Gutov

Finally, Vladivostok has a brewpub! Opened in January, this place sits opposite the train station on the edge of a park behind the Lenin statue. It occupies a long store front in a typical five story Soviet building, with an added wooden entrance sticking out into the street. Inside, the atmosphere is German, with heavy dark wood on the floor, at the bar, in the picnic size tables and substantial chairs, and in the half-timbering of the walls and ceiling. A few hunter's lodge type nicknacks adorn the walls, while wagon wheel chandeliers float above the tables. The waitstaff were dressed in plain uniforms. The place runs five plate glass windows along the side of the building, and only about 5-6 meters/yards deep, with the bar halfway along the back wall, ringed by just five bar stools. Two working brew kettles were directly behind the bar, separated from the patrons by nothing at all. Smells from the brewing process wafted freely throughout the room. Fanatics like me enjoy that closeness to the brewing process, but I can imagine it turns some people off. Not many, though, as the place was packed on both Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Three beers on tap: pale, red and dark. The pale was close to a Belgian wit, while the other two were solid renditions of the lager style. The owner clearly hasn't gotten his glassware straight, as the bartenders appeared to be using a great deal of different glass styles indiscriminately (including some Krombacher logo mugs). I sat at the bar on my first visit, and caught the bartender about to pour my beer into a frosted mug. He thought I was nuts when I told him I preferred a room temperature glass, but almost seemed interested when I told him the cold killed the taste of the beer. To his credit, the rest of the beers he poured me both that night and the next were in room temperature mugs.

I tried to chat up the brewmaster, but he was having none of it. In general, the waitstaff was not particularly quick or friendly. In Russia, you don't have to be.

Despite a few warts, Gutov is clearly the place to have a beer in Vladivostok, a most welcome addition to the city. I just hope their success doesn't go to their heads.