Come and meet one of the most fun and surprising breweries in the #BeerTogether project, Didko Brewery! Taking inspiration from a mischievous Loki figure from Ukrainian mythology, Didko Brewery has gained a reputation for creating unconventional and quirky beers. In this interview, we’ll learn more about how this brewery got started, its ethos, proudest accomplishments, and its perspective on #BeerTogether. We’ll also find out which musicians they would love to share a beer with (hint: there are many!). So sit back, grab a cold one, and join us in getting to know Didko Brewery.
Q: Tell us about your brewery and how it started.
A: It all started as a homebrewing project with around 10 beers, which were presented at the Kyiv beer festival. Encouraged by the positive feedback, we proceeded to contract brew and recreate our home-invented recipes on a larger scale. We also brewed collaborations with Ukrainian and European breweries. Two years ago, we managed to build our own small facility, installed equipment and started a full-fledged brewery.
We now brew varied styles of all kinds of beer – over 170 of them! We do familiar hoppy IPAs, classical Stouts, Doppelbocks and Pils, but we’re better known for our beers that incorporate more unusual flavours!
Q: Describe the ethos of your brewery and what it stands for.
A: We take our inspiration from the personality of our namesake, “Didko”. Didko is a lesser demon of Ukrainian mythology, but he is not evil, he’s a witty and cunning trickster. He can make a joke of you, or urge you to do something you’d never dare to take on alone.
More often than not, we ask ourselves, what would Didko do? We want to surprise and awe people by incorporating unusual ingredients into our beers. We like to make beer that is kinda weird, with flavours that are unconventional. For example, we’ve made more than 10 varieties of smoked beers full of smoky, peated, roast, and Islay Whisky flavours. Tomato beer has a special place in our hearts; we brewed a tomato Gose with a huge selection of additional ingredients such as pepper, beetroot, onion, celery, dill, and others, and all of them were loved and appreciated, so we are not going to stop experimenting with it.
All in all, we love quirky beers – strong strawberry gose, stouts with pear and cranberry, extra strong barleywines with blueberries, stouts with tabasco, IPA with cardamom and spices, beer with pomegranates, cherry, dried mango, kiwi, nuts, olives, anise, you name it… oh and barrel ageing is also something we love to do!
Q: What is your proudest accomplishment as a brewery to date?
A: I am proud of the fact that our brewery has been able to delight people with beer for 7 years. During this time, we brewed almost 200 types of beer. We met many brewers from many countries and we have the opportunity to continue doing what we like and bring joy. Because people’s love for your product is the greatest joy and motivation for any brewer.
Q: If you could have #beertogether with any musician, past or present, who would it be and why?
I wouldn’t want to pick just one person to have a beer with. I like the idea of making a good beer and sharing it with the many musicians I love. I’m afraid that if we collect all the miscreants, we will need to put on a festival! I love all kinds of music, so if it’s heavy music it has to be Marilyn Manson, Jay Weinberg the drummer of Slipknot, the great and terrible Ozzy Osbourne, and Marc Bolan from T. Rex. I will also be happy to see Robbie Williams, George Michael, and Brian Harold May. Well, if it’s going to be a lot of fun and we want to have a rave party, then I’ll be more than happy to have a pre-party beer with Enduser, Vitalic, Current Value, Limewax, Aphex Twin, Noisia and many many many… I love music too much to choose just one musician!
Q: What does #Beertogether mean to you?
A: This project is important for me as it’s important for the development of brewing and important for Ukraine. This support means a lot to us at this time. It’s great to see so many cool breweries involved. Many people found out about my country, unfortunately for a very bad reason. As people begin to forget about the war that is currently taking place in Ukraine, this project is a great chance to remind them about it, because we have no right to forget about it while the war continues.
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If you want to try the #BeerTogether that Didko is brewing with Neckstamper Brewing and The Rambling Beer Co., get your tickets to one of our #BeerTogether tastings in Liverpool during May!: https://www.ramblingbeerco.com/beertogether
