Bucharest Trip – Day 1 : Ground Zero Beer

All that Steve and I have heard this week are the demands from Bev to go to craft beer bars. So, being the helpful souls that we are, we’ve obliged and we will continue to be obliging in this regard. The first craft beer bar of the week was Ground Zero Beer, an on-trend arrangement which looked bright and inviting from the exterior and is operated by Ground Zero Brewery. As is usual, Steve and I arrived first and then Bev arrived having had yet another drama with the CityMapper app where she had walked around in circles. Steve and I didn’t say anything.

The nicely presented beer board with the main beers on the left and their experimental range on the right. The prices were reasonable and there were a variety of options regarding the size of the beers. I went for five beers in the smallest measure, which he quite rather charmingly called the child sized glass. They’re not doing food at the moment, but customers can bring their own food in. Fortunately, Thim and Susanna appeared soon after and they happened to have food they’d got for their breakfast, so we all ate that so that was a win-win for everyone.

The interior with the Italian style art on the ceiling and the black walls to offer some sort of contrast. There were some larger and smaller tables, with some thought having out into the design and comfort.

As for the beers, some were better than others in my view, but all were credible and interesting. The most memorable one was the Xperimentale 018 | Honey Hazelnut Imperial Stout, weighing in at 13.2%. It was a powerful little number, rich with a slightly artificial hazelnut flavour, but not unpleasant. It was smooth, boozy and really rather delicious to finish the pub visit off with.

I hadn’t realised at the time, but this is a new premises for the brewery and they’ve moved from their previous former communist factory site where they also offered food. Some people, judging from the on-line reviews, preferred the old arrangement, but things change and I like what they’ve done here. It’s modern and gives a positive impression of the brewery and their offerings.