Month: October 2017

Travel Date: September 2015

A couple of years ago, I had an opportunity to travel to Kiev for a few days. While Ukraine had not been on my top wish list of places to visit, I thought that I had better take a look while I had the chance before the Russians massing on the other side of the boarder decided to make a mess of the place.

My wife was also planning to join me, however, her holiday was delayed by a day, which worked out for both of us as it meant that I could spend the day walking around the grounds of the National War Museum before she arrived.

The National War Museum’s official name is ‘The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War’. It was an incredible monument to the struggle of the Ukrainian population throughout the Second Word War.

Unfortunately, the museum showed that not only is it a curator of conflicts past, but also of modern times. The temporary exhibit was showcasing the current challenges experienced on its’ western boarders with Russia and its’ proxy forces through graphic images and captured vehicles and equipment.

After spending several hour at the museum, it was time to check out the microbrewery scene. In all, I was able to visit four microbrewery pubs in Kiev. The craft beer ranged from ‘nice to have tried it…do you have anything different to sample’ to ‘that was great, I want another pint after I’ve tried your other beers!’

The locations ranged from the downtown tourist zone, a shopping mall and a hotel, to taking the metro out off the beaten tourist path. Out of interest, the metro system is efficient and very inexpensive…and deep! The escalators move people down to the (deep) metro lines and up to the surface at breakneck speed, so much so that you can feel the pressure in your ears attempt to equilibrate!

The first location that I went to was the Porter Pub. It is located right at one of the major downtown intersections of the ‘tourist zone’. When I was there, all of the writing was in Cyrillic, so I relied on my map that I was at the correct place.

The beers on tap were made in house and ranged from lagers to a couple dark. While they were great to sample, none of them was worth a repeat. On the plus side, the beers were inexpensive, they had about six on tap and if you are staying in central Kiev, the location is easy to reach.

The second location I went to was called Pyvarium. I took the metro to the nearest stop and walk the short distance to the establishment. It was a fairly large microbrewery restaurant and had been brewing for several years.

They had more than ten of their beers on tap, and once again, the beers were inexpensive, but not extraordinary.

They did have an appetizer that I had once before (a microbrewery pub in Hanoi, Vietnam) which was smoked and salted stringy cheese.

They also had BBQ pork ribs that were fantastic. Very nice with a pint!

Another place that was on the list was called Frau Rosa Brewery. It was a microbrewery pub inside a fairly new mall called the Solomianska Square Mall. The metro does not link anywhere close to the mall so we took a cab.

Being new, the place had a modern, minimalist feel. They made six beers on site and all of them were fine. Though nothing at the time to really take note of for a future visit.

 

The fourth location was inside a hotel called the Cosmopolite. Hopes were not high as the microbrewery pub had been given a rather unoriginal descriptor of a name… Bavarian Microbrewery Pub. However, upon walking inside, it was great to see that it was state of the art, with all of the machinery behind glass so patrons could watch the production in action.

As for their beer, hands down the best craft beer in Kiev. Fantastic flavors of malt and hops in beers, where they should be!

As we were there in the evening, there was a small band playing local and international music which complimented the environment.

Apologies for some of the picture that I took. Not the best quality. However, maybe it means Kiev’s craft beer scene will need a do-over!

 

CHEERS!

Travel Date: August 2017

Some years ago, I was on a multinational rugby tour to Vietnam. All of us were considered ‘Vets’ because we played on a team where everyone had to be over the ago of 35. Those of us who were ‘young’ vets were children of the 70s and had grown up on a staple of 1980s Vietnam War movies ranging from The Deer hunter, to Rambo, to Missing in Action. The Vietnamese refer to the conflict as the ‘American War’, and see themselves as the good guys. We also had a few older gents on the team who were certainly of ‘age’ during the years of the conflict. All of which boiled down to a group of guys who were very much looking forward to seeing Vietnam and either having their preconceived notions of the people and country to be confirmed or altered. On that first tour, I had been looking forward to seeing what the microbrewery scene looked like. Unfortunately, it was just one step above dismal and we spend a good amount of our ‘beveraging’ time in a nice little pub called the Blue Gecko.

This past summer, I had the chance to revisit Ho Chi Minh City and enjoy the evolving microbrewery scene. I was not disappointed in the least!

I stopped by the Blue Gecko for a beverage and to reminisce with myself about the earlier rugby tour. Then, I walked out of the pub, turned right and walked for about twenty seconds until I arrived at the Heart of Darkness.

Outside, there was a large, well lit area for sitting, while inside, it was very dark (perhaps in homage to its namesake).

The microbrewery pub has only been open for a handful of years and ended up serving a large selection of fantastic beers. Lagers, Ales, Pilsners, IPAs, Wheat Beers, Porters, Stouts.

If you liked beer, there was a good chance they had a style that would please your palate!

All-in-all, this microbrewery hit all the right marks. Sign me up for another tour of duty into the Heart of Darkness.

CHEERS!

Travel Date: August, 2017

After a fun beer tasting afternoon at Winking Seal with Mark and Trang, I was convinced that adding Rehab Station to my agenda would make for a fun afternoon.

While Rehab Station does not make any of its own beers, it does have a solid selection of bottled Belgian beers. However, more importantly, on draft it has a selection of craft beers from small microbreweries in HCMC as well as from Hanoi.

Not feeling compelled to order a bottle of one of the ubiquitous Belgian bottles, I started with a flight of the local beers.

In addition, I ordered the gourmet hot dog. It was fantastic, which leads me to question Rehab Station’s tag line ‘Not a GastroPub’!

Rehab has only been open since May, 2017 and judging by the different floors, it looks like -with a little word of mouth- will turn into a pretty fun place to grab a bite and a craft beer after work for the local crowd.

 

So, maybe Amy Winehouse had it wrong… Rehab can be fun!

CHEERS!

Travel Date: August, 2017

On my Craft Beer adventure through Ho Chi Minh City, I had researched a newcomer microbrewery pub named the Winking Seal Beer Co. So new in fact that the establishment only opened the doors to their microbrewery pub in January, 2017.

I took a taxi from my hotel over to Winking Seal. It is located in District 1 and was easy to get to from the center of town.

The ground floor is fairly small and almost intimate. Since it was the afternoon when I arrived, there were only a few other patron sitting and enjoying their beverages.

As I was travelling alone, I picked a seat up at the bar. I asked the server for a flight of their product. She returned with a tray and left me to my own devices.

Soon afterwards, a young guy arrived and introduced himself as one of the owners of Winking Seal. His name, Mark Nerney.

Mark and I had a fun conversation about the growth of the craft beer industry around South East Asia and more specifically, the growth in HCMC. He then introduced a friend of his named Trang, who had just opened up a craft beer gastro pub called Rehab Station. Both thought Rehab Station would make for a fun visit as it had craft beer on tap that were exclusive to the local market.

Mark told me that the week before, there was a Brewer’s Conference in HCMC and that a microbrewery called FURBREW had hosted a brewer’s party on the rooftop garden patio of Winking Seal. More importantly, he told me that all eight taps still had the product online and he welcomed us to head up to the roof and try the product at our leisure.  Well, we did not have to be asked twice! After finishing the Winking Seal craft beer, we headed upstairs.

There were some interesting FURBREW beers to sample. One in particular was called ‘Bai Pho’ beer, as it was made using ingredients from the national soup dish pho. While it sounded like a strange creation, the beverage itself was not unpalatable, though I’m not sure I would have willingly opted for a pint. The same could be said for the ‘Lime Leaf Wheat’, which tasted like a massage room smells. They also had a couple more standouts ‘The Perfect 100’, a fantastic stout on tap. Also, a really enjoyable IPA named ‘Chinook IPA’.

Looking forward to my next visit to Winking Seal.

CHEERS!