Hop Hooligans

The Hop Trophy is up to its second stage! We are in Romania at Hop Hooligans, brewers who brew beers the way they like to drink them themselves. That means flavourful, rich beers with, in many cases, lots of hops! The challenge of brewing such a beer with European hops as part of the Hop Trophy was taken with both hands. You can read all about this innovative brewery from Bucharest at this page, but first of all, have a look at the video below with the Hop Hooligans story in a nutshell and the Hop Trophy beer that was brewed.

Hop Hooligans start

Hop Hooligans was founded in 2016 by Cristian Mihai Dinu and Mircea Georgescu. Their motivation? "We wanted to brew our own beer and why not brew it on a larger scale so that others can drink it too?" Simple and effective.

The start was not as smooth, however, as their companion and co-founder Petre passed away six months after the start. Despite this loss, Cristian and Mircea carried on and their brewery has become Romania's most well-known craft beer brewery.

The two brewers got to know each other in the small but vibrant craft beer and home brewing world. Although Mircea is the more experienced home brewer at the time, he does not consider himself the brewmaster: "We both decide which ingredients we’re gonna use and how much of it, so together we shape the direction of the beers we brew.” - "So that nobody gets the fault actually," says Cristian with a laugh.

Their name has nothing to do with actual hooligans or anything like that. They consider hop to be the most beautiful ingredient and they were looking for a bit edgy name and so Hop Hooligans was born. "It also stands for something rebellious, that we don't want to limit ourselves with anything. We can do anything, we don't exclude any ingredient when it comes to beer."

Hop Hooligans is known for their more experimental beers. As their name implies, hops play a prominent role in this. Their first beer was an IPA and the regular line of beers features three hop-forward beers. Almost weekly, they release new innovative beers, many bursting with hops. It doesn't stop there, as playing with spices and other ingredients is almost a daily task to keep creating interesting beers.

Hop Hooligans Bucharest Taproom

Centrally located in Bucharest, you will find the Hop Hooligans taproom. A cosy and cleanly designed bar with a wide selection of their own beers, plus plenty of choice of beers from breweries around the world. The audience is young, cool and relaxed, but above all diverse. Most of all, Hop Hooligans' love for beer is evident in everything.

European hops

The Hop Trophy visited Hop Hooligans at a perfect moment: "There is actually still very little known around the newer European hops, in fact there should be more experimentation with them. We had been thinking about the idea for a while and then the Hop Trophy came along. A perfect moment to implement our idea: a Hazy IPA like we brew many of them, entirely with European hop varieties." In this case Mandarina Bavaria, Lilly, Monroe and Bullion.

Both brewers are still the beer geeks as they were when they started. They still take their inspiration from the many beers they come across, giving it their own twist in the hope that their version will be different and perhaps better. Humble as they are, they will never claim the latter themselves: "We brew what we like to drink ourselves, but what we think of our beer is not important, what matters is what the public thinks of it," Cristian explains.

True Beer Lovers

We notice that the love for beer is still well and truly in place when we meet in Bucharest in the evening. We have already seen their own taproom and both guys are welcome guests at the few other taprooms in Bucharest. In the smallest taproom with the appropriate name 'No Room Taproom' (first photo below), Mircea orders very different beers to continue the journey of exploration in beer country, beers that might inspire him again.

And so, on this cold November evening, we raise a glass to the warm welcome in Bucharest and to a successful second stage of the Hop Trophy!

Hop Hooligans info:

The brewery of Hop Hooligans is located in Jilava, just outside Bucharest.
You will experience Hop Hooligans best by visiting their Taproom. The beer selection is huge and in the garden you can order delicious bites to eat. The Taproom is within walking distance of the old town: Str. Jean Louis Calderon 49, Bucharest.

A visit to Bucharest is more than worth it anyway, the "Paris of the East" has beautiful buildings and a vibrant nightlife, combined with a raw touch more often found in Eastern European cities. We didn't feel unsafe for a moment, just very welcome.

Hop Hooligans has distributors across Europe, ask your local beer shop about their beers.
You can follow Hop Hooligans on Instagram here or visit their website.

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