The Big Three
They all produce vast quantities of uninspired pale lagers but there are a few gems.
Carlsberg: Carlsberg-Okocim. Has three breweries and produces Bosman, Kasztelan, Okocim, Piast and Zakrzow. Its 5.5% Okocim Jasne Pelne is a full-flavored, hoppy pale lager. Future of Okocim Porter in doubt.
Heineken owns Grupa Zywiec. Its EB brands from the Elblag subsidiary are better than the Zywiec lagers. EB Specjal Pils is 6.2% and has spicy hops and rich malt. Hevelius Classic, also 6.2%, from a closed brewery in Gdansk, is extremely hoppy and bitter and worth seeking out. Brackie Pils from the Cieszyn brewery is superb but is confined to the Czech border area.
SABMiller owns Kompania Piwowarska with three breweries at Dojlidy, Lech and Tyskie. The beers are universally dull save for Dojlidy Polski Porter (9.5%), which is extremely hard to find.
Independents
Boss in Witnica is a sizeable brewery and its brands include Boss Pils (4.2%), hoppy and spicy and the 8.5% Porter packed with licorice and coffee flavors.
Brok is owned by Royal Unibrew of Denmark and, strictly speaking, is not an independent but is small compared to the big three. Its Brok Premium, a 5.7% pale lager, is pleasantly hoppy. It has a 9.2% Brok Porter.
Browar Belgia is owned by the Belgian Palm brewery and is the only known company in Poland to produce warm fermented beers. They include Palm pale ale (5.4%) and Poland’s first-known example of an Abbey beer, the 5.4% Frater (Brother) produced in association with the Szyzyrzyc monastery.
Browarmia Krolewska in Warsaw in a brew pub that makes unfiltered Pils, wheat beer, and warm-fermented stout and pale ale.
For up-to-date information about Polish breweries see the excellent website europeanbeerguide.net
