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Guest writer: Jonathan Gharbi de Maré
Old and new are mixed in Armenia and the capital Yerevan has a bit of everything. Friendly people, cosy streets and a great atmosphere invite you to spend time with good beer at great prices.
Beer culture is concentrated in Yerevan, within sight of the snow-capped Mount Ararat. It was there that Noah's Ark is believed to have landed once upon a time. The mountain itself is on the Turkish side of the border, but you only need to rest your eyes on it to be filled with delight.
If you want to walk up the mountain, it will be less pleasant as it is 5137 metres high. Plus, you might trip over the remains of Noah's Ark and sprain your ankle, not something you want to happen on your holiday. There are no statistics on ark-related accidents and when it comes to biblical proportions, you should be careful.
Wine and beer bars, coffee roasters, delicatessens and cosy restaurants line the streets of central Yerevan. If you want to know more about wine read Armenia - a new destination for wine lovers. But now we learn more about where to find all the good beer that costs a third of what it costs in Sweden.
High class craft beer
Craft beer has arrived in Armenia and it's time to experiment and broaden your horizons in a country where you still see the little Soviet car models rolling around.
You might think that the beer is seen as something to wash down the vodka as it was in the past, but that's not the case anymore. The beer is high class and there is something for both the novice and the concerned beer nerd who sighs slowly when asked if they want a big strong one.
Dargett Craft Beer - the largest brewery
After a cup of coffee and check-in, you begin your journey along streets where the Flood once flowed. We start with a long visit to the pioneering Dargett Craft beer where beer flows from 21 taps. Sinfully good, too. They were the first to start brewing craft beer around 2016 and are now the largest brewery. The visit is likely to be long and the tasting trays are just the right size so it's easy to taste them all.
But you should make sure to taste the unique beers first while the sharpness is at its peak. They brew cherry sour beer and beer aged in local brandy barrels along with classic ipa, ale and porter. Armenia is known for its fruits, which they usually dry but are now also an ingredient in their beer.
What does peach beer taste like? It's brewed with malt and hops but with a hefty dose of peach that gives it a pleasant fruitiness. You can imagine a lager but with much less water, more malt flavour and fuller on the palate. Then the hops give a bitterness that is matched with the aroma and flavour of tropical fruits and apricot. A really flavourful and well-balanced beer, rich enough to balance the fruity elements and suitable for a sunny day.
They have an excellent restaurant with both sausages and ribs to go with the beer. The staff are friendly, the clientele international, and the outdoor seating perfect for the hot summer months.
One of the best things about Armenia is that you can find sausages in most shapes and flavours, and the salami section in supermarkets is usually quite large. So visit a supermarket and pick up a couple of sausages for a picnic or to share with friends back home.
More breweries and pubs in Armenia
Perhaps the next day or a few days later you might want to visit the pubs of the other breweries. Perhaps you have visited Tbilisi in Georgia, six hours away, and tasted beer there. Tbilisi offers four times more beer than Yerevan. There are more breweries and many have brewed over 50 different beers, so there is almost too much to choose from. Tired but enthusiastic, you are back and have the simple task of tasting only a handful of beers.
The task seems very simple after a few days in Tbilisi. Let's say you spent two nights there and tasted 30 different beers. Then a single evening is enough to visit the other places in Yerevan. These are mainly Dors Craft Beer and Kitchen, Beer Academy and 379 Torch and Brew. There is a place called Labeerint but it's a horrible place, the beer simply tasted so bad that you could easily become a sober person if that was the only option.
Dors Craft Beer and Kitchen
Dor's Craft beer and Kitchen has eight different beers, ranging from lager to ipa and porter but fairly simple beers. They once made a real sour beer but got such bad feedback that they decided to stick to simpler beer styles. They thought it was too much for customers or the beer wasn't that good.
Beer Academy
The Beer Academy, on the other hand, has a very nice interior, a strong focus on food and currently has no plans for wild beers in the near future. It serves weiss bier and various types of lager. The beer is simple but also good and there is a club upstairs for those who want to move on to drinks in a more exclusive environment.
379 Torch and Brew - for Game of Thrones fans
Any fan of Game of Thrones must visit 379 Torch and Brew which is decorated in some kind of medieval style with dragons on the walls, armour and funny emblems. They only brew three beers but their brewer used to work at Dargett so the potential is huge. Their ale tastes delicious.
They have film nights with the series House of the Dragon combined with offers on their beer. Worth a visit and close to the National Gallery which is one of the smaller ones. It consists of a few halls and most people spend less than 30 minutes in there.
Practising school French at France Square
Then you just continue in the autumn sun past Charles Aznavour Square or to France Square to finally practice your school French. Armenians have a special relationship with France as many of them live there but visit Yerevan during the summer months, explaining why there are many French restaurants. Many of us are too shy to even say bonjour but after boosting our confidence with excellent beer, it's time to let the French language take wing. Or not.
Armenia - a destination to return to
Alternatively, you can be perfectly reasonable and end the evening by ordering a Lahmajoun which sounds exotic but is actually an Armenian-style pizza. The food is a chapter in itself and there are many fun dishes to try. Maybe Armenia will be your next culinary journey, don't hesitate, the country is very beautiful and the people are nice. It is a destination to come back to.
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Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
The closest thing to this is probably when I was on the https://noerrebrobryghus.dk/ in Copenhagen.
I would have loved to visit the salami section of that department store!
06 December 2022 - 13:10
Jonathan says:
Ah yes, the Danes have both sausages and good beer. Norrebro is very good, real top class, but I hope the breweries in Armenia will get there soon ... I was really surprised when I visited, I didn't think that sausages and salami were so popular ...
06 December 2022 - 17:08