The Wine&More, a Croatian online retailer, has collaborated with three craft breweries to launch the Croatian Founders’ Craft Beer Box in European markets prior to International Beer Day on 6 August.
The Wine&More’s Croatian Founders’ Craft Beer Box is a selection of sixteen top rated, best-selling beers from three prominent local craft breweries – Zmajska Brewery, Nova Runda and Varionica.
Croatia has a booming and diverse craft beer market. After decades of having only a few classic beer options available from industrial macro lagers, the demand for new tastes and brews has grown and customers are craving for more quirky and original options.
Less than a decade ago, young craft breweries started appearing on a beer map of Croatia, pushing a new trend and revitalising the country’s beer drinking scene. The Wine&More responded to this demand by compiling some of the best beers from Zmajska Brewery, Nova Runda and Varionica to create the new Croatian Founders’ Craft Beer Box.
Zmajska Brewery
Zmajska Brewery is the first genuine craft brewery in Croatia. It was founded by Andrej Čapka, a former web developer who launched the first online forum for homebrewing enthusiasts in Croatia back in 2007. After a long practice in homebrewing, the idea was to open a brewery and set up new trends on the domestic market by making different beers not previously available in Croatia.
That brought Andrej to launch the Zmajska Brewery in 2013. According to Ratebeer, in their first year in business Zmajska was ranked in the top 10 of new breweries in the world; their porter was also rated amongst the 15 best porters. From then until now, their mission is still the same: make great beers and have fun along the way.
Nova Runda
Founded in 2013, Nova Runda was established with a goal to educate people about good craft beer, ales particularly. Translated as “Another Round,” Nova Runda is a project of two friends and passionate home brewers.
Nova Runda started as a gypsy brewery, using other people’s breweries, traveling from one facility to another, until they finally settled in 2019 in their own location.
Nova Runda introduced a type of beer that was unknown within the Croatian market back in 2013, developing a vision of brewing fresh beers with plenty of hops, which shaped their #FeelTheHops brewing philosophy. They are the top-rated craft brewery in Croatia, according to the Untappd beer app.
Varionica
Roughly translated as “The Brewery,” Varionica is a beer venture started by friends and family in a maniacal search for new and fresh aromas found in perfectly balanced beers.
Just like Nova Runda, the Varionica founders started with several years of gypsy brewing, finally opening their own brewery in 2019. In their pursuit of perfection, Varionica is known for its rigorous quality control process, carefully testing all the ingredients before adding them to their beer formula.
The limited-edition Croatian Founders’ Craft Beer Box is available exclusively on The Wine&More website.