Small breweries started popping up in Kamnik completely spontaneously, one of the first ones was a brewery called Mali Grad. “We started back in 2013 when me and my wife met and we started brewing beer in my mother’s garage, because she didn’t let me brew it in her kitchen,” the owner of Mali Grad, Urban Forjančič said about their modest beginnings.
However, a lot of patience, testing and searching for new recipes were needed before they succeeded. "8 different bottled beers are constantly being brewed in our brewery Mali Grad. We also make new different beers, for example, right now, we are brewing beer with grapefruit," explained Florjančič.
Curiosity, passion and knowledge
Everybody says they started brewing because of curiosity and passion for beer. “We own a pub and I started brewing beer at home, as a hobby. Then, a business happened,” said Janez Skok, an owner of the brewery called Maister. The brewery is named after the general Rudolf Maister. "The whole story is, that we name beers after our great Slovenes from the past: Vega, Gallus, Rusjan, Noordung and so on. The beer is specifically made of the best ingredients, with maximum effort, and it is important, that we enjoy the beer as well."
The beer brewed in the area of the former gunpowder facilities in Kamnik, in brewery called Barut, is quite special. It is enriched with microorganisms on so to speak a scientific basis. Three scientists met at the Department of Microbial Biotechnology at the Biotechnical Faculty. During the brewing process, they realized their knowledge opens up new opportunities. They started testing new microorganisms and after a few years, it turned into a real brewery.
Water is crucial
Water plays an important role when it comes to beer. Tome explains: "Kamnik has truly extraordinary water. It has very low mineral content and we are very lucky because of that. This was also a motivation why we settled in Kamnik." Other brewers also stress the importance of good water for the quality of their beer.