7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Story 1: It’s been 10 years since I started exploring the world of beer, 10 years after I realized how devoid of (craft) beer Croatia actually was, shamefully so - stunted by ignorance and, more so, by laws catering only to the marketing-driven megabreweries who prefer people not knowing shit about beer and serving them cheap crap for as much money as they can. Almost 10 years have I waited for a proper craft brewery in Croatia. Watching them open in Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, even Kosovo and Bosnia... But no, Croatia had to wait longer because of the situation here. 10(+ for some) years of waiting for something like this...Story 2: Some 2-3 years ago, ogivlado and me went, with Ogi’s GF Maja went to the Főzdefeszt in Budapest. Randomly, we encountered another group from Croatia that we kinda knew, but not really, and joined forces with them for the rest of the day. A group from pivarstvo.info, the (then) emerging driving force behind the Croatian (home)brewing scene. In that group - Matt Hollingsworth, the guy who brought, after moving here, Croatian homebrewing to another level, Andrej Čapka (admin) and Bojan Pap (Svarrogh) - the two who would some time later join forces to create the upcoming Zmajska Pivovara and last but not least - Marko Filipin, one of the two guys, along with Miro Šuvak, who would be behind Nova Runda. Such names, many future importance, very got drunk, wow! Who would’ve thought, that not that long afterwards one of them would make a beer as important as this, and that 2 others would follow up with more of the same...Story 3: After many trials and tribulations and some pre-release tastings, there I was, at Tolkien’s House in Zagreb, finally trying the FIRST commercial proper American Pale Ale brewed in Croatia. Am I capable of being completely objective about it? Huh, hard to say, but dammit, here goes nothing. Came to me in a 0.5l glass. Poured a lovely, truly lovely full orange-amber body, quite misty, too - the head is thick and white, but went just slightly too fast, so a 4. The Cascade/Citra mix greeted me initially, yeah, clearly dry hopped.... later on, the full background maltiness, sweetish grainy, took over, pushing the hops, carrying notes of elder and blackcurrant a little to the background, but without taking over. Might revise this later on. The taste is quite full, with a soft, silky even mouthfeel. It balances a fine bready, sweetish maltiness with some aroma hop notes and a fine, not overwhelming and well implemented bitterness in the background, finish, and, slightly mild, aftertaste. The flavors mingle well together, creating notes of, among others, peach, and some peppery and maaybe dusty hints emerge here and there. I would’ve personally liked more pronounced hops, but they ARE there and this IS an APA, the base product of an emerging brewery that will need to help educate people about what true beer is, so no complaints there. A nice, well executed beer that did not disappoint. From here on, it will only get better! A fine 3.5 on the hedonistic scale. Croats, support your local, micro and craft breweries, it’s an investment that will keep on giving back!Update: At this point, after moving to Jastrebarsko, Nova Runda’s APA has bumped itself just slightly up to the top of the Croatian APAs - there are still batches that run down to 3.2, 3.3’s, but there are some that are 4, and I mean my 4. When it’s good, it’s great, lovely, generous, soft hoppy aromatics and a solid amount of bitterness.