Ingredients: Hubeljska water, barley malt (gluten), hops, yeast.

Brewers always have a beer in their assortment that is the showpiece, or in the jargon of imperialist nations, "flagship beer". For us, this is the 3rd Pill. We have been perfecting it for a decade and we can definitely say that it is one of the best-selling, if not the best-selling, Slovenian craft beers.

Not only the consistency and the eternal search for the best batch, but also the ease with which this beer is drunk has made it indispensable. Over the years, it has become numero uno for many beer lovers, and praise is constantly coming from abroad.

It is a classic American style IPA. Brewed from four different barley malts and four different hops. The combination of ingredients gives the 3rd Pill just the right amount of body, which is balanced extremely well by just the right amount of bitterness. It is the equilibrium of the four pillars — alcohol, acidity, sweetness and bitterness. It is inspired by the West Coast of the USA, which in the past was known for its dry and heavily hopped IPA beers. Today, however, such beers are quite hard to come by, as they have given way to numerous new variants of the IPA style. The 3rd Pill, however, shows that it is in no hurry, as it has a loyal audience and convinces new and future beer lovers every time.

Best beer as chosen by the drinkers of the Ljubljana Beer Festival 2015 and the Pivopis portal (several years in a row)
Awarded bronze at the Athens 2023 competition.

At the height of its empire, the United Kingdom had many thirsty people all over the world. But some climates were not suitable for brewing beer. India was one of them. But India, as one of its most important colonies, needed beer.

The London brewery Bow was one of the first to send its pale ale on a six-month voyage around Africa to India in the late 18th century. The beer was preserved on ships by its higher alcohol content and intensive hopping. At the same time, it had a high fermentation, or low residual sugars, or in wine jargon, it was very dry. The combination of bitterness and dryness emphasizes the drinkability of the beer, which was certainly welcome in the hot Indian climate.

The popularity of IPA beer in the 19th century was partly due to the higher quality of beer from the breweries of Burton. This was certainly due to Burton's mineral-rich water sources, which have a beneficial effect on the bitterness and rich hop aroma. Calcium sulphate, known as Burton salt in the jargon, helps with the intensive hopping of beer, as it rounds out the bitterness.

It is said that one of the ships was sunk in a storm and the barrels of beer washed ashore, into the hands of the English. At that time, the style was called India Pale Ale, and the beer also became popular on the island and in some other Commonwealth countries. Until the two world wars, when the common category of ale beer began to stagnate and gave way to mass-brewed lager.

Post-war optimism led the English to borrow blues and rock'n'roll from the United States and transform them into a new musical genre. They added their own touches, sex appeal, and went to extremes: from the loudest, hardest sounds to psychedelic delusions. Classic rock was born.

In the 1970s, English beer experienced a comeback tour, just like the indestructible rockers. Californian microbreweries did not remain indebted to England and borrowed IPA beer in return. They brewed a new style for their compatriots, who were tired of watered-down industrial beer, mainly at the expense of local aromatic hop varieties. The American IPA was born. They also went to extremes - the bitterest, the strongest, there is also a dark version of this light style. The drinkability and bitterness of the IPA style, as in India, also found favor across the pond and brought about a global renaissance of brewing.

Everything that happened by chance in the 18th century is now planned, fast, and progressive. We are on the hunt for an even better deception than yesterday, and we are not alone.

What does it mean if beers are top or bottom fermented?

Top fermentation is most often associated with ale-type beers. It is a method of alcoholic fermentation that occurs in beer when active yeasts rise to the surface of the wort and form a crown (a kind of yeast foam) on it. The yeast is predominantly Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, which is colloquially called ale yeast. Such yeasts prefer higher fermentation temperatures, approximately 15 to 25 degrees.

The opposite is true for bottom-fermenting yeasts, which are associated with lager-type beers. This fermentation takes place at the bottom of the container. It is predominantly Saccharomyces Pastorianus yeast, or lager yeast. Such yeasts prefer lower fermentation temperatures, around 5 to 10 degrees.

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