The last few months have been extremely challenging for us all. Lives have been lost across the globe, our health services have been stretched to their limits and we have had to re-educate ourselves in the art of social distancing. Jobs at risk, workers being put on "furlough". Economies have ended up left on the brink of collapse and life has changed immeasurably for the foreseeable future. All this from an invisible interloper called Covid-19, a coronavirus which is indiscriminate. It has. though, been very interesting during these strange times to see how innovative some people have become. Where politicians have failed in in keeping our spirits up, every social media platform has been full of silly video clips, animations and little humorous anecdotes which has kept us all entertained. Some TV producers have also come up trumps with some excellent "isolation" programmes. Another thing that has been noticeable has been the way, at least in the UK, that independent brewers and craft beer suppliers have rallied round and kept the beer flowing. Online deliveries, click and collect and even personal drop offs have all been available, keeping the morale of the nation, or at least the beer drinking section of our society, on the up. My regular monthly beer clubs, Beer52, and Flavourly have been delivering quite normally, as have as have my orders from, among others, Beerwulf, so I haven't run dry. Locally, I doff my hat to Docks Beers, and Message In A Bottle, who have also helped keep my beer fridge well stocked. The supermarkets have also had reasonable stocks of craft ales to dip into too.
Pubs and restaurants have now eased open again, sensibly, in most cases but not all, regrettably, keeping to social distancing and table service. Unfortunately this may not be altogether possible soon again due to more case rises. The dreaded second spike has started to take a grip. Let's hope we can guide ourselves through this phase. It's enough to turn one to drink.
Thanks to all those out there that have strived to combat this disease, and also those just trying to keep some normality in our unprecedented times. I, myself, worked for the first three months of the crisis, which at times was quite trying, before going on to a "flexi furlough" work programme. Although I have had a little more time on my hands, I seemed to gallop through any downtime I have had. For some reason, I don't know why, I have let my social media posts on MeWe and Twitter almost dry up. The blog too has not been updated in a while. Now, perhaps, that we are gradually easing out of this nightmare, and before we face the full blast of a second wave, I can get an appetite back for slinging a few words together. To start with I would like to tell you about our last beer trip, which was back in February and saw us flying out to Poland. After our delightful trip a couple of years ago to Poznan, HERE we decided this time on the Baltic city of Gdansk, which is part of the Tricity area which also includes Gdynia and Sopot. I hope you enjoy my review of our little break.
Gdansk
We, that's Jane and I, along with our friends Steve and Dee, had decided on having a bit of a drinking holiday. Planned for the end of February, we opted for a the cold northerly winds of The Baltic, as opposed to the gentle warm breezes of The Mediterranean, or sunning ourselves on one of a cluster of islands off the west coast of Africa. Why? Why not. Our choice was the city of Gdansk. As I said, this was a drinking holiday, the Polish do brew some very good craft beers, and it was only £200 per couple for return flights and 3 nights in a lovely hotel, which certainly made it so easier to agree on.
We flew out with Wizz Air from Doncaster Sheffield (or Robin Hood) Airport late on a Sunday evening, touching down in Gdansk shortly after 00-30 on Monday morning. Our hotel, Celestin Residence, was only a 10 minute taxi ride away, so we were soon sorted and arranged to have a wander around the city once we'd had a sleep, and after breakfast.
Monday.
The following morning, after a good night's kip, and a bit of solid fuel, we ventured out. The morning was crisp, but not too uncomfortable when wrapped up. We all wandered down to the waterfront, a lovely area with bars and restaurants aplenty, and feasted our eyes on the historical buildings which housed them. After a good walk, taking in both sides of the Motlawa river and pausing for a ride on the AmberSky Ferris Wheel, our first beer was beckoning.
I suggested we try Brovarnia Gdansk, a boutique hotel with a very nice cafe-bar which serves its beers brewed on site. Whilst the girls sampled the Lagerbier, Steve and I sampled the Schwarzbier, and very nice it was too, with treacle notes at the back and a freshness on the palate at the start. This was a good beginning to our break. We retraced our steps partly and then headed to our second port of call, Polskie Kino. This bar showcases the Polish film industry, with plenty of old film posters adorning the walls. It also serves a good selection of Polish beers too. The beers we sampled in here were, Reden Milkolak Milk Stout, 5.6%, Amber Brewery APA, 5.2%, Rowing Jack IPA, 5.7% and Amber Brewery Pszeniczniak, 5.2%. All were quite solid in their styles and went down very well. After these we headed to The Long Market (Dlugi Targ) area for a another couple of beers, and a bite to eat. We decided upon Jack's Bar, situated pretty centrally along the street. It is a quite roomy and spacious bar, with friendly staff, although the beer offerings are limited. We ordered a pizzas and opted for the Browary Książęce (Asahi) Złote Pszeniczne (Golden Wheat Beer), 4.9%, which complimented our meal well.
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| Shwarzbier in Brovarnia Gdansk |
I suggested we try Brovarnia Gdansk, a boutique hotel with a very nice cafe-bar which serves its beers brewed on site. Whilst the girls sampled the Lagerbier, Steve and I sampled the Schwarzbier, and very nice it was too, with treacle notes at the back and a freshness on the palate at the start. This was a good beginning to our break. We retraced our steps partly and then headed to our second port of call, Polskie Kino. This bar showcases the Polish film industry, with plenty of old film posters adorning the walls. It also serves a good selection of Polish beers too. The beers we sampled in here were, Reden Milkolak Milk Stout, 5.6%, Amber Brewery APA, 5.2%, Rowing Jack IPA, 5.7% and Amber Brewery Pszeniczniak, 5.2%. All were quite solid in their styles and went down very well. After these we headed to The Long Market (Dlugi Targ) area for a another couple of beers, and a bite to eat. We decided upon Jack's Bar, situated pretty centrally along the street. It is a quite roomy and spacious bar, with friendly staff, although the beer offerings are limited. We ordered a pizzas and opted for the Browary Książęce (Asahi) Złote Pszeniczne (Golden Wheat Beer), 4.9%, which complimented our meal well.
After this visit, Jane and Dee decided to go and take a look at the bargains on offer at the local shops and cordially enquired "would we like to join them?", "Erm??..." I was already for practising a form of social distancing after this invitation, then steered my drinking partner, Steve, in the direction of the nearby Pijalnia Wódki i Piwa, a bar chain that is themed in the 1960's style subsidised milk bars. Just 3 or 4 beers are on offer, alongside vodka and basic food, but the prices are unbelievably cheap. Some other spirits are also available but this isn't a swish wine or cocktail bar, so don't expect row upon row of different liquers from all over the world.. We started on the beers, Steve opted for the Warka, whilst I went for the Brackie, both were, well, as expected, then it was on to the Soplica, flavoured vodka. We sampled hazlenut and cherry, then sampled them again, and again! What a place.
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| 2 of the Piwnica Rajcow beers |
We were reunited with the girls and headed off to our last bar of the afternoon, Piwnica Rajców Browar Restauracja, which houses a multi-tap micro brewery in the cellar under Artus Court. The range of beers in here is very good and also features a self service "Beer Wall", which is available by purchasing a pre payment card at the bar. As we were only having the one, we chose the bar selection. Between us we sampled two of the beers on offer, Piwnica Rajcow Marcowe, 5.5%, a nice balance of sweet malt and hop bitterness with slight honey notes at the back, and a 6% Piwnica Rajcow Black IPA, which was typical of the style with moderate caramel hints over a good, but tempered hoppy bite. We enjoyed our beers and then decided to return to our hotel for a breather and to get changed for the evening session, but not before having popping into the Wisniewski Shop for a glass of warm Wisniewski Cherry Liquour, 16%, on the way back. It had to be done, don't you agree?
That evening, after a walk along the aesthetically illuminated Gdansk waterfront, taking quite a few snaps along the way, we stopped just to have a drink in one of the many fish restaurants, choosing the nearest to us, Ryka na Wartkiej. Whilst the others went for Książęce Złote Pszeniczne, I opted for the dark 4.1% Dunkel, Książęce Ciemne Lagodne. Both were very refreshing. After assessing our position and that of our next hostelry on Google Maps, we decided to saunter to Lawendowa 8, a 12 tap bar only 5-10 minutes away. The selection of beers on in this small, but very welcoming bar, is quite large, and equally varied. The seating is also rather quirky with different styles of chairs and sofas adorning the each seating area. As we were beside the Baltic, I had made my mind up I was going to have a Baltic Porter this evening, so this lead me to having the strongest beer I have ever sampled.
Weighing in at 22%, my beer of choice was Podgorz Imperialny 652 m n.p.m. z Malinami (with raspberries) Wymrazany. I found it incredibly smooth with berry fruit teasing the palate and masking the alcohol superbly. This was definitely a sipper, not a supper. As you may imagine, by this stage I was not really keeping tabs on what my drinking partners were enjoying, but they were enjoying something! The second, and last, beer in here was Holy Moly West Coast IPA, a beer of 6.6% from Brewery Hills. My notes on this were, by this stage, rather sparse and almost unreadable, but I did write down "gd crisp, back long", so it couldn't have been too bad.
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| Lawendowa 8 The big one!! |
Weighing in at 22%, my beer of choice was Podgorz Imperialny 652 m n.p.m. z Malinami (with raspberries) Wymrazany. I found it incredibly smooth with berry fruit teasing the palate and masking the alcohol superbly. This was definitely a sipper, not a supper. As you may imagine, by this stage I was not really keeping tabs on what my drinking partners were enjoying, but they were enjoying something! The second, and last, beer in here was Holy Moly West Coast IPA, a beer of 6.6% from Brewery Hills. My notes on this were, by this stage, rather sparse and almost unreadable, but I did write down "gd crisp, back long", so it couldn't have been too bad.
By now, we had had our quota and Steve was hankering for a kebab ( not a typical Polish late night snack, granted, but never mind) which saw us wandering a few blocks further out from our current location, finding an outlet, scoffing our kebabs with an accompaniment of Tyskie, before heading our way back towards our hotel, then taking the wrong turn several times causing us to be not lost but misplaced. Not to worry, our first day had gone well.
Tuesday.
It rained quite heavily overnight, but by the time we were ready to emerge from our base, some blue skies were already showing. The girls wanted to do some "proper" shopping today, so after walking with them towards the taxi rank, Steve and I decided on a bit of a walk around the town, clearing the previous nights excesses from our heads prior to taking to the local brews again. Shortly after midday, we entered the first bar of the day, Restauracja Barbados, home to Mini Browar Trojmieski (Tri-City) Lubrow. Only two of their brews were available, due to the brewery in the middle of a relocation, and both of these were duly sampled. First up was Lubrow SKM Pils, 5.1%, an easy drinking pils, followed by the slightly sweet and grainy Lubrow Piwniczne Kellerbier, 5.3%.
Our next port of call was just over the busy main road, or rather under it, and situated at the railway station, the Browar Gdansk Craft Beer Hotel, which also housed it's own brewery, PG-4. The pumps had 6 of the brewery's beers on, and as paddles of 4 beers were available, we managed to try all that were on tap.
These were PG-4 Starogdanskie, 5.2%, PG-4 Pils, 4.9%, PG-4 Irish Red Ale, 5.1%, PG-4 Gdanskie Mocne, 7.3%, PG-4 Dry Stout 4.4% and PG-4 Pszeniczne, 5.2%. We couldn't fault any of them, all solid examples of their styles. My favourite though was the Dry Stout, whereas Steve preferred Pszeniczne (wheat beer) which we further enjoyed in 500ml form. After being joined by our intrepid shoppers, we had some lovely food in this quite modern and stylish bar, with another beer, of course, before retracing our steps back to Restauracje Barbados. one more in here and we were off again, this time to Labeerynt, a bar situated underneath the Polskie Kino bar. Steve and Dee carried on back to the hotel while Jane and I popped in here, before finding a place to eat for later that evening. In this basement bar, which carries a good selection of mainly Polish beers, I enjoyed a Pinta Bawarka Weizen, 6.1%, following it up with Tre Kumpli Pia, New Zealand session IPA, which was 4.4%. Another good session over, and not a bad beer to be had. Marvelous.
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| The PG4 Paddles |
These were PG-4 Starogdanskie, 5.2%, PG-4 Pils, 4.9%, PG-4 Irish Red Ale, 5.1%, PG-4 Gdanskie Mocne, 7.3%, PG-4 Dry Stout 4.4% and PG-4 Pszeniczne, 5.2%. We couldn't fault any of them, all solid examples of their styles. My favourite though was the Dry Stout, whereas Steve preferred Pszeniczne (wheat beer) which we further enjoyed in 500ml form. After being joined by our intrepid shoppers, we had some lovely food in this quite modern and stylish bar, with another beer, of course, before retracing our steps back to Restauracje Barbados. one more in here and we were off again, this time to Labeerynt, a bar situated underneath the Polskie Kino bar. Steve and Dee carried on back to the hotel while Jane and I popped in here, before finding a place to eat for later that evening. In this basement bar, which carries a good selection of mainly Polish beers, I enjoyed a Pinta Bawarka Weizen, 6.1%, following it up with Tre Kumpli Pia, New Zealand session IPA, which was 4.4%. Another good session over, and not a bad beer to be had. Marvelous.
That evening we went out for some authentic Polish cuisine, and the venue we chose was Gdanski Bowke, a restaurant that has an old maritime theme running through it, and which has been trading directly on the waterfront, not far from The Long Market, for over 200 years. Gdanski Bowke's products are all freshly prepared from quality ingredients. They also have a local brewery to supply the house beers, which are unpasteurised. Steve and I started on the mixed paddle, showcasing their three house brews, Lager, Wheat and Dark. All three were spot on, and were worthy companions to our excellent food.
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| The Vodka paddle in Gdanski Bowke. |
After this, whilst Steve had another paddle, I opted to go for the Vodka selection, 5 different shots of the local spirit. The selections were Wheat, Rye, Potato, Barley and Clear and the difference between them was clearly noted, as was the smoothness. With bellies full and an earlier night beckoning, we left the banks of the Motlawa river and after dropping back in at Pijalnia Wódki i Piwa for a couple of Soplicas, we headed for one last beer at Pub Red Light, just a couple of streets away, but on the way back towards our hotel. This is a very busy night time pub, but we managed to squeeze in, and were served reasonably quickly. There is a large interior to this boozer and we did manage to be seated with not a lot of trouble. My beer of choice in here was a bottle of AleBrowar Sweet Cow Milk Stout, 4.4%. No surprises to this one, sweet, tempered white coffee at the fore and a smooth sweetly bitter finish. Not bad, to be fair, just a touch on the thin side. Over the hustle and bustle in here I couldn't hear what my partners in drink had chosen, but there didn't seem to be any pulled faces or grimaces, so I assume they were happy with their drinks.
Wednesday
Our last day in Gdansk was a bit cooler. After we packed and stored our cases, we set out to grab a spot of late breakfast. There was plenty of choice around the Long Market. Zapiekanka was my preference, the open pizza style sandwich which has been popular since the 1970's in Poland. I wasn't disappointed, and it soon filled a void in my stomach. Our flight was due out at 8pm,so an easy session was planned.
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| The S.S. Soldek seen from Cala Naprzod. |
To this end, we had a reasonable walk around the waterfront again, one last look at the sights we had started to grow accustomed to, before dropping in at Cala Naprzod, on an upper floor of Osrodek Kultury Morskiej (Centre of Marine Culture) at the Dlugi Pobrzeze. This restaurant and bar offers a wonderful view of the Motlawa Riverfront, and across to the S.S. Soldek museum ship, and was a great vantage point to reflect on our last few days here. We did this over a quartet of Polish beverages. What other way could it have been done? Jane's drink was Sopocki Cydr, 4.5%, cider from neighbouring Sopot, Dee had a Browar Gosciszewo Lager, 5.7%, whilst Steve and I opted for Ksiazece IPA, 5.4% and Komtur Piwo Ciemne, 6.5%, also from Gosciszewo, respectively. Suffice to say all of them were very pleasing, especially with that vista stretching out before and below us.
Our next port of call was Cafe Lamus, situated behind Lawendowa 8 and seems to share the same taste in furniture. There is an adequate selection of beers available and we were soon settled at the back of this friendly bar with a selection of drinks, among them Maty Rohozec Skalak Tmave Black Lager, 5.9% and a 6% AIPA from Browar Podgorz called Siostra Bozenka. We doubled back to Polskie Kino, and whilst the rest of the party had the same as our first visit, I sampled the local Browar Amber Grand Imperial Porter, 7.8%, which was sweet an rich at the front, with some lovely plum notes punching through at the finish. As Steve hadn't visited the bar downstairs, Labeerynt, we popped down for a quick pint while the girls chattered away upstairs. We had a glass each of the Hazy Disco Original DDH IPA, 6.7%, which imparted lovely zest and grapefruit notes over soft fruits, very nice indeed.
The time had come to visit our last venue and to enjoy the hospitality of this inviting city for one last time this trip. Pulapka, a modern, stylish bar with several taps and a huge selection of craft bottles. The girls opted for soft drinks in here, Steve forgot what he'd ordered soon after sitting down but I opted for a memorable Harpagan Skowyrna Wyderka Farmhouse Polish Pale Ale, 5.6%, a very light and refreshing beer with a wheat beer character. Another good beer in another good pub in a lovely city.
So that was it. Gdansk, pre-pandemic, was certainly a place that offered the craft beer drinker plenty of options. There are quite a few local and regional beers to be had. Poland seems to have some super craft brewers in general and, when the chance arises, I would certainly not hesitate in going back.
Until the next time, stay safe and:-
Cheers, and Keep It "Real"
