Hopless beer in Poland?

At a supermarket couple days ago I saw this middle-aged lady reading the labels on beer bottles and saying: "Też bez chmielu!" I asked her what she meant and she said she was looking for a brand that actually contained hops. I had thought that was a sine qua non ingredient of lager. But indeed, Wojak, which advertises itself as being naturally brewed with no enzyme additives does not list hops on the label, only barley malt. I looked at the label of my brand and it listed in 9 different languages: water, malted barley, brewing barley and hops.

BTW Tyskie has brought back what they claim is the original centuries-old formula so now there are two basic lagers: Gronie and Classic. Has anyone sampled both and can comment on the difference?

Very different.

Gronie tasts 'sharper' if I can say that. Far more bubbly, Classic is much smoother and a little too easy to drink. But the calssic has been around for a while, I think it's been around for about 2 years...although maybe it was launched here in Silesia first.

It also has more varieties, Red (like an old red beer,) Rice & Wheat.

You mean it goes down so easy that after the fourth one you're unablel to stand up striaght without swaying?!
How would you describe the taste of the red and wheat beers? Do you go for the kiddy beers mixed with fruit syrups, grapefruit, lemonade, Tequila-flavoured, etc.? I reckon I'm just a traditonal lager lout. I used to like warm, mulled beer in winter when you made it yourself flavouring it with spices and real fruit syrup*, honey or just sugar.

*The degree to which food has been chemicalised is staggering. I once bought a bottle of syrup prominently labelled MALINA (raspberry). The label showed it was flavoured with a but of chokeberry extract and only artificial raspberry aroma. The rest was sugar, artifical colouring, preservatives, stabilisers, acidity regulators, etc., etc. Unfortunately, that's the way it is with most processed food these days.

Ah, you could prob get to 6 or 8 before that would happen ;)
But yea it's a lot easier to drink and not as sharp, although, I do drink ordinary Tyskie most times. can't stand Zywice, no life in that beer at all.

Red is like a dark beer from home, called Smithwicks, it's difficult to explain unless you've drank red/dark beer before, it's not an ale, but it's like a very old traditional-style beer. It's nice though, those old beers are good as an after dinner beer.

The wheat beer is OK too, it's got a nice after taste, but as with all wheat beers they get you drunk quicker.

The Rice one, I'm not a fan of, it's tastes like an American beer like Budweiser/Miller/Coors, I know Bud use rice in their beer, not sure about the rest. Although tbh, I've only had it once, will prob give it another try.

From what I have heard (from an acquaintance who met a brewer), neither Tyskie, Lech nor -ywiec are actually brewed long enough to technically be considered "beer."

I remember that in 2001 and 2002 it was good but by 2005 something was amiss with Tyskie (-ywiec has been horrible from day 1 imo).
I've had a few of the Klasyczne but ever since they mucked around with their recipe I've been turned off from buying anything from them. It seems the ownership has forgone quality for profit.

Until they've proven otherwise, I'm steering clear of their products.

On a side note
What do the Czechs do so well with brewing that the Poles can't/won't do?
I ask this because Czech beer (small market breweries) is as superior to Polish beer as Polish food is superior to Czech food. Polish food + Czech beer = perfection...now if only there was a city on the border of the two countries...;)

and disgusting. since Poland joined the EU the change in food manufacturing has become pretty much like the American methods. The people here are getting fatter faster. It is one of my obsessions- trying to eat natural and organic foods.

But there are some good local breweries that still produce natural beers. Tyskie et al. are nothing but factory produced beer with a good portion of their ingredients being corn products.

Small market Polish breweries aren't much worse than Czech ones - but don't forget, Poland is far better than the Czechs when it comes to spirits.

Today just for the heck of it I took a closer look at beer labels. The cheaper ones said only słód jęczmienny (barley malt); the slightly pricier ones listed słód jęczmienny & jęczmień brwaorniczy (brewer's barley) and the slightly pricier ones but still mainline had: słód jęczmienny, jęczmień browarniczy & chmiel (hops). Interestingly, the Tyskie Gronie does not lsit hops but the Klasyczne does. It would appear then that hops is a pricy ingredient. Strangely enough my favourite budget brew Donner Premium (1,39 zł for 500 ml) does list chmiel.

Make some recommendations please!

Pretty much anything by Ale Browar or Pinta.

Browar Konstancin is doing a good job.

Speaking of local breweries...does Spisz on the Rynek in Wrocław still exist, they used to have really good stuff years ago.

I will be putting recommendations to test in the immediate future. What can you liken their beers to? Can I find this stuff at Tesco's or do I have to go to a specialty shop?

Surprisingly Carrefour (at least the one here in Arkadia in Warsaw) has a surprisingly extensive range of "small brewers"...and a large selection of specialty Belgian beers as well :)

Depends which o their beers. The rice IPA with antipodean hops from Pinta (Oto Mata) is a particular thing of beauty.


You need a specialty shop (although your local Tesco might stock Ciechan, which is well worth trying, even if not a craft beer).

It certainly was last summer, haven't been up that way since then.
Great spot, free as much smalec as you can gobble too :)

Their weissbier is rocket fuel ;)

Foreigner4

I recommend "Magnus" made by Browar Jagiełło, especially the chocolate and honey varieties, or Noteckie na miodzie lipowym. I used to be a great fan of Fortuna, but the breweries bottled "Czarne" seems to lack consistency these days, and at times disappoints terribly, which is a pity, but it still is worth to try.

I'll second that. Jagiello miodowe is very possibly both Poland's best honey beer and the best beer sold in 33cl bottles.

Wow, chocolate Polish beer! That's outrageous. Sounds like a refreshing drink to help beat the summer heat:)

chocolate beer,lol that sounds absolutely disgusting,But maybe it tastes ok.

Strange, I have never tried such beer. Must look for it next time.


Yes, it is still produced.

I've had it. It's the kind of thing you try a small glass of as a novelty.

And then you rinse your mouth for 5 minutes??? hahaha

@pawian
Probably.

I had a glass of 'craft beer' a couple of weeks ago on ul. Chmielna. Tasted just like grapefruit juice. If they'd actually said that in the long description, I'd have stuck to Tyskie.

Crft cider can be nice though; I had some rhubarb cider in England which was great, except for the price, 50zl a glass :-D

Oops, that`s extortion! :):)

That chocolate one might be interesting if it is sweet coz I like sweet drinks. Whenever I have regular beer, I add coke or another fizzy drink to it to make it sweeter. The only exception is strong beer, 9-10 %, which has a higher sugar content.

I like the drier kind (and really miss Double Diamond).

One problem with the craft beers though is some of them are way too strong for me. 6% is the absolute limit, and I'm happier with 3%.

Interesting. How do you estimate it that beer is too strong? Taste buds? Hangover?

Alcohol content, taste, intoxicating effect.

It's nicer to have a few pints and feel merry than start feeling drunk too soon in the evening.

How many before you stop feeling a nice buzz and start getting that heavy drunk feeling....

Polish beer seems made to provide quick intoxication I prefer Czech beer which doesn't seem intended to make anyone drunk and is more a nice thing to drink with friends and food and if you try really, really hard you might get a bit tipsy.

Overall Polish beer is intended for genetic Slavs (roughly speaking) who on the whole metabolize alcohol (and painkillers) very quickly.... but for others the higher alcohol content restricts enjoyment....

Hmm, I think you tend to invoke certain cultural myths now rather than real quality of beers. How can Polish beer provide quick intoxication and Czech doesn`t if both have similar alcohol content?????

I'm not talking about exported packaged beer but the stuff on tap that they serve in ... hospody(?) the eating/drinking/socializing establishments in the CR. I knew someone who said he'd probably had 7 or 8 over the course of the day in Prague and didn't feel drunk at all while three Polish veers would knock him for a loop.

IME the first reaction of most residents of the British Isles to Polish beer is that it's too strong....