Budapest/Vienna suggestions

Hello gang, I'm back from my week in Budapest. Once again, it was a busy work week, (1.25 hr drive each way to the work site each day), although I was able to squeeze in a little fun time with the city bars & restaurants.

Of course, my first stops were Gravity Brewing & Csap Szek craft beer bar,(based on previous visits). Both places were again outstanding.

The draft list at Csap Szek is always Hungarian craft beer with great options. While speaking with the gentleman serving the beer, I learned that most Hungarian craft beer is unpasteurized & Csap Szek works hard to keep the beer fresh and the line system very clean, (he was busy flushing lines while changing kegs).

On my first visit I had 3 pints, an APA from Ugar Brewery, an Irish red from Feher Nyul Brewery & my favorite, Guatemala Stout, (coffee milk stout with prune & vanilla) from Etyeki Brewery, absolutely delicious. From there I moved to Gravity Brewing to indulge in their wide verity of big stouts, and lagers. After two beers, I purchased a 750 coffee/cocount 13% stout to bring home, (looking forward to opening that one).

On my next free night I visited Parabolic Lazarus Brewery and Hops Beer Bar. Parabolic is a cool lower level brewery. The beer was decent, but no where near the level of Gravity. I had an APA & dry stout. Both were OK, but nothing outstanding. The facility itself is worth a visit, but the beer, although OK, would not bring me back.

From there I walked to Hops Beer Bar. This is a similar set up to Csap Szek, but with a much greater bottle/can selection, ( I was able to buy several Mind Your Beer Brewery to go cans). Between the draft & bottle selection, this is a first rate craft beer bar. The only downside, at least for me was the staff. The young man behind the bar was more involved with his phone & his buddies that came in than he was talking about or selling beer. I ended up talking more with his friend about Hungarian craft beers & he didn't' even work there !

I ended up going back to Gravity and Csap 2 more times during my trip.

I did finally make it to one of the well known Budapest Ruin Bars. It was nothing like what I expected, but it was fantastic! Almost impossible to describe, except for the fact I can see these places getting quite wild in the later hours of the night, ie. all nighters! They poured mostly national level beers, but did have Pilsner Urquell on side pull draft, that was outstanding! Very fun place! The one we visited was next to the Karavan Street food area, a city block street lined with food trucks, ( a late night drinkers paradise!)

Lastly, one of the guys I travelled with is a real whiskey advocate, so we visited The Good Spirit Bar. This is a very nice cocktail bar with bartenders that know how to make a fantastic drinks, including an Old Fashion! This bar is well worth a visit for cocktail enthusiasts!

Overall it was another great trip to Budapest, I'm really starting to enjoy the city!