Bere Artizanala Sikaru

This page was last updated January 6th 2021. No further updates and maintenance will be performed on it.
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Location: Bucharest
Open since: April 2015
Currently closed
Head brewer: Arnaud Dussaix

General information:

The brewers at Sikaru firmly believe that life is too short to drink a boring beer. Luckily for us, life is also too short to spend managing supermarket chains, so after almost 20 years of doing just that, Arnaud Dussaix, a French native living in Romania, decided to take on the beer industry instead.

Sikaru have been producing and selling their beer in Romania since April 2015, putting them up there with some of the first craft brewers in the country, and definitely the first to open in Bucharest. Their name comes from an ancient, Sumerian beer recipe, yet their 500 liter setup has been producing styles that are more in tune with what modern consumers would expect.

There are a couple of things that set Sikaru apart as a brewery. One of them is the fact that they are one of the few who have become a regular presence on the beer shelves in supermarkets across the country. This is a fairly remarkable feat, given the fact that in 2017 their total output was only half of their total 800 – 1000 hectoliters per year capacity (the equipment itself borders on glorified brew-in-a-bag, yet the limited storage space also gets in the way). Sikaru are also one of the few artisan breweries in the country who use wort to bottle-condition their beers (most resort to either force carbonating their beers or spunding).

They are also the founding members of the Craft Beer Producers’ Association in Romania, along with 4 other breweries, and apart from business growth, they also aim to smooth out the bureaucratic technicalities behind opening a brewery in the country, as well as improve the visibility and availability of craft beer on the market.

The Sikaru beers are mostly available by bottle, 330ml each, although you can also find them on draft in designated bars across Bucharest, in Cluj at Beer’s Point, online from Berero Store, and at the vast majority of beer festivals. Additionally, do drop by their recently opened tap room, Craft și Draft, where you can indulge in a wide selection of other Romanian craft beers as well.

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Products:

Classic range:

  • Sikaru Albă – Wit – 5% ABV
  • Sikaru Blondă – Golden Ale – 5.5% ABV
  • Sikaru Neagră – Stout – 5.5% ABV
  • Sikaru Roşcată – English IPA – 5.2% ABV
  • Sikaru Green Griffin – American IPA – 5.8% ABV
  • Black Griffin – Black IPA – 5.5% ABV

Seasonal and specialty beers:

  • Sikaru Summer Ale – Pale Ale – 5.2% ABV
  • Christmas Ale – Seasonal Red Ale – 5.5% ABV
  • Relaxed Griffin – Ruby Ale (2nd anniversary beer) – 5.3% ABV
  • Tropical Griffin – American Pale Ale (2nd anniversary beer) – 5.2% ABV
  • Sikaru Pils – Pilsner (brewed at Carol Beer) – 5% ABV 
  • Sikaru Vienna Lager – Lager (brewed at Carol Beer) – 5.3% ABV

In collaboration with Sunstone Alehouse (from Moldova):

  • Summer Tide – Pale Ale – 5.2% ABV
  • Alternosfera IPA (brewed for the band Alternosfera) – 5.2% ABV
  • Silky Surf – Coffee Milk Stout – 6.4% ABV
  • Highland Dew – Strong Scotch Ale – 7.2% ABV

For reviews check RateBeer, BeerAdvocate, Untappd and Universitatea de Bere.

Contact details:

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