A few weeks ago I was walking around the city, ending up in the Space Craft pub, one of the only craft beer places in the city I hadn’t checked out yet. When I was having a look at the beer menu, my eye fell on the beer Down to earth of Browar Twigg, of which I had never heard. It was an English Mild Ale, a rather rare beer style, especially when you are not on the British Isles. I ordered it and enjoyed the nice sweet maltiness with subtle hints of toffee and caramel. Just after ordering a second beer, a guy came to the bar, talking to the bar staff in English. He was wearing a T-shirt with the logo of Browar Twigg, so I was pretty sure he must be involved in the brewery in some way. His name was David and we got talking. It turned out he was the brewer and owner of the brewery, which carries his last name. Our chat was brief, but he invited me to come and have a look in the brewery, which is situated in the outskirts of Kraków, in the former industrial and, in the 90s notoriously dangerous, communist masterpiece of a neighbourhood, Nowa Huta.
A half-hour tram ride from my apartment was enough to arrive in the middle of an old, industrial area with many different grey, dusty buildings. David had invited more people to have a little tour in the brewery and to taste a few of the wide range of beers he’s brewing there. He told us a bit about his personal story, which starts in Lincolnshire in Eastern England, where he grew up on a farm. He decided to study astrophysics, which influenced his brewing activities in a way that most of his beers refer to planets, famous spaceships or astronauts. He had a few Polish friends at university, so he spend some time in the country every now and then. Pretty quickly he came to the sobering conclusion that, even though he enjoyed it here, he was a little disappointed due to the painful lack of decent beer. In 2013 he decided to ship an entire brewing installation from Manchester to Kraków, and to start contributing to the Polish beer revolution. A bold move, which turned out really well, because he can’t keep up with the current demand, business is going pretty well. His beers are permanently available in a number of bars throughout Kraków and very often he exports a few kegs and cases to other cities in Poland. His beers can also be enjoyed in the capital of… Italy. David has a few brewer friends living in Rome and due to the absolute craft beer madness over there (as he describes it), there is some demand for craft beers from exotic places like Poland.
David told me he has a few solid flagship beers which are permanently in high demand, such as the lovely West Coast IPA Venus in Blue Jeans, but ultimately he loves to experiment and would prefer to create more different beers, without market demands breathing down his neck. He’s a real Englishman and would love to push real English ales a little more to the Polish public. He does realise, however, that this is not easy. Either way, every now and then he brews the occasional English Bitter or Mild Ale and is thinking about brewing an English Brown Ale in the near future. When brewing these kinds of beer, he counts on a handful of bars in the city with a clear ‘expat’ profile, to serve them to their public. He counts on nostalgic Brits, who live in Poland, to order his beers, but he also hopes to inspire the occasional beer geek every now and then. Well, his Mild Ale definitely inspired me :-)!
Let’s talk about the beers then for a bit. David was extremely generous with pouring his beers and he warned us he's permanently suffering from cenosillicaphobia (the fear of beholding an empty glass). So myself and the other guests were encouraged (to the point of being ‘gently forced’) to just open a bottle and serve ourselves. From the six different beers we tried, the Long Neck Beer by Moa was my personal favourite. The beer was brewed for the burger restaurant MoaBurger in the very heart of Kraków. It is a New Zealand Pale Ale, thanks to the use of ‘Kiwi’ hops such as Mouteka and Rakau. The aroma is pleasantly hoppy and quite fruity. The flavour is citrusy and the NZ hops add an unusual hint of coconut. Thanks to the medium bitterness and the light body, the hops give the whole a certain refreshing juiciness. The finish is rather dry and pleasantly aromatic. Easily drinkable, nicely balanced in terms of bitterness and aroma, this beer is definitely a good fit to have a burger with.
A second beer I’d like to elaborate on, is one we had the pleasure of tasting as a 'preview'. Black Light Astronaut is a light and refreshing Session IPA and a collaboration brew with the guys from the Lithuanian brewery Black Light Brewing. It’s a light-bodied beer, easily drinkable and aromatic, thanks to its outspoken hoppy profile. Less typical then with most session ales (at least in my experience), the bitterness was more subtle and not quite lingering in the aftertaste, which can be quite intense to the point of even being intrusive. But not here, the balance was really great. We had a tasty slice of pizza with this one, and it was just a perfect fit. I’m looking forward to seeing this one hitting the shelves and taps around the city.
So bottom line of this visit: David has become a craft brewer with solid roots in the Cracovian beer scene, but he hopes the market will slightly evolve and become more open to some real English ales (hopes that I definitely share). Until then, he’ll just carry on creating lovely beers and probably every now and then inviting people to show around his brewery, while generously and proudly pouring the beers that carry his name.
Many thanks to David for being a wonderful host with explanations, beers and pizza, and to the other guests for turning this visit into a great afternoon. I’ll definitely make sure to order Twigg beers whenever I can. Cheers!
Browar Twigg
Makuszyńskiego 4a
31-752 Kraków
