Tbilisi, Georgia

I arrived inauspiciously enough in Tbilisi. After a long layover in Doha airport, on my way back from a trip to Vietnam, I decided to pass through Georgia, motivated as much by the unfamiliarity of its capital city's name as anything else.

After a long night recovering in my hotel, I took my first steps out on the mean streets of Tbilisi. It's certainly a place of contrasts. The winding streets of its old town make you wonder if you're back in Europe, but its dramatic terrain and soviet apartment blocks mean that you're never quite sure whether you're East or West. This place feels like neither and if you've not spent time here before it can feel like another planet.

I would be staying in the city for at least a few weeks, so suitably slept and feeling more than a little displaced, I thought it best (as I often do) to start out with a beer or two.

I headed North on the city's old Soviet subway system to Number 8 Craft Beer Club. I didn't have the occasion to figure out the significance of the Number 8 or indeed what made this place a "club" but it delivered otherwise on its promise of Craft Beer. The beers I tried were functional but tasty West Coast style IPAs, served in a comforting pint-sized measure.

A few days later, having spent the day working from a coffee shop in the city's old town, I took off to a couple more places. Firstly, Tsota Tsota🍺. This place was bustling and had a good variety of beer styles on tap. I had some nice New England style Pale Ales which were solid and tasted some kind of chilli thing which was rather less to my taste.

Next stop, I popped into NaturAle🍺. A pleasingly dinghy little hole-in-the-wall, this place again impressed with an eclectic taplist and rather friendly owner more than happy to chat about beer. On the way home, I passed by the SMA Craft Beer Bar. A small and hip looking place, it was unfortunately pretty packed every time I tried to visit. Hopefully next time I'm in the city.

A week or so later, on a Sunday afternoon, I took a stroll to Kazbegi on the East side of the Kura river. This is a much more traditional place to drink cold beer and eat smoked fish (which alas I wasn't brave enough to try). Still it was exceptionally cheap and a pleasant place to relax for a few hours.