery are much better if you like hoppy beer.

I love hoppy beer but neither of those two float my boat. The Atak Chmielu is too sweet for me and I simply don't like the Imperial IPA style (too strong and too bitter), so Imperium Atakuje never had a chance with me. What do you reckon of Pinta's Oto Mata?

Great stuff Harry - thanks for the info. When in Warsaw I will sure visit said places :) Do they allow dogs in the beer gardens/patios?

Happy to help. Let me know when you're coming and I'll stop by for a few samplers: Cuda, Kufle and Chmielarnia all do four-glass samplers, 150ml in each glass, I'll be having several a couple of hours from now, starting with four from these:


Most certainly. I'm pretty sure that Cuda (although it's several times larger outside than inside), Piw Paw and Kufle let dogs inside too; Chmielarnia is in a basement and is half multitap bar half curry-house, so perhaps less welcoming to dogs.

If you fancy trying craft beers in Tri-city area, Ale Browar reckon these pubs have their stuff:
Cafe Lamus ul. Lawendowa 8 Gdańsk
Pub u Szkota ul. Chlebnicka 9/12 Gdańsk
Pułapka ul. Straganiarska 2 Gdańsk
Różowy Słóń ul. Pucka 45 Wejherowo

And this place looks pretty damn good too: degustatornia.pl/m_gdynia.pdf

+1


Probably just as well I don't live in Warsaw. I'd be a gibbering bar fly by now.

It seems that you have lost that excuse: this place appears to have 30 taps! polskieminibrowary.pl/2012/04/30/multibrowar
Admitted, it seems to be more regional beer than 'craft' beer and more focus on food than the average multi-tap here, but I reckon it's worth a couple of hours of your time.

I had no idea it was there, and Malmeda is a stone's throw from where I work. I'll check it out soon. Cheers. Malmeda is also home to a great Hungarian restaurant called Tokaj. They give 30% off if it's your birthday. I recommend 'Burning Head of the Devil.'

Thanks! I got blown out of Degustatornia with Tudor the lab - when he was a sweet looking pup, and now that he's 32 kilo in weight I reckon they might be even less keen...... the Gdynia pub is a stale smelling basement and not really what the doctor ordered - but the beers were cracking - I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and leave the mutt at home :(

I will be sure to try out the Gdansk hostelries - thanks for that, and will seek out Scottie and the rest :)

As for Warsaw, thanks for the pleasantries Harry in spite of my drunken lame insults :) Warsaw might as well be on the moon at the moment, but when I get round to it I will do the museums there and get my Scots tight wad out and buy you and t'others a round :) Ta.