László Varga

Ursus is the brand name of the beer that used to be produced here, in Cluj-Napoca. It used to be, because SABMiller, the parent company, decided to move the entire production to a different city (I don’t even care where…). The old brewery was closed… But not for long: this month the brewery has reopened its gates with a special treat. A museum/mini-brewery/pub has opened up in its place. It is a unique concept in Romania and it is the only such brewery of SABMiller. The place is now also special for me, because we organized one of our first a beer-nights with our team there last week 😛 …

A bit late, but I decided to post some information about the place, because most of the reviews I have found so far were in Romanian. So, here goes one out for all the people of the word, who speak English: a short review of the new Ursus Beer Factory.

A big iron gate with the iron bear logo is what separates the Motilor street from the outside terrace. The terrace is huge with big tables for 4-8 people all covered with umbrellas to protect from rain or the summer heat. Nothing fancy, just enough (although the security cameras were a new thing…) . Inside it offers a factory feeling, with a lot of iron bars and rustic/iron furniture and decoration. The distillery is also visible through a plexy-glass window and it too offers a unique atmosphere for the pub. Take special note of the chandeliers inside, they are made out of a special material 🙂 .

The prices are OK, for a place like this: a 0.4l Ursus Premium Draft costs 4.5RON (~€1.00), while the unique non-filtered Ursus, which is produced only at this small brewery, costs 5.0RON (~€1.15). The only problem with this special beer, is that it is very limited: it is served only from 7:00PM and the stocks get depleted in about an hour (we were told it is a company policy, to make sure there is non-filtered beer at 7:00PM when most of the guests arrive…).
There is also food being served, the prices though are bit higher than an ordinary restaurant in Cluj. One can always eat some sandwiches at lower prices, but there is a time limit for those too: only until 1:00PM (we were not told why… I guess it is another stupid company policy…). It is better, though, to leave the food alone… after all, people go to a “Beer Factory” to drink beer, not to eat… 🙂 …

Another important thing is the empty places: there are practically none 🙂 . We went there at around 6:00PM and we could barely find a place to sit (although we were 8, so we were kind of pushing for the impossible). The best thing is to book ahead, but I could not find a usable phone number to make a reservation for us. Once there, however, I have made an important “acquisition”: a usable phone number. No, I will not publish it on the internet, but I can provide it to anyone who requests it personally 😉 .

We did not visit the museum, although there is a special tour also for that (or so I was told). We were interested in the pub part and I must say it was not that bad. The waiters were a bit slow, but I guess that was due to the large number of guests they were trying to serve that night… I think the place is understaffed a bit… So the verdict from my point of view: a special theme-pub which is a must see in Cluj!.

I cannot share any pictures about the place on my Picasa account, because my stupid phone was low on battery. The usual link then, is missing from the end of this post 🙁 .

[20]