When it comes to imbibing beverages with a non-negligible fraction of ethanol, Romanians can hold their own. In fact, we are known to often go above and beyond the call of duty.  According to some ranking or other, we are 5th in Europe in drinking per capita, equal to the Czech Republic. Off course, keep in mind it is hard to keep track of all the home made hooch in Romania, as a lot consume țuică and wine of their own production. So we might be even higher. Off course the same is probably the case in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania and other countries near the top of the list.

Generic beer picture is generic

Romania was traditionally a wine and plum brandy country, but that changed significantly in the last 50 years. Beer gained a prominent role in the drinking hierarchy, estimated at 80 litres per capita, 7th in Europe. Sadly, most of this beer is generic and profoundly mediocre, even if drinkable (then again on a hot summer day, most beer is drinkable, even that Bud Light thing you Americans have). The market is dominated by a few brands, which while having some tradition in Romania, are now bottled by large multinationals – SABMiller, Heineken, Carlsberg or Molson Coors- and are almost interchangeable. There is a bit of scandal going on about using corn and special enzymes to speed up the fermentation process, but in the end, there is no proof either practice is harmful, and the result is still mediocre.

But times they are a-changing and the hipster they are a-coming. So Romania, like many a country, the craft beer movement started and it is gaining steam. It was a timid start, mind, as craft beer tends to be on the pricey side and Romanian incomes are still on the scant side. But a start is better than nothing. I want to do a quick overview of the scene here, although I will avoid reviews, tasting notes and the like for this post. This is just the cliff notes, in case any Glib runs into some Romanian Beer – the odds of which are similar to being hit by lightning or election fraud, very low.

The first wave of the “craft” movement started by making standard style beers, slightly better, but not by much. These were Clinica de Bere – which made a beer called Terapia, Nemteana, Zaganul and a few others. They all were fairly similar; they had a pale lager beer, an amber one and usually a German style wheat beer. I rarely drink these, as they do not bring much to the table.

You Americans wish you had pretty labels like us

The second wave got into the ale style beers, producing some standard ales and some very hoppy IPAs. Now, while I don’t want to get controversies started (kidding, I totally do, I measure the worth of my posts by the number of comments they get), and while I am reasonably fond of IPAs myself, there is a slight tendency to over-hop these ones. Although the results were pretty good, it was also a way to hide imperfections in the brew. More hops do not automatically a better beer make, just like more oak does not always mean better wine.

Among the more mediocre of this wave is Sikaru. Among the better ones is Ground Zero, which actually produced the first decent Romanian craft beers I have tasted.

Some of the good stuffBeing hipsters, one of the things craft breweries have in common with other countries is the silly… ehm let’s say creative, actually, names. But hey, they try, and that’s not nothing. And I like their beer overall, although the prices tend to be a bit high. They have a good pale ale – Easy Rider, a decent  IPA – Morning Glory (which is actually good as a Sunday morning drink), an pretty good imperial IPA – Imperial Fuck (not bad, but I like beer lower in alcohol) and a dark Gypsy Porter (racist? I don’t know). They also have seasonal stuff like autumn spiced ales. Overall, very solid effort for our fair country, and recommended for drinking should you find yourselves on our distant shores.

After the modest success of the second wave, a bit of increased prosperity and the growing fashion in craft whatever, the third wave came with a significant increase in the number of craft brewers. I haven’t had the chance to taste all, but there is some good stuff and an encouraging amount of experimentation.

To highlight one that is worth a taste, Hop Hooligans – stereotypical name, I know, craft beer has almost metal band level of names – were among the first more experimental ones. They had, for example, the first coconut stout which I tasted. Didn’t like it, didn’t expect to, really, but I appreciated the effort.  I have yet to gather the courage to try Coconut Vanilla Smoothie IPA, whatever the bloody hell that is. They started with Summer Punch (American pale ale) and Crowd Control (IPA) and branched quite a bit. I won’t list them all, here’s a link for the curious.

Other brewers are Hophead Brewing – again with the hops, that’s original; Perfektum which I found underwhelming compared to others; Amistad Beer and Bereta which I have not tasted yet.

One of the signs the movement is still in its infancy is the low availability of these beers in the market. Except for a handful of bars and one or two hard to reach specialty stores, you will find it difficult to purchase these. Although availability is increasing, it is doing so slowly. But we take what we can get. A lot of bars have deals with Big Beer – either brewers or large distributors -and are generally reluctant to get the craft stuff. But as the customers appear, so will the purveyors.

You can get craft beer in a few places, although mostly by the bottle. I only saw craft on tap in one pub, which is specialized on beer and almost nothing else – I think they have beer and tap water.

I would also find it interesting if the brewers themselves opened tap houses, and if more pubs or restaurants in the country would start brewing their own house beer. Just to have something special for the customers. In the meantime, I just drink the stuff by the bottle, mostly at home, and am pleased that it exists in the first place.