Beer from Croatia
At the end of one of my tastings at the Great British Beer Festival I was approached by a man who identified himself as Matt Hollingsworth, an American working in Croatia where he brews his own beer as the local offerings are not up to much.
He gave me a bottle of the dauntingly-named Caligula, an Imperial Stout brewed on the anniversary of the Roman Emperor's murder: he was the tyrant who made his horse a senator.
The beer is 8.5% alcohol and is brewed with Maris Otter pale malt, roasted barley, crystal malt, carafa 2 and chocolate malt, and hopped with Northdown for bitterness and Cascade and East Kent Goldings for aroma and flavour. When I raised a quizzical eyebrow at this impressive list of ingredients, Matt said he had no problem getting supplies sent to Croatia.
I've given my liver a week to recover from GBBF and drank Caligula (so to speak) last night. The cynics among you may hope it tasted like horse piss but it's an absolute delight, with great depth of flavour and rich notes of roasted grain, coffee, liquorice and peppery hops. It tastes as good as any commercial brew.
And -- sorry -- you can't compare notes because it's home brew. But I will happily pass on Matt's email address to anyone planning to visit Croatia.
He gave me a bottle of the dauntingly-named Caligula, an Imperial Stout brewed on the anniversary of the Roman Emperor's murder: he was the tyrant who made his horse a senator.
The beer is 8.5% alcohol and is brewed with Maris Otter pale malt, roasted barley, crystal malt, carafa 2 and chocolate malt, and hopped with Northdown for bitterness and Cascade and East Kent Goldings for aroma and flavour. When I raised a quizzical eyebrow at this impressive list of ingredients, Matt said he had no problem getting supplies sent to Croatia.
I've given my liver a week to recover from GBBF and drank Caligula (so to speak) last night. The cynics among you may hope it tasted like horse piss but it's an absolute delight, with great depth of flavour and rich notes of roasted grain, coffee, liquorice and peppery hops. It tastes as good as any commercial brew.
And -- sorry -- you can't compare notes because it's home brew. But I will happily pass on Matt's email address to anyone planning to visit Croatia.
posted by Roger Protz at
12:01
5 Comments:
Hi Roger and thanks for the post. I live in Croatia and would like to try Caligula. Am also putting together a site called www.total-croatia.com which launches soon to bring the best of Croatia under one roof and would love to learn more about this beer and do a feature on it for the site. Cheers Paul
Hello ...
My name is Ricardo, aui I live in Brazil and I really enjoyed of your posts, I'm adding your blog to my reading list ..
Pass on my blog and leave a comment, craft beer is growing in Brazil for a look of my blog .... link below ...
Ein Prosit !!!
http://grandecervejeiro.blogspot.com/
Hello brewers, that this Christmas will bring much happiness to all and many beers ...
Happy Christmas ...........
http://grandecervejeiro.blogspot.com/
gotta love the Croatian beer!!
Definitely one to try, I like Karlovacko but always willing to try other Croatian beers, although at 8.5% maybe in moderation!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home