A Zeppelin Ride into Craft Brewery Heaven

The Zeppelin Craft Brewery is relatively young. It’s been on the Croatian brewery scene for only a year and a half now, however, so far, they have written such a vibrant story that seems impossible to stop reading it once you start. They have a truly simple goal: to show everyone the true potential of beer and make them fall in love with it. Join us on a ride through their amazing story!

The story goes: “A bunch of meerkats, a flamingo, raccoon, and monkey decide to go on a zeppelin ride…” We know, it sure sounds like the start of a joke and, if we haven’t heard it first-hand, we would have thought that someone was trying to pull one over us as well.

These four animals are, however, the main characters of the Zeppelin story. They are crew members who are at first glance completely nuts, but, if you look closely, you will see a family in which each member knows their specific role and does it perfectly.

The Merkat team are the cleaners on the Zeppelin and are on the very bottom in the chain of command. Opposite of what one might think, no one controls them because they are known for being a great team who loves their job.

Occasionally, they have a private party in which they, let’s say accidentally, induce Sodium Hydroxide, the basis for washing the brewery and go a bit coocoo. They don’t like being alone, so you can always see them in groups.

The Flamingo is the badass scout of this vessel. You can constantly see him balancing on one leg whilst holding binoculars in the others, watching carefully for any threats. Although he is vital to the team, he is often mocked because he is pink. Also, he is a very gentle soul who, instead of eating shrimps, keeps them as pets in an aquarium.

However, he doesn’t seem to be offended by others’ comments as he regularly gives himself injections of E161g (canthaxanthin), a keto-carotenoid pigment which is often found in nature, so that he preserves his pink color.

Next in line is the Rakoon – one of Zeppelin’s protectors and lead bodyguard of Zeppelin’s main character. Recently, he took another incredibly complex task into his job description. The station’s mill got broken and, since beer cannot get brewed without grinded malt, he rose up to the task and uses his katana to finely grind it.

Problem is that he is so good with it and adores using it that self-control goes out the window and he ends up grinding several different kinds of malt simultaneously. Thus making the beer under its care much more complex than initially planned. However, people seem to love it, so the crew keeps delaying the repair of the mill.

The last member we need to introduce is the Marmun, one of Zeppelin’s deputy pilots. Although the Zeppelin’s autopilot is broken, Marmun regularly leaves the Zeppelin unattended if they’re flying over a wheat field.

He goes bananas over wheat! He hangs on a hops liana to grab enough wheat for the next round of beer brewing. Whenever this happens, everyone gets petrified, but the Marmun really doesn’t seem to care.

Each member that has been introduced so far also represents a specific type of beer.

• The Merkat is a Golden Ale with a mild flavor and scent. It’s extremely easy to drink, has 5.1% of alcohol and is perfect if you wish to have more than one.
• The Flamingo is a member of the American Amber Ale variety and, just like the character, it has a balance between bitterness and sweetness that is mastered to perfection. With only 4.8% of alcohol, it can be a great companion to red meat. Also, due to a caramel – dark chocolate play, it is adored by women!
• The Rakoon is, as you might suspect, the “toughest” of the bunch. A full-bodied Porter with 6.5% of alcohol and six types of special malts that will blow you away with its chocolate-cobbled complexity.
• Lastly, the Marmun is part of the Weizen variety, however, this wheat beer is unlike any you had so far. It has 5% of alcohol and goes incredibly well with soft dishes as well as salads.

As if this weren’t enough, each label was carefully designed and hand-illustrated by a local artist before getting digitalized, thus giving each beer a unique label that is bound to draw the attention of even the biggest beer hater.

As you could have seen, the Zeppelin craft brewery is truly a breath of fresh air on the Croatian brewery scene. Their master “chief” is Danijel Babić, also known as ‘Žedni’ (Thirsty), truly knows what he’s doing, and, it is his passion that pushes this brewery’s limits further and further. The brewery’s aim is to be recognized as a premium brand and each beer they present plays in favor of that.

By this summer, they will have the biggest number of craft beer taps in whole Croatia. Not only that! They have also become a permanent member in the Esplanade Hotel drink list.

If you’re by any chance in Croatia, go to Bjelovar to the brewery’s pub – the Zeppelin pub! It will give you a truly laid-back atmosphere within a steampunk interior that will surely give you the feeling, as a fellow reporter wrote, that once you exit it you will be on the streets of London or Berlin!

However, if waiting for your trip to Croatia is too long to wait, we’ve got you covered! Yep, you guessed it. We now proudly have craft beer in our webshop, so await no more.

Hop on over there and get this incredible craft beer delivered to your doorstep so that you can join us on this remarkable ride into craft beer artistry and, as the Zeppelin craft brewery says it, hover above all!