Place: Sfante Gheorge
We went to visit a young man called Robert Attl, who, together with a friend, had started brewing beer in a garage when Covid started in 2020.
They had bought a complete set for brewing their own beer together with a temperature controller and they started making various types of beer. Upon completion of a batch, he gave samples of beer to friends and family. Since they liked it, he went on making many types of beer before he settled on New England IPA and the taste is governed by 5 types of American hops. In addition to hops, he also buys malt and beer yeast.
When he wants to make beer, he starts by crushing the malt in a mill, then filling a tank with the crushed malt and water. This mixture is heated to about 72°C for a certain time, then he separates the malt, which is called mash, and the water, which is called wort. He boils the wort for some time, then he puts a cage with the hops in the wort. Next, he cools the wort and he adds beer yeast to the malt. Finally, he stores the mixture of wort and yeast for a period during which the sugar in the wort will be turned into alcohol, making beer. Next, he filters out the yeast and bottles the beer.
Having seen his small home brewery, we went to a restaurant called GADO whose name is composed of the initials of 2 ladies and 2 gentlemen. GADO restaurant has its own magazine, the GADO times, where each of them is drawn as a human with an animal’s head. They are the following characters:
Greta with a cat’s head
Alfonz with a boar’s head
Dalma with a mouse’s head
Orlando with a deer’s head
Having read an issue of the GADO times, I have realized that the GADO people have a lot in common with the Slow Food philosophy of good, clean and fair. They are, as far as possible, buying foods and drinks from local producers and they gather honey, berries, vegetables, herbs, fruits and water from nearby sources.
The reason for going to this restaurant was that Robert had started working there. He started hosting beer tastings at the restaurant with 15 participants in the beginning, but now about 45 people attend his tastings.
He has learnt about the history of beer, beer chemistry, got to know and made friends with a lots beer lovers.
His beer is called Attl Roblipa where Attl is his last name and Roblipa is a pun on Robert and IPA. His New England IPA has a taste of hops from passion fruit, elderflower, grapefruit, mango and and one more plant. It’s a cloudy beer meaning that it’s hardly transparent. It’s produced at the Mustata de Bere brewery in the city of Brasov.
Some photos of his beer can be found here.
I was kindly invited for a free Roblipa by Robert, and I can confirm that the beer was very tasty. I have also tried a few of their dishes, all of them delicious.
As a measure of the good quality of his beer, his father didn’t drink beer before Robert started brewing beer. Now, he drinks all types of beer, Roblipa and anything else.
