Beer, Vodka And.. Unicum? A Drinking Connoisseur’s Tour of Eastern Europe

If you are after the ultimate experience from an Eastern European stag weekend then its always a great idea to familiarise yourself with the local booze on offer. Here’s a guide to drinking in the most popular cities - perfect for getting ready for your stag weekend.

Budapest offers the best in Hungarian beers. The local brewery, Dreher, produces both világos, which is lager, and barna, meaning “brown” (like English bitter) that has quite a sweet taste. Köbányi világos is widely recommended as a very pleasing drink. However, Hungary has many opportunities for tasting something more exotic on your stag weekend.

Unicum is a popular herbal liquor, almost exclusively drunk in Hungary. A mix of up to 40 different herbal ingredients makes it an acquired taste for visitors – one person described it as a mixture of hairspray and weed killer - but a must if you want to indulge yourself in the different tastes at the local boozers. Drunk in shots it is one of the country’s most popular spirit brands with an unusual aroma oozing Hungarian tradition. It has been made for over 150 years and the recipe is said to be a secret of the Zwack family. Look out for the bomb-shaped bottles with a red cross!

Budapest also offers an extensive range of brandies and liqueurs. A popular Hungarian brandy you may wish to sample is Pálinka. Many of these can be very potent and are available in a variety of fruity flavours. Popular liqueurs include cherry-flavoured Bon Bon and a chocolaty tasting Kakao.

Bratislava also has a thriving beer culture. With a couple of breweries in the city, the best is marketed under their own labels. There are a range of pubs such as 17s that serve Czech beer and offer the traditional “beer hall” experience such as Prazdroj and Plzensky Dvor. Beers such as Budvar and Pilsner are Slovak favourites. If you want the ultimate beer experience then visit the beer festival, which starts in the first week of June.

The Polish city of Krakow offers the very best in vodka tasting. You can take part in sessions that offer historical and production facts in between tasting sessions of nothing but the best types of vodka, with accompanying chasers such as buffalo piss and mango juice! Learn about the history of Polish vodka that goes back to the 15th century, which marks the beginning of the popularity of drinking strong spirits in Poland. Typical Polish vodka such as Monopolowa vodka is around 80% proof and is traditionally drunk neat. Warsaw is another ideal place for a pub-crawl.

Riga offers the very best in pub-crawl experience. There are plenty of guides that offer to take you around the best pubs and clubs, so you get the ultimate crawl. From pubs like De Lacy’s which has an Irish theme to Fizzes cocktail bar where you can sweet talk the lovely ladies over a juicy one! Riga’s Balzams serves a drink of the same name that is a popular, black, oil-like liqueur.

With so many options, you can really go to town when it comes to drinking out in Eastern Europe. Just be sure to leave plenty of time so you can appreciate your hair of the dog the next day.