A RECORD 11,000 BOTTLES OF SKOPSKO WERE SOLD IN JUST ONE DAY, “KAJ ZHABAROT”

There is a small inn on the quay of Vardar, right behind the Government building, near today’s Park Francophonie. It not only defies the ravages of time, but each new generation builds on the old and long tradition, turning into a recognizable place of the city and a kind of urban legend – just like Pivara Skopje AD.

It is the inn “Kaj Zhabarot”, a place where you can enjoy a variety of traditional specialties that go perfectly with cold bottle of SKOPSKO. And the history of this iconic place is long and glorious. If the people of Skopje ever wanted to hear an old Macedonian song, they can surely experience it at “Kaj Zhabarot”. In this Skopje bar, the famous Tefik Abdullah – Tefo, played music on his prim (a kind of small tambourine) for a long time. He wrote the even more famous “Neli ti stiga mojata mladost” which, hands on heart, today’s generations would claim is a traditional Macedonian song, because in just a few decades it has become so popular with the people. At the very beginning, the first orchestra of this inn consisted of Tefo on prim, his professor Angele on guitar and the owner of the bar, Zhabarot – on tambourine. They loved the music so much, that when it started to bother the neighbors, they went down under the stone fence of the Vardar quay and continued to play music and enjoy themselves.

Who is the man behind the recognizable nickname “Zhabarot”? He is Ilija Sazdov, a Skopje legend, a bohemian, an honest man with a big heart, a conversationalist, a blood donor, a humanitarian, a passionate fisherman who was respected by guests, friends and all lovers of delicious food and a glass filled with beer. As a child, he loved to swim in the Vardar River and his mother often knew how to call out to him: “Get out of the water, you frog!” Later, he became known for his frog’s drumsticks, and thus a recognizable city brand was created. But it was not only recognizable for its frog drumsticks, but also for its delicious steaks and burgers, which are said to have been a real competition of the “Destan” grill.

“Kaj Zhabarot” and Pivara Skopje AD are connected by a very interesting incident, which was also written about in the newspapers in Yugoslavia at the time. Thanks to his resourcefulness and ability to recognize the right moment, he took advantage of a kind of legal tax break that allowed him to sell the beer cheaper even from the store. Old Skopje resident Mile Stojanovski, a passionate fan of the football club “Vardar” and SKOPSKO also recalls this incident. After a match where “Vardar” played, after they and their friends barely managed to find their bicycles among the pile of other bicycles left in front of the City Stadium (because at that time you came to the stadium by bicycle), they immediately went to Zhabarot to celebrate with SKOPSKO for the victory of their team. And there they had something to see – it was celebrated at all tables for days! And the record made by Zhabarot was celebrated, as well as the fact that a large number of beer messengers in the former Yugoslavia appeared with the headline: “All merchants and restaurateurs sue Zhabarot”, and in the subtitle: “They can’t get beer at the stores from him”. No matter how impossible and fantastic it seems to us, a very unusual curiosity happened at that time. In just one day, over 11,000 bottles of  SKOPSKO were sold in the “Kaj Zhabarot” inn, a record that will not be broken for a long time! Until the end of his life, before he died in 2018, ZHabarot unabashedly said “I was the joker for Pivara Skopje to become what it is today”.

Tefo has been gone for a long time, and Zhabarot left us recently. The old Skopje that lives in the memories of the people of Skopje is gone. But the small inn by the quay of Vardar, which has kept its authentic appearance, receives its regular guests every day thanks to Vera, Zhabarot’s wife, and their two sons, who continue the family business. Tradition still lives there, delicious Macedonian food, beautiful music and followed by ringing toasts with cold SKOPSKO beer is sung and told. Urban legends are told. It tells about everything that Skopje holds.

The text is adapted and reworked from the original research project of HAEMUS entitled “Study on the history of Parna Pivara AD Skopje”, commissioned and supported by Pivara Skopje.

Prepared by: Vasilka Dimitrovska, M.Sc, Aleksandar Madzovski

Photo: Archive of Pivara Skopje.

Archive source: NUB “St. Kliment Ohridski” – Skopje