Tsypa Brewery, Kvasy

The Tsypa Hutsul craft brewery in Kvasy is probably the best-known brewery in the Ukrainian Carpathians. It opened on 1 May 2015 in a mountain village in the valley of the Chorna Tysa river, and within a few years its beer was known far beyond Zakarpattia: in 2016 and 2017 RateBeer named Tsypa the best craft brewery in Ukraine. It all began with home experiments by founder Oleksandr Shatalov, who moved to Kvasy with his wife Alina and took part in reviving the local spa. The first white egg-shaped vessels in which the beer fermented suggested the brewery’s name, and they are still in use.

Why go to Tsypa

Today the brewery occupies a separate two-storey building of glass and wood that is open to visitors. On the ground floor is a pub, upstairs a coffee bar from which you can look into the brewhouse and tanks. The brewery runs tours with a beer tasting: every Wednesday at 17:00 guests are shown around the production halls and offered five Tsypa beers with local snacks. Every Thursday at 16:00 there is a tasting of Zakarpattia wines (KOHANOVSKA sparkling and DIDOVE still wines), and every Friday at 16:00 a tasting of craft spirits. In summer a terrace with barrel tables opens next to the brewery.

What to taste and buy

Tsypa beer is unfiltered and unpasteurised and is brewed with water from a local high-mountain spring, using European and American ingredients. The brewery’s signature is its Hutsul accents: Carpathian herbs, mountain berries (including bilberries, called yafyny locally) and spruce twigs. The range includes classic lagers and pilsners, wheat beer, IPA and APA, stouts and porters, sours and gose. According to the brewers, the most bitter beer in Ukraine is Tsypa-100, which recently received top marks at a competition in Portugal.

• bottled beer and tasting sets;
• cider from local mountain apples, kvass, kombucha and lemonades;
• natural sparkling pét-nat wines from Kohanovska Winery;
• cheese from the Rosenthal cheese dairy in Kvasy, Carpathian meat and fish delicacies, mountain honey;
• Borkut coffee roasted in-house.

Kvasy has long been famous for its mineral springs, known locally as borkuty, and is now called the craft capital of the country: a cheese dairy, wine and coffee projects have grown up around the brewery, so a whole food-and-drink trail fits into one village.

Practical information

Address: 163 Tsentralna St, Kvasy (Rakhiv district, Zakarpattia region). According to Google Maps, the brewery is open daily from 10:00 to 22:00. The brewery tour with beer tasting costs UAH 350 per person (Wednesday, 17:00); the wine and spirits tastings also cost UAH 350 each. Book at least one day ahead: +380 68 247 43 53 (phone, Viber, Telegram). Tastings are for guests aged 18 and over. Beer and food can be ordered for delivery via Nova Poshta from the online shop tsypa.beer. In Rakhiv there is a Tsypa venue at 30 Myru St.

Getting there: Kvasy lies on the N09 road between Yasinia and Rakhiv. The village has a railway station on the Ivano-Frankivsk – Vorokhta – Rakhiv line, and buses run here from Rakhiv, Yasinia and Ivano-Frankivsk. By car it is about an hour from Bukovel over the Yablunytsia pass.

At a glance

• Address: Kvasy
• Opening hours: Brewery: daily 10:00–22:00 (Google Maps). Brewery tour with beer tasting — Wednesday 17:00; wine tasting — Thursday 16:00; spirits — Friday 16:00. Online shop: Mon–Sat 10:00–16:30.
• Season: All year round
• Prices: Tour with a tasting of 5 beers — UAH 350 per person; wine tasting — UAH 350; spirits tasting — UAH 350. Book at least a day ahead.
• Phone: +380682474353

Website and social media: tsypa.beer · instagram.com · threads.com · facebook.com

Photos: karpaty3d.com; i.ytimg.com.