It’s time to continue our series on alcohol. And after detailed articles about the varieties of whiskey and classification wines we propose to discuss a beverage that is several times older than the Egyptian pyramids, but has undeservedly gained a reputation as a simple and cheap product for a not very demanding audience. As you may have guessed, we are talking about beer.
Some people still think of «liquid bread» as a kind of supplement to chips and dried fish. However, the craft brewing revolution has not only brought medieval recipes back to life, but has also turned the frothy drink into a «new wine» with hundreds of different creative directions and exotic flavors that can be quite difficult for a beginner to understand.
In addition, a publication for geeks simply cannot ignore Beer Geek, a subculture of beer lovers who search for, taste, and collect rare, mostly craft beers. So let’s hurry up and correct this unfortunate oversight and talk about beer in general, Ukrainian craft beer, its features, varieties, and best producers.
Content
Written sources and archaeological excavations convincingly show that brewing was known as far back as the time of Kyivan Prince Yaroslav the Wise (11th century). However, it took six centuries for the first industrial brewery to appear in Ukraine. It happened in 1715, when Count Stanisław Potocki granted Jesuit monks the right to brew intoxicating beverages in the suburbs of Lviv.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Ukrainian beer successfully competed with the products of the best foreign producers. At that time, there were several dozen modern breweries in Kyiv and the province alone, some of which were founded by well-known European industrialists. It is worth mentioning the plant of Bavarian brewer Karl Heinrich Schultz, which in 1913 had a capacity of 600 thousand buckets of beer per year.
In Soviet times, all these enterprises were nationalized. Due to the peculiarities of the planned economy, their products underwent standardization, during which the old «bourgeois» names were replaced with correct and ideologically balanced ones. Thus, «Viennese», for example, became «Zhigulevske», and «Stolichne», «Berezne», and others like it appeared.
Ukraine began to restore its beer traditions after gaining independence. The first brewery to be privatized was Kyiv’s «Obolon» in 1992. At that time, the company’s product range could hardly be called very rich. Only «Obolon Light» and «Obolon Dark» were memorable.
With the arrival of investments, changes began. In 1995, the company put into operation the country’s first plastic bottling line, and two years later, it pleasantly surprised Ukrainians with beer and low-alcohol drinks in aluminum cans. At the same time, new varieties of «Obolon» were launched on the market: one of the first Ukrainian strong lagers «2000» (1998), «Obolon Soborne» (1998), and «Magnat» (2001).
The production rate increased dramatically. But sometimes this came at the expense of quality. For example, one of the most famous Ukrainian brewers, Viktor Vashchuk, who started his career at «Obolon» in 1999, recallsThe company’s chief executive officer, Mr. Kovalchuk, said that enzyme preparations were used to artificially accelerate the processes of clarification, fermentation, etc.
In 1996, the Belgian company Interbrew acquired a 74% stake in the Chernihiv brewery «Desna», which in Soviet times produced the same «Zhyhulivske». According to European standards, they began to produce «Chernihivske Svitloe» and Taller Eurolager, with Latin inscriptions that were supposed to hint that this was a premium-imported product.
But the real sensation was caused by another novelty of the brewers from Chernihiv – the first in Ukraine «white» unfiltered beer «Chernihivske Bile» (2003) This rather cloudy, but mild and pleasant wheat beer stood out from the sea of standard watery lagers, so it quickly gained an army of loyal fans.
The «Veselyi Monakh» of the Kharkiv brewery «Rohan» also differed from other beers of the time, but this time by its strength, which allowed it to quickly reach the desired state of intoxication. Its main competitor in the field of strong beers was the Nizhyn beer «22 Porter».
It felt quite dense (22 in the name is the OG indicator), had a wine flavor and an alcohol content of up to 10%. So buying two bottles of «22 Porter» at once was a rather risky move – you might not even make it home after that.
Unfortunately, in 2008, the Nizhyn brewery stopped production due to financial problems. That’s why we can now only see the name «22» on screenshots of old labels. Another interesting Ukrainian variety, the semi-dark lager «Dobryi Shubin» from the Donetsk brewery «Sarmat», also sank into oblivion. In 2014, the company fell into the hands of pro-Russian militants and the owners lost control of it.
It is not easy to explain what craft beer is. It is believed to be beer produced in small batches. But volume — is a rather relative indicator. If we focus on it, then even regional producers like «Opillya» and «Mykulynetsky» should be considered craft breweries in Ukraine.
«Craft beer is the beer that is created with the brewer’s personal attention to the entire production process says Yuriy Zastavnyi, co-founder of the Beer Theater «Pravda», — quality prevails over quantity and commercialism, and there are elements of creativity in terms of raw materials and technology».
The hallmark of craft brewing is creativity, the self-expression of an independent artist who does not try to please the mass consumer. On the contrary, they strive to realize their ideas, find unusual flavors, and make unique author’s beer, not just make more money by producing another standard lager.
Classical brewing technology allows you to create any traditional beer. But to be considered a craft beer, it usually contains unique natural ingredients: from herbs and berries to fruits, zest, spices, and chocolate.
But don’t think that a brewer just throws some random ingredients into a big vat and then sees what he has. First, he has to come up with the flavor he wants to give the beer. And only then does he start investigating how to get it and decide what ingredients are needed.
The flavor, color and aroma of beer depend on many aspects, including the grain, hops and additional elements. For example, the degree of malt roasting creates a whole palette of colors, and different types of hops add not only bitterness but also aroma, which can vary from herbal and earthy to citrus and berry.
Then comes the fun part — the addition of additional ingredients that are supposed to bring out the craft beer from a new angle. The result will be completely different depending on the stage at which the brewer adds berries, for example. At the beginning, middle, or end of the process — it will be a completely different beer with its own flavor and aroma. In this way, a private brewer can create a unique product through experimentation that is not available to large producers with their template technologies and assembly line production.
In the mid-2000s, Ukrainians began to travel more, bringing back impressions of high-quality and unusual beers from abroad, but still could not satisfy the demand for it within the country, where the same types of products from large producers dominated. Vashchuk recalls that he was shocked when he first tried Sierra Newada Pale Ale. He couldn’t believe that beer could be so flavorful and strongly intoxicating.
Demand always creates supply. That’s why craft breweries have started to open in Ukraine on a massive scale. For example, in December 2007, the restaurant and brewery «Pivarium» opened its doors on Peremohy Avenue in Kyiv. And two years later, the official opening of the restaurant and brewery «Beer Duma» took place in Poznyaki. By the way, the first brews there were carried out by the legendary founder of First Dnipro Brewery, Dmytro Nekrasov.
In 2009, Vasyl Mykulin opened a restaurant-type brewery in Donetsk, «Yuzivska Brewing Company», which offered 6 beers to its customers at the start: «Pilsner», «Amber Lager», «Porter», Weissebier, «Golden Ale» and strong stout. The restaurant format of these establishments was explained simply: at a time when few people knew what craft beer was, having their own sales platform made it easy to introduce people to new varieties and, as a result, not to worry so much about payback.
Around the same time, beer festivals began to actively promote the culture of craft beer consumption. In 2008, the first City Beer Festival was held in Lviv. Beer festivals at the «Platform» art factory and The Glass beer tasting events by Silpo gained wide resonance.
Thanks to advertising at festivals, Ukrainians became interested in new and unusual flavors, but craft beer was still very difficult to find on supermarket shelves or in the assortment of most regular bars. Everything suddenly changed in 2014-2015: a real craft beer epidemic swept the country, with new mini-breweries opening almost every month.
Historians will still need to investigate its causes. But it seems that one of them was the development of online commerce. After all, it’s one thing to buy a pig in a poke in a poke in a store, and another to look at a beer on a website with a detailed description of all its benefits and reviews from other customers. In addition, some breweries have started to work according to a scheme that resembles crowdfunding. They announce their intentions to brew a particular original beer on social media and only start work when potential customers book the entire batch.
In October 2013, a team of reformers took over the «First Dnipro Brewery», which was established in 1997. The famous brewer Dmytro Nekrasov and his colleagues updated the equipment, changed the name of the company to First Dnipro Brewery (FDB) and took a firm course towards craft. Within a year, FDB’s menu included not only lagers and porters familiar to Ukrainians, but also APA, IPA, and exotic wild-fermented beer with spinach and Irish whiskey
At the end of 2014, Lviv opened a unique concept «Beer Theater «Truth», where Ukrainian and foreign brewers can create truthful beer in front of visitors, and guests can learn about brewing technologies and taste freshly brewed drinks. The founders sought to experiment to create a unique style of Lviv beer and succeeded in many ways. After all, «Pravda» is probably the only brewery in Ukraine that brews beer with elderflowers or sunflowers.
Another feature of the Lviv craft brewery is its visual design. Bright beer labels from «Pravda» attract attention and provoke with their names. Customers with a developed imagination really have a lot to choose from: from the satirical and absurd «Beer of Lviv Trumpeters» and «Wedding Pig-Centipede» to topical political brands Trump, Obama Hope and Putin Huilo.
In 2014, Dmytro Sholomko, CEO of Google Ukraine, came up with the idea to open his brewery. He turned to home brewer Yevhen Deputat and builder Oleksandr Selyuk for help. Initially, they planned to brew beer for themselves and their families. But they quickly realized that it would be unprofitable with a volume of a hundred liters and ordered equipment for 1000 liters.
The brewery, called Reformation Brewery (Rebrew for short), was registered in 2016 and in three years has become one of the market leaders. The Brovary-based company uses mythological motifs to represent its beers (the «Kupava» and «Freya» varieties) and also collaborates with Ukrainian stars, which is how the «Zhadan and Dogs» session IPA was created.
After the occupation of Donetsk in 2014, Vasyl Mykulyn, the founder of «Yuzivska Brewery», moved to the capital and, together with his partners, opened Varvar brewery – is one of the most famous private breweries in Ukraine, which has always been at the forefront of progress and, one might say, shaped the face of modern Ukrainian craft brewing.
Varvar started out as a small brewery, assembled by hand in a former sawmill, and soon became one of the first in the country to start canning its beer and winning prizes at international beer competitions. Over the past few years, the company has been actively developing the aging of strong or sour beers in wine barrels, supplying its products to the «Silpo» and goodwine chains and even exporting to Austria.
The owner of the Hutsul brewery «Tsypa», Oleksandr Shatalov, like Mykulyn, is from Donetsk and also started his business in 2015. At first, he developed a hotel complex in the picturesque Zakarpattia village of Kvasy, and then came up with the idea to build a small craft brewery there. The brewers at «Tsypy» are actively looking for new flavors, focusing mainly on local Carpathian ingredients such as mountain herbs and spruce twigs.
In 2019, Alexander Shatalov was one of the initiators of the creation The Association of Small Independent Breweries of Ukraine, whose board of directors includes Dmytro Nekrasov (FDB), Vasyl Mykulin (Varvar), Yuriy Zastavnyi («Pravda»), and Yevhen Deputat (ReBrew). The association was founded by 13 craft breweries, including Pravda, Varvar, «Tsypa», FDB, «Kumpel», Rebrew, KF, Ten Men, Underwood, Did, «Gonzo», Bierwelle, and The Code.
The criteria that a candidate for membership in the association must meet once again bring us back to the main features of craft beer:
Thanks to the efforts of Ukrainian craft brewers, the domestic market is seeing more and more delicious and diverse beer. We have selected 10 best breweries from different cities of Ukraine that win prestigious awards at international beer competitions, develop the country’s craft culture and support novice brewers.
First Dnipro Brewery is the oldest craft brewery in our selection. It is located in Dnipro and started operating back in 1997 using equipment from the Hungarian company ZIP Technologies, which allows it to produce high-quality unpasteurized beer.
In 2015, FDB set a beer record that is unlikely to be repeated by any other Ukrainian producer anytime soon. Together with its partners, the brewery produced cooked more than 60 exclusive varieties of craft beer. That’s one new beer every 5-7 days!
I have to admit that every visit to a craft bar near my home usually starts with the same question: «Did they bring the Barbarian?» Kyiv-based craft brewery Varvar was founded in May 2015. And in 2017, its Golden Ale won bronze at the most prestigious beer competition, the International Beer Challenge, which takes place annually in London.
Despite the challenging times, the brewery’s team keeps up the momentum, developing new and interesting varieties. Milk Stout has become Varvar’s most popular beer in retail chains. The description on the company’s website promises that it is a sweet and bitter creamy pleasure like a morning cappuccino, only in a beer can. How can you resist? Especially since the descriptions a long list of medals at international competitions is attached.
The most recent victory of Varvar Brew is the gold medal of the International Beer Challenge 2024, which Kyiv residents received for its «Hoppy Lager» (Hoppy Lager). It seems that this is such a common style of beer that it is almost impossible to come up with something new. But they managed to do it! The use of the so-called «cold hopping», when hops are added after brewing, at the stage of beer maturation, helped. This way, the beer is actually infused with hops, which gives the finished product a unique flavor.
The Hutsul brewery «Tsypa» proves that good craft beer can be brewed not only in cities with a population of over a million. The company is located in the town of Kvasy, Rakhiv district, Zakarpattia region, and is proud of the crystal clear water from nearby glacial streams.
The best-selling product of the Transcarpathian brewers is Double IPA (double Indian pale ale) «Tsypa 100». The word double in the name refers to the strength. This frothy bird has a rather high strength of almost 8%, which, combined with intense intoxication, promises unique sensations.
The Ukrainian brewery Reformation Brewery, or simply Rebrew, started its operations in early 2019. Production is carried out on Italian equipment in workshops in the city of Brovary, Kyiv region. Its beverage lineup includes a range of styles from bitter IPAs to coffee stouts and sour beers with fruit.
Untappd users highly appreciated the variety Waka Milkshake IPA from the Rebrew campaign. Thanks to the addition of lactose and double dry hopping, the beer has a delicate creamy texture, balanced bitterness, and tangible aromas of coconut and mango with notes of pine needles.
The founder of Kyiv Local Brewery, Yevhen Nartenko, has been dreaming of brewing beer since he was a student working in a restaurant that already had a fairly large selection of imported beers. Later, Yevhen graduated from the «Brewer’s School» from Varvar and learned all the tricks of brewing while building a business that started producing ten beers in 2017.
In 2021, the brewery became a finalist in the East European Beer Award competition with its IPA with the rather unusual name For best community in this f**ing world. To celebrate its fifth anniversary, KLB opened its first establishment in Kyiv — Kyiv Local Bar. The most popular drinks there are the branded IPAs, the delicate mango milkshake, and the dark Dark Side.
Lviv craft brewery «Pravda» opened in 2014. Six months later, it won a bronze medal for its stout «From the Syan to the Don» at an international beer competition in Brussels. The drinks are brewed here not only by Ukrainian brewers but also by enthusiasts from Belgium, the Czech Republic, and the United States. It’s also interesting that Pravda has a demonstration room where all visitors can watch the beer brewing process live and then try it right away.
In 2017, the Odesa-based craft family brewery started with 50 liters per day and now produces 10 tons of the intoxicating drink per month. Hoppy Hog follows a seasonal policy: in winter, they brew dense, spicy, and warming varieties, and in spring and summer, they diversify their beer with fresh berries and fruits.
Mykolaiv-based craft brewery Sho Brewery started producing beer in 2017. It uses equipment from domestic producers and brews up to 50 tons of different varieties of foamy beverage every month, trying to create unique flavors and go beyond the usual.
Kyiv-based Underwood Brewery opened in 2015 and is currently one of Ukraine’s largest craft beer producers. The company’s specialty is active collaborations with foreign manufacturers, master classes for bartenders, and the use of the latest scientific and technological advances, such as HDHC technology, which allows for richer hop flavors.
Lviv craft beer brand brewed according to Taras Falyk’s original recipes. The large brewery on Stryiska Street has a capacity of 100,000 liters per month and constantly offers 10 varieties of beer to residents and visitors. A smaller brewery on Mytna Street produces 2 traditional beers, which «Kumpel» started in the early 2000s — a light lager and an amber beer.
P.S. From the profiles of Ukrainian breweries I’ve seen on Untappd, I can cautiously conclude that Varvar fans are the most numerous and active compared to fans of other Ukrainian craft beer brands.
Rating Varvar in the Untappd app is 3.87 out of 5 possible with 142 thousand ratings. For comparison: the rating of Rebrew — 3.99 with 109 thousand ratings, and the rating Tsypa Brewery — 3.81 based on 50 thousand ratings. So if you think this is not quite fair, go ahead and sign up for Untappd and rate your favorite brewery’s beer.
Pale India ale is the true godfather of craft beer. The fact is that in the mid-1970s, the first craft breweries from California began experimenting with new varieties of hops. And to emphasize the importance of the hop component in their drink, they began to produce it under the historical name India Pale Ale.
Don’t be fooled by the name – the drink has only an indirect connection to India. In fact, it was an attempt to recreate the classic English ale, which in the 1800s was brewed with a high content of hops and alcohol for transportation to India and other British colonies.
India Pale Ale is a type of hopped, or bitter, beer and is usually brewed without any artificial additives. It has a higher strength than American pale ale and is characterized by citrus and fruit notes due to the use of various hop varieties.
IPA is currently the most popular ale style in the world, accounting for up to 30% of the craft market, according to various estimates. The secret of its appeal is its ability to attract people with very different preferences. After all, the taste of this beer can be sweet and fruity, bitter and citrusy, sour and tropical — the main thing is that brewers add more hops.
Thanks to its diversity, IPA remains the main driver of the craft revolution and has developed dozens of subtypes, whose mysterious abbreviations, such as DIPA, NEIPA, WCIPA, and others, are firmly established on the menus of modern bars and make inexperienced visitors round their eyes in surprise.
The American pale ale originated in the United States in the early 1980s as a response to the growing popularity of IPA. It is distinguished from English and European pale ales by the use of American hop varieties. It is distinguished from IPA by its moderate bitterness and mild citrus and fruit flavors Thanks to their successful combination, American Pale Ale is the right beer to start your acquaintance with craft beer if you are afraid of too extreme experiences.
Dark, nutritious ale with a wine flavor originated in the late 19th century as a drink for London laborers. Typically, its varieties have a rich smoked flavor of burnt malt, 4.5-9% alcohol content, and a large amount of hop bitternessBaltic porter, with an alcohol content of 7 to 10%, is popular among fans of strong beer. According to legend, this beer was deliberately made strong so that it would not spoil during transportation by sea. Its flavor is characterized by tones of toffee, nuts, prunes, chocolate, and coffee.
The younger brother of the English porter is closely linked to the history of its most famous producer, the Guinness brand. Stouts can be recognized by the notes of dark fruit in the aroma and a pronounced roasted flavor. Compared to porters, they have a higher malt content, greater strength and density. The strongest stouts with a strength of more than 8% are called Imperial stouts.
Dense and robust stouts are a kind of entry point for cognac and whiskey lovers to find interesting flavors in craft beer. To further increase the intensity of imperial stouts, they are often aged in whiskey barrels. This adds notes of vanilla, oak, and spice to the lush bouquet of malt flavors that slowly unfolds on the palate.
Dessert lovers will be interested in pastry shops, or Pastry Stout. It is a strong, sweet beer with a dark beer base that incorporates culinary ingredients to create sweet flavor profiles that mimic the character of desserts or cakes.
A local style of Ukrainian beer that was first brewed in 2009 at the «Yuzivska Brewery» in Donetsk. By the way, its founder Vasyl Mykulyn moved to Kyiv after the occupation of Donetsk, where he and his partners opened the Varvar Brew project, which is well known to all craft beer connoisseurs.
The author of the style, Dmytro Nekrasov, was inspired by Belgian and British traditions. With yeast available in Ukraine and without the typical use of sugar for «Belgian», the domestic Golden Ale is characterized by opacity, sweetness, and fullness. It is stronger (6.1-7.5%) than «British Golden Ale», but not as strong as «Belgian Strong Golden Ale». At the same time, it is inferior to both of these varieties in terms of bitterness.
In recent years, Ukrainian brewers have done a great job of gaining international recognition for «Ukrainian Golden Ale». The public union «Independent Breweries of Ukraine» conducted a tasting and laboratory measurements, after which it sent an application for registration of the style to the BJCP.
Currently, Ukrainian Golden Ale hit to the «Style Guide of the European Beer Consumers Union». And also registered in the social network for beer fans Untappd, where you can see rating of the best brands of the Ukrainian variety. Interestingly, it is headed by a collaboration between the Americans Branch & Bone Artisan Ales and the Libyan «Pravda» with the Ukrainian golden ale Putin Huylo.
Sour craft beers, or «sour» in Ukrainian, are perhaps the most surprising thing that awaits newcomers to our guide. First of all, this beer is the oldest on the planet, as all the oldest beers were sour due to the use of spontaneous fermentation.
Secondly, it can have any flavor. After all, the term «sour» primarily describes the method of production with the participation of bacteria that produce acidic compounds, not the prevailing taste. And in sour ales, it can be either sour-fruity, tart or even sweet.
Sour beers are produced using a wide range of bacteria and wild yeasts, which not only enriches their flavor palette but also gives rise to many subtypes: from classic and fruity lambics to salty German gose, which is fermented with lactic acid bacteria, and red Flanders ale, which is barrel-aged and similar to wine.
A relatively new method of brewing beer (from the 19th century) that requires a lower temperature than ale, usually between 8 and 10 degrees. Interestingly, lager originated thanks to German bureaucracy. When the Bavarian rulers banned brewing beer in the summer to prevent it from spoiling, producers began storing unsold batches in cool mountain caves.
Unexpectedly, it turned out that the beer continued to mature there. The reason is that a different kind of yeast is involved, which is active at much lower temperatures and collects at the bottom of the drink — hence the name «bottom» fermentation. They work more slowly, but are able to digest complex sugars that are not available to their «top» cousins.
The resulting beer is called lager from the German word «preserve». Lagers take longer to mature than ales, during which time the yeast has time to process all the sugar, so the beer is drier, cleaner, and without the fruity flavors typical of ales. The emergence of lagers aroused great enthusiasm in continental Europe. But Britain, as always, was conservative. Therefore, lagers became more typical for Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Czech Republic.
The name of the most common type of camp, «Pilsner», comes from the Czech city of Plzeň, which in German sounds like «Pilsen». It was in this city that Bavarian brewer Josef Groll brewed the first batch of pale lager in 1842.
It was unusual because it used very light malt, which was a novelty 170 years ago. Groll’s dry, light, and strong beer sparked a number of imitations and quickly gained popularity. Most Czech beers today are pilsners, and in the German tradition, the abbreviation «pils» is written on the bottles of such beers.
To summarize the story of Ukrainian brewing, let’s outline the current state of the domestic beer market, how it evaluates CEO of PJSC «Obolon» Igor Bulakh. According to the industrialist, the four leaders in beer production in Ukraine currently look like this:
Together, these conglomerates control more than 80% of the market. The rest is produced by the so-called regional breweries («Opillya», Berdychivske», «Riven Beer», and others), with craft beer accounting for about 3%. For comparison, in the US, the share of craft beer producers in 2019 was 13.9%.
This state of affairs gave the director of Carlsberg Ukraine, Yevhen Shevchenko, a reason to be scathing notethat «The craft revolution that everyone loves to talk about is happening mainly on Facebook». The top manager also added that consumers overwhelmingly like classic light beer, and the share of craft brewers is negligible, although it is slowly growing.
Let’s go back to 3% of craft beer. It seems like a very small amount, but it is worth considering this indicator in the dynamics. Back in 2015, the share of small breweries in the Ukrainian market composed only 0.4%. And if we consider the unfavorable conditions of the coronavirus quarantine and the difficulties of wartime, the growth of more than six times looks encouraging.
At the same time, craft beer remains significantly pricier than the products of industrial producers. If, for example, a 0.48-liter can of «Lvivske 1715» at ATB can be purchased for UAH 21, a bottle of craft beer of the same volume will cost UAH 70, 90, or even 120. Is it worth paying many times more if any beer is, as they say, water, malt, yeast and hops?
Everyone has to find the answer to this question for themselves. We would just like to remind you that the cost of expensive hops when creating a conventional IPA can be 20-40 times higher than for an average lager. And the experience of discovering new flavors and aromas that high-quality craft beer gives us is hard to put a price on.
