retiredmartin

May 2026. Alba Iulia.

A night in the fortress city of Alba Iulia,

and in the citadel trenches the only craft beer in town.

The fortress had received an expensive makeover (some Romanians we met were scathing about the cost) to make it look shiny for an expected flood of tourists that hadn’t quite happened yet, and Hash Brothers had opened a year ago with a look straight out of the Manchester arches.

Fourteen beers from their own and Romanian brewers,

live music and smash burgers.

Who wants to be the only folk sitting inside ? We took a table under the canopy as the drizzle started.

Now, I wouldn’t claim Romania is a hotbed of food and beer innovation, but they do the basics (IPA, long blacks, burgers and pizzas) consistently well. Unfussy service and good value, though at just under 6 lei to the pound the craft beer isn’t much cheaper than the UK.

Those Ground Zero beers with the risque names are as good as anything we had in eastern Europe.

Just a couple of beers, we were moderate all week, then back to the Hotel Medieval to watch Eurovision, which had only reached the UK entry by the time we packed it in at midnight.

Belgium had the guy in the Hull Tigers away kit, but fared less well than the Romanians, who came third,

to absolutely zero public interest in the city of Alba Iulia