Prop Up the Bar: Popping to the Pub in Poprad

In which we discover Beer Baths, Brewpubs, AC/DC tribute bands and some great scenery.

Just over 300km east of Bratislava, a 4½ hour train ride, is the city of Poprad which we were making our base for the next four nights.
First impressions of the centre didn't blow me away.

But Poprad had several things in it's favour...
1. It's the 'Gateway to the High Tatra's'
2. They have two brewpubs along the main drag.
3. They had an AC/DC tribute band playing on the stage in the middle of town on the day we arrived...

The Slovakian AC/DC entertain Poprad

Our first stop (of course) was one of the two brew pubs.

Minipivovar Tatras (Námestie svätého Egídia 60, Poprad - web)

But instead of grabbing a table outside and ordering the beer, we had something a little different planned here. We'd booked for a beer bath in the small private spa above the pub.
Bathing in beer seems to be a popular pass-time in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Why do it?
Well apparently, "The Beer bath clears skin, improves health of hair, relaxes muscles and supports immune system".
Bugger me if I didn't come down with a stinking cold a couple of days after, so I'll dispute the last benefit on the list.

You have the luxury of being able to pour your own unfiltered pale lager from a tap over the bathtub.
Later we grabbed a seat in the bar to sample a couple of their different brews.

'Tmavák 13°' won 'Best Slovakian dark beer 2018', a deep malty lager with a hint of coffee. Following which I tried the strong, hoppy 6.5% ABV 'Pana Beká' IPA.

On to the second brewpub in town...
Minipivovar Egidius (Námestie svätého Egídia 102/10, Poprad - fb)
At the quieter end of the main street, Egidius has plenty of outdoor seating on the pavement and three rooms within. There's no brew kit visible, but several signs promote the '100% home made beer'. I tried their staple 'Svetlá 11', then the two specials they had on offer - a tasty American IPA and a slightly less successful Irish dry stout.

Minipivovar Egidius, Poprad

We also visited a random local pub down a side alley, the Hokej Pub.
I asked the waitress about the choice of beers and a friendly regular stepped in to help translate. He told us the many virtues of Staropramen, one of which was "you can drink a lot of it".
I really can't.
The beer choice turned out to be 'big one' or 'small one'.
But after a long day, it was refreshing and a budget-friendly €1 for 500ml.

Taking empties back to the bar - good on you, sir!

Ratebeer showed two more brewpubs in the close vicinity, but attempts to visit these brought disappointment.

We made for Salus in the mountain village Tatranská Lomnika. At the end of a days hiking we were tired and thirsty - only to find this brewpub was in the process of moving to a new location down the road and wasn't ready yet.
Next day I made a diversion to the next town of Svit where there was once a brewpub called Buntavar. But alas, no longer. The pub has closed and the site, adjoining the swimming pool, is now the God Times brewery, only open for pre-arranged tours.
Oh well, here's what it looks like:

Exciting, huh?

Not worth a 90-minute round trip to take this picture.
Although watching Forest over the years I'm quite used to completely wasting 90-minutes of my life and that cost a lot more than the €1.50 bus fare to Svit and back.

Turns out you can grab the God Times beers in the centre of Poprad at Dobry Časy.

Dobry Časy (Levočská 211/2, 058 01 Poprad)

Ah-ha - so we'd finally found the craft beer hub of the town. Inside there's exposed brickwork, some cool street-art style murals and a few quirky decorations, whilst there is also a good garden with it's own bar to the side.
Sixteen tap lines serve up a range of beers, the majority seeming to be from Czech micro's, alongside two, on this visit, from the aforementioned God Times. Over a couple of visits we sampled a fair few tasty ales from the list, plus they do a pretty superb 'shroom burger.

Just to finish then, a couple of pictures of some of the scenery that made our time in Poprad great - a day's gorge walking in the nearby Slovensky Raj...