Stary Kraków Brewery, Poland

Exclusive view on the brewery. Not many people will be able to get the same photo...

Stary Kraków Brewery

(https://www.facebook.com/browarstarykrakow/)

Where:

Wronin (Kraków), Poland

Who:

Founder and Brewer: Tomasz Jabłoński. Tomek was infected with the brewing passion during his long-term stay in USA. After observing the uprising power of American craft, he has decided to implement the experience on Polish soil.

Head brewer: Andrzej Kuglin. Andrzej is an owner of the beer boutique – Huta Piwa (https://www.facebook.com/hutapiwa/) and a home brewer with more than 100 batches of experience.

Few Facts:

Browar Stary Kraków was one of the first (if not the first) Polish contract breweries ever. Original brewery was running between 2005-2007. Their original series of beers – Smocza Głowa (Dragon’s Head) have reached acclamation in Krakow area and above. Sadly, the initial brewery did not survive on the market, mostly due to a severe inability of the contractors to provide the same quality of each beer batch.

Now, almost 9 years after the initial start, Smocza Głowa is back. This time in a form of a physical nano-brewery located in Wronin close to Kraków.

Being in Kraków, I have decided to visit the brewery. Below I am sharing with you some impressions. 
As usual it is not a classic interview – it is a set of thoughts and things worth to remember.

The brewer and a blogger...

The brewery

This may sound like a joke, but the brewery is placed in the building originally planned as a garage. At the early planning stage, Tomasz and his father have decided to build a large garage with a huge basement. This has paid off: the brewery is in the upper part, cooling unit and the lager located in a basement.

Just to make it clear – everything was adapted for a brewery need and accepted by regulatory, Polish authorities. Since the brewery is running, no cars are allowed inside.

Some could laugh, but for me it is a proof for a power of a craft. If you know what to do, you can brew almost everywhere. And make profit on top.

Currently, production is restricted to 4 tanks (500 liter each). But the brewery will increase its capacity soon. Each tank is equipped with its own cooling water jacket, allowing brewers to regulate the temperature of each tank separately. All he produced beer is being directly packed in 30 liter kegs. Bottling of the beer is planned in the future, but for now there is nothing to bottle. They are sold out.

Andrzej at work...


                     Beers and philosophy

After 40 matches of 500 liters of beer brewed and sold, Tomasz and Andrzej still believe in on simple truth - beer must be drinkable. Stary Kraków is all about a beer accessible to the broader publicity. And so were all the beers I have tested – I have tried: Młodosci, Urocze, Amber (dry hopped version) and Kolorowe and they all had something in common – they were all beers I could drink almost every day.

Tomek always wanted to base his beer solely on Polish materials, including hops. Both brewers have joined forces and home recipes and tested all Polish hops. Even if some results were quite interesting – market demand is clear – give us American hops. Thus, the current production is mostly American-hop based.

Good news is that if you want to try their beers you don’t have to travel to Wronin. You can easily get it from tap in Kraków. Just visit the “Pierwszy Lokal na Stolarskiej po lewej stronie, idąc of Małego Rynku” (https://www.facebook.com/PierwszyLokal/). The place is famous and close in the center of the city. If you ask for Amber Ale or Dark Ale you will get the beers from Stary Kraków.

Second option is to go to Nowa Huta, the easternmost district of Kraków. Even before Stary Kraków was reopened, Andrzej was brewing a series of beers dedicated to Nowa Huta areas. This kind of a local patriotism was well taken by local community and is important to both brewers and they continue the production of Nowa Huta beers even after joining forces.

LINKS

Tomasz Kopyra testing Smocza Glowa from the original Stary Kraków:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isuPjCni-xA

Ratebeer for:

Młodosci

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/huta-piwa-m322odo347ci/518484/

Urocze

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/huta-piwa-urocze/478896/