For the second year in a row, “Hops Association” (Udruga Hmelj), will host craft beer festival “Hmeljevo 2016” in Split – boasting craft breweries and homebrewers from former Yugoslavia, neighboring countries, Germany, the United States, and more.
This Saturday, starting at 19h at the open air cinema “Kino Bačvice”, along with plenty of craft beer, guests will be entertained by the band “Belfast Food”, DJ True Bro, and special host and famous local beer connoisseur Ribafish.
Last year when the festival premiered, 250 people attended with tickets sold out in just two days. This year, organizers decided to move the festival to Kino Bačvice and expect 1,500 visitors to the event . For this year’s festivities, organizers have prepared more than 5000 liters of beer.
A ticket to the craft beer festival is 100 kuna, with an unlimited consumption of beverages included in the ticket price.
Ante Knežević, Mario Cvitković and Hrvoje Paštar from the “Hops Association” (Udruga Hmelj) are passionate brewers who for several years prepared beer in their own homes, in their kitchens, and in taverns.
The association was created two years ago with only 5 members. Today, more than 25 beer enthusiasts – owners of small, home breweries where brewing is primarily a hobby – have joined the association.
The goal of the association is to show people that there are many types of beer other than industrial ones which can be found on the shelves of stores. The Hops Assiciation also educates its members on the possibility of their own beer production. Raising awareness to the people and teaching them to produce their own beer is important, especially as the beer scene in our country over the past year has certainly progressed.
Many craft beers and home brewers in Croatia are coming from Slavonia, Zagorje, Istria and Dalmatia. Along with craft beers from Split (“Barba”), the festival will offer tastings from “Brlog” led by girls from Zadar, “Vuletovo” from Hvar, “Bura Brew” from Poreč, and Zagreb’s craft breweries “Zmajska”, “Varionica”, “Nova Runda” and “Medvedgrad”.
Patrons will also be able to taste “Aircraft Pivo” created in Bjelovar by two airline pilots, “Old Bridge” from Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the new “Garden” brewery by Nick Colgan, former producer of the music group “UB 40”.
