WE BUILD BEER CULTURE TOGETHER

1. The long-anticipated major beer event – “I love beer” Day + “Crafting Beer Salon” – an open-air beer party all in a single day will take place tomorrow. Pivara Skopje will participate in this event with its recognizable beers, and those who will come will have the opportunity to taste different beers from the region. What is the purpose of organizing such an event and what are your expectations?

– “I love beer” Day is primarily established as the first public promotion of the portal sakampivo.mk, on the occasion of 5 years of its existence; a portal that enthusiastically without any benefit takes care of the promotion of beer and beer culture in the country, but also an incentive and support for domestic production of beer as hobby, which is so popular everywhere, but not yet in our country. That’s exactly the title of the second part – Crafting Beer Salon – an idea and concept that I began to develop two years ago with events in Bitola and Skopje. These were the first pioneering attempts with one goal – to invigorate the beer scene in our country and to encourage the production of beer at home, exactly as the beer historically began to be made in the good old days. So far there was great interest for similar events and therefore this time I decided for a larger venue – the plateau in front of Kurshumli An. It will feature domestic beer producers, but also importers of raw materials, equipment and all kinds of instruments needed to start this interesting hobby. We also invited breweries from Croatia, the Czech Republic and Greece who will promote their work here. Certainly there will be carefully selected food, as well as high-quality music program. The ticket has symbolic price in that the visitor receives a branded glass of the event that he or she can use for tasting beer, but also to buy some beer that they like. The goal is to try as many different styles of beer as possible, to debunk the myths that beer is a uniform drink. Certainly, Pivara Skopje will be present at this event where special emphasis will be placed on Skopsko unfiltered beer. I urge all participants to believe in their idea, and such events are ideal for the promotion of the product and its presentation to consumers, and of course it affects the beer culture positively.

2. How do you perceive the beer culture in our country?

Unlike about 15 years ago, when beer culture was still in its infancy, the situation today is far better. At that time some considered beer as a drink that was consumed only in the summer days for refreshment and did not give it any special significance. Two types of beer “light” and “dark” were popular. Now is the best time in history to become a serious beer lover. But at the same time, it is the most confusing period due to the huge selection of styles and tastes, which is becoming more sophisticated. Every type of education brings us an advanced knowledge of beer, which is expected to be even more appreciated in the future. The rise in quality of life brought about a change in the habits of consumers and their needs. The consumer today wants something new, interesting and exotic. The number of new microbreweries is growing; they bring a different way of making beer, and in the meantime the bigger ones are constantly expanding their range of products.

3. Last year, Pivara Skopje organized an event “Beer Week” for beer education, which presented the challenges of the beer industry, the art of beer making and beer serving. How important are such events for a country like ours where the consumption of beer per capita is among the lowest in Europe?

Beer production is not just making beer, but much more than that; a whole science, creativity and art. The beer industry is constantly changing and always following the trends of the new generation. There are millions of different tastes and styles, and all this requires proper education in order to present the drink the best. These events and ways of presentation of beer are especially needed, not only for the brewery, but also for the establishment, the buyer and the consumer. Every beer, with every style, requires a suitable glass and, believe me, the taste is different when you are consuming it properly served. In European countries, this activity is the responsibility for beer sommeliers who appeared on the stage in the last ten years, and thanks to them, beer began to be appreciated and treated almost at the same level as wine – to be served with proper food in a suitable glass and even going so far as to create a special beer carte, i.e. beer menu. We are still far from this culture, but I believe that if we continue with such events and activities, we are on the right track.

4. What needs to be done to change this trend and the perception of beer?

Beer topics are treated seldom in the media and there are so many things to write and talk about. Apart from the cooperation with the various competent institutions, more cooperation is also needed between the breweries.

5. How important is the responsible consumption of beer?

I have always been the champion of the idea of ​​having more new brands, both local and imported, and space to be given to everyone. The benefits of beer consumption should be emphasized more and more, especially when it comes to vitamin B it contains. Of course, all consumers, especially young people, should be careful to consume responsibly, in moderation. The Brewers of Europe Association from Brussels regularly organizes various debates and seminars to discuss responsible consumption and they publish brochures with current research annually.

6. A book on beer culture in Macedonia is being prepared, which is the first of its kind. How was the idea of ​​creating such a work born?

From 2007 to 2017 I was a visiting associate in specialized magazines for catering Barcode and InHoreca, where I regularly wrote articles about beer. I decided to combine all the articles in a single file and produced material of about 150 pages, a whole doctoral thesis. I put all those files into one document and I decided to arrange them in a book. After 5 years of work and several corrections and alterations, cancellations, finally this year I finished the text part of about 300 pages, which differs very much from the original, and decided to publish it. The promotion is planned to be on November 2nd which coincides with the second event planned for this year “Crafting beer salon” at MKC. The working title of the book is “In the Beer World – Beer Stories”. Regarding the content part, there is the history, origin and development of beer and beer industry from antiquity to modern times, the review of industrialization and especially today’s aspect of craft, i.e. craft brewing. There is a section for the beer industry in the country with various surveys, interesting stories and archival materials from all our active and inactive breweries and brands, a review and the story of the basic raw materials from which beer is made and the production technology. There is also a review of the most famous beer styles, beer serving techniques, historical glasses and today’s modern beer glasses. The book contains a small guide to combining beer with food and a special category of beer cheeses. Beer stories about the influence of beer on art, music, literature and politics are also included, and there is also a part about moderate beer consumption and other interesting details. It is written in a simple language, acceptable to every reader. All these topics make this an interesting book that should be present in every home. Despite all the conviction that everything is available online today, I decided to pursue this project with all my enthusiasm, passion and love.

7. You are a great beer lover, what type of beer is your favorite?

I would say rather beer connoisseur or taster. Those who know me know that I do not drink beer from large glasses, but I prefer the smaller glasses for tasting. And as a style, I especially enjoy dark beers, but I also enjoy a not-too-cold lager after riding a bike. I am a lover of APA (American Pale Aele), IPA (Indian Pale Ale), and I especially fancy Belgian and German smoked beers.

8. From 2005 to 2015, you managed the famous PIVOTEKA in Skopje, which was the first specialized store in Macedonia for imported special beers and unique glasses. What was the story behind this store and why it does not work anymore?

I will tell you this story with much emotion and nostalgia. As a specialized store, except imported special beers, we tried to have everything on the beer market at that moment, and we had special respect for our local beers. So specifically from Pivara Skopje, we had the limited edition of the legendary Star Lisec beer, exactly the series that was intended for export, then we had the first promotion of the beer of the-then generation Silver Moon, as well as all the other local beers. Otherwise, the story of Pivoteka started primarily as a website with online sales of just 12 beers at that time, but given that in 2005 such a shopping culture was not yet developed in our country, we decided on a brick-and-mortar store and we tried to bring other beers. In that period we had about 100 different styles and brands from Belgium, Germany, Jamaica, Canada, the Netherlands, England, Ireland. The idea for such a specialized shop was to offer an intergalactic selection of beers, something that at that time was new here, specific and different from what could be found in the other shops, and every beer had its appropriate glass. We focused on little-known brands, but top world beers, which we did not offer to the restaurants, shops and cafes, although they were asking for them and we were focusing only on private customers. We sold beers that cost up to 800 denars for a 0.33-liter bottle. Import and procurement of beer were really problematic, because it was really difficult to get to those small Belgian breweries that are little known but are highly appreciated among the connoisseurs. The closing of the store was inevitable, so the portal sakampivo.mk was born later.

9. You are also an accredited international judge/taster of the European Beer Consumption Unit. What is a good and high-quality beer for you?

Before moving on to the second part of the question, I would like to explain something about what it means to be a judge or a taster. In February this year, I was invited to take part in the Birra del Anno event in an international jury of 120 judges from around the world at an event celebrating the Italian craft beer of the year. This event, which featured 41 categories of beer styles from 340 breweries, was a big challenge for me and entry into a whole new world, in which I met beer from a completely different perspective and I had the opportunity to hang out with people who are experts in this area. At these events, beer is graded according to different criteria. The basic decision is whether the particular beer is characteristic of the particular style or not. Other criteria include taste, appearance, color and aroma. Each beer is described in words and given certain points for each criterion. And most importantly, one does not grade whether they personally like beer or not, but all the senses are put into work. They say that tastes are not to be discussed, but beer is. In musical jargon, I see it as a composition that the beer producer makes when he turns the ingredients into beer. Often, the musical score is complex. It is a pleasure to see how sugar is produced from the cereals in the overture, the yeast converting the sugar into alcohol in the second act that invites you to the magic, and in the crescendo in the third act as an invitation to the whisper of the hops, which gives the composition the full aroma, taste and purity. Beer can really be a very noble drink and a very complex one. Every beer has something special.

10. You’re a collector of beer bottles and glasses. Where do you get them and from which country have you collected the most glasses?

Collecting began in parallel with the store. In every beer import, I was also ordering a set of glasses that were not cheap, but were unique, so I managed to keep one each for myself. I have only 10 mugs, but I have about 200 glasses. Otherwise, I have collected most glasses from Belgium because of their aesthetics, complexity and design, and my favorite beer glass is TEKU glass made by RASTAL designed by the concept of Italians Lorenzo Dabove (beer guru in Italy) and Teo Musso (the craft movement leader in Italy, owner of the Baladin brewery) who designed this glass for the needs of craft beers and became generally accepted everywhere. But besides the glasses, I also have numerous specialized beer magazines, books, coasters, openers… I do not even consider the caps as a collection, a few flags from beer brands, but also wall ornaments.

11. As a beer ambassador, what is your message to beer lovers, but also to those who have not yet felt the true value of the world’s most consumed drink?

Well, yes, I was proclaimed “beer ambassador” several times for several Belgian beer brands, but first of all I would start with the elimination of prejudices that already have mythical proportions; you can drink beer alone and in the company, always drink the beer with the foam, because without the foam you have less the pleasure to feel its aroma, the refreshing bitterness; the foam is an important indication of the quality of the beer and the foam keeps the beer cold for a longer time. And to those who do not consume beer, I would tell that beer is not bitter, monotonous drink – Give beer a chance. Do not underestimate it.