A day of drinking in Cardiff

Right before flying to Italy for the holiday season, we decided to take a one-day trip to Cardiff. Capital and largest city of Wales, Cardiff is definitely one of UK’s greatest cities for eating and drinking.

In this blog post I’m going to share with you my personal highlights of the day.

The map

Cardiff is relatively small and you can just walk around and see a decent part of the city; however, as we had less than 24 hours to spend in town, we felt like we just had a small taste of what it’s capable to offer.

The whole city centre is full of independent bars and restaurants. We would have loved to try a lot of them, and we’ll definitely do it in our next visit—after all, it’s not so far from home!

We careful researched where to eat and drink without leaving our hotel’s area (St. Mary Street), and these were the places we eventually decided to visit.

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A day of drinking in Vienna

During summer 2016 I spent three weeks in Vienna, in the lead-up to an important industry event I attended. Vienna is an amazing city—classy, intimidatingly aristocratic, with a sublime architecture and a lot of great places to eat and drink.

In this Vienna drinks guide I will share with you some of my favourite bars and restaurants where to drink something special, from early in the morning to late evening.

The map

Vienna is not as big as other European capitals, but this tour still requires some form of public transportation. Luckily Vienna’s underground network works well and taxis aren’t hard to find, so if you want to try all these places in one day, it’s totally doable.
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BrewDog Nanny State 0.5% ABV hoppy ale

Bottle of BrewDog Nanny State

Yes, it’s a 0.5% ABV beer. I hadn’t tried it yet because of two reasons. First, all the low-alcohol beers I’ve had—not that I’ve had many—have been pretty much on the disgusting side; second, I’ve only found it in pack of 4 or 6 so far, and getting more than one beer when you’re not sure you’re going to like it didn’t seem smart.

Today I’ve found one bottle at Sainsbury’s and decided to give it a go. The smell and taste is distinctively BrewDog—it has five different hops: Centennial, Amarillo, Columbus, Cascade and Simcoe—and the lack of alcohol disappoints only at the first sips. It very soon becomes a distinct drink with its own character and pairs surprisingly well with a steak.

This is the first low-alcohol beer I’d love to buy again. If I could just find a decaf coffee that I like as much as a decent regular cup of joe… 😎

Super Bock Selecção 1927 Bengal Amber IPA

Super Bock Selecção 1927 Bengal Amber IPASuper Bock is Portugal’s national beer, similar to what Peroni is for Italy. I haven’t tried their standard yet (which, I suspect, will be as good and enjoyable as any regular lager), but I’ve had this pleasant IPA of theirs and it was totally worth it. Not too bitter, not too hoppy, averagely carbonated (maybe a bit more than I like). Good to see established brands experimenting with what people seem to like these days (just like that Heineken ale I had in Bristol a few days ago).