#hop hooligans

[hweesiong]

From Romania

[nobeerreviews]

I am not a writer. Because if I was, paradise birds on the walls would jump to my words and take their flight in a whirlwind of colors and sparkle. Squares would breathe in deeply to morph into circles, lines coughing aerosols would curl into snakes then grow legs to scuttle away to long dreamed freedom. The buffalo, instead of waiting for certain doom under our greed or stupidity would jump down its wall, a determined Terminator running to save his likes from extinction. If I was a writer, zebras would roam free again and the eagles would soar, black and white contour shrinking to a slow moving dot on distant azure paths and the unicorn, the unicorn would just trot around in pride to remind us to make our heaven with what we’ve got. “Fă rai din ce ai”… because we already have all the hearts this world needs, we’re only too ashamed - or too afraid - to show them, warm beating red orbs of hope. But I’m not a writer, alas, so the street colouring the memory of Arthur Verona will have to slumber longer, waiting for somebody else to wake it to the deserved life. I’ll just wait for that wonderful moment, swimming in the hoppy haze of the local Must Have IPA and feeling its honey fruit sun opening my eyes to a dazzling life pulsing hidden in plain view on the streets of Bucharest.

[nobeerreviews]

Curtain fall. Blinding shine. Collective gasp. Gold. Gold. More gold. Impressed chatter. Wooden ceiling. Wooden smell. Warm colors. Frowning statues. Nature painting. Old books. Huge fireplace. Emblazoned heraldry. Romanian kings. Distinctive red. Glass windows. Shine, shine, shine. Venetian mirrors. Jeweled decorations. Clinking crystals. Spiralling stairs. Tiny balconies. Heavy draperies. Gold. Again. Awe. Royal throne. Oriental weaponry. Look, a shisha. Dim corridors. Sudden current. Secret passages? Creaky floors. Dusty carpets. Classicist statues. Greek muscles. Gilded marble. Immaculate walls. Exit. Heavy heart. Sinaia, Romania. Peles palace. Touch of time. Old times. Better times. As always? Or bitter. Just, Time. Imperial stout. Luxurious vanilla. Nostalgic chocolate. Hop Hooligans. Beer to remember. Visit to remember. Memories, dear.

[nobeerreviews]

Faces, memories, stories, teachings, history... all on the disintegrating walls of an old Romanian Orthodox church, somewhere, south of nowhere. Slightly outside the beaten path, people of Horezu follow the same rituals they had for hundreds and maybe thousands of years, putting their joys and their sorrows as stepping stones in a quest for that ever elusive higher meaning. For travelers it may look fascinating, maybe weird, at times artistic, possibly funny or why not even boring, but for these people it's nothing less than their lives, it's all they have. And what can we say from the outside? We can participate at their ceremonies, we can partake some of that delicious local sweet bread called "cozonac" - as such or as a milk stout aroma (yes, those Hop Hooligans, they'd put anything in beer)... but if you really think a sweet chocolate plum dessert would be enough to open the gates to understanding both of their worlds, then please, suit yourself my innocent friend.

[nobeerreviews]

Cold. Indifferent white, slowly creeping to cover everything in sight. Strokes of gray, darkened plant skeletons, fine sketches on the frosted canvas. Speckles of dirt are the only marks I left behind and they won't last... I know as much. From the distance, from between the stumbling poles maybe there's a hue of blue left, though much too slim to matter anymore.

Cinnamon and chillies, the chocolatey spices of this delicious Chupacabra stout give their best to hide the surrounding beryl tinged chill. But, it's just a stout beer and not even the master brewers from Hop Hooligans can make one forget the coldness growing in your eyes.

[draculasguidetoromania]

Top 5 Romanian craft beer places in Bucharest according to your favorite Vampire + Bonus locations

Dracula loves going to the best beer places in town because that is where you find the tastiest blood… I mean beer! Number 5 – Zaganu Craft Beer + Zaganu Craft Beer in Obor Market Zaganu is the first craft beer producer to achieve commercial success and expand to supermarkets, they produce a wide range of beers that start with the basic ones, a really good introduction to craft beers, and their…

Top 5 Romanian craft beer places in Bucharest according to your favorite Vampire + Bonus locations