Home » Food & Drink » International Beers » Beer Off the Beaten Path

Beer Off the Beaten Path

© Paul Ruschmann

One evening over pints, the conversation turned to unusual bars we'd been to. What a great idea for a Beer Traveller article, I thought. So when I got home, I rummaged through my travel journals and beer notes. The result: my personal six-pack of out-of-the-ordinary beer venues:

• Branicky Sklipek Pivnice, Prague. Without a doubt, this was the smokiest place I'd ever visited; one guidebook described it as a good place to cure bacon. It also had the most hard-core clientele I'd seen in years. Most were middle-aged men settled in for an all-night session, which, at Prague prices, would cost them just a few dollars.

  Don't believe the guidebooks when they claim women don't set foot inside this bar. My wife not only accompanied me on this adventure, but successfully asked for the key to the ladies' room. The bartender, who'd pegged her as an American, did a noticeable double-take when she asked him...in Polish.

• Crown Liquor Saloon, Belfast. "Getting bombed" has a different meaning here; for decades, it's been a target of terrorists. But on the day I stopped by, The Troubles seemed far away. Walking through the Crown's front doors, I was stunned by its colorful and richly detailed Victorian-era decor, from the tiled floors to the gaslamps hanging above.

  Stained glass windows and ornamental woodwork gave the Crown a churchlike ambience. The snugs, where I drank my Guinness, resembled confessionals. What's a snug, you ask? A vestige of times when pubgoing was frowned upon, a snug is a booth enclosed by glass paneling and a door. Inside, it's possible to have a leisurely pint, unseen and unheard.

• Het Elfte Gebod, Antwerp. The bar's name is Flemish for "The Eleventh Commandment." It's literally in the shadow of Antwerp's cathedral, and the only bar I've seen decorated entirely with religious kitsch. I drank surrounded by hundreds of wooden statues--saints, nuns, and angels--while classical music, the kind played in cathedrals, drifted down from the speakers.

  In Belgium, beer and religion are a cultural Odd Couple. The beer menu featured robust, high-alcohol ales with names like Judas, Lucifer, Forbidden Fruit, and The Last Judgment. Eventually, after spiritual refreshment in the form of abbey ale, I walked up to the bar and asked, "So what is the Eleventh Commandment?" The bartender told me, "Enjoy life." Amen to that.

• Frog and Rosbif, Paris. Yes, it is possible to have your fill of French food and wine. When that time came, I headed for the bustling rue Saint-Denis, and joined the expat Brits reading papers from home, watching soccer on television, and drinking pints of ale at the Frog and Rosbif.

The copyright of the article Beer Off the Beaten Path in International Beers is owned by . Permission to republish Beer Off the Beaten Path in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.