I like dark beer. The best dark beer I have found in Croatia goes by the name of Tomislav. Produced by Zagreb Brewery, one of the largest in the country, it is available in Motovun, as well. I like the beer, but I am quite amused by its packaging. “Croatian Royal Beer,” the sticker on the bottle blares next to the year when it was introduced: 1925. And the picture on the sticker shows an old man on horseback wearing a crown and a heavy cape—presumably made out of a precious fur. In his right hand he is brandishing a heavy sword. King Tomislav, of course. The first Croatian king, too. Not much is known about the fellow, though. The scarce sources claim that he was the duke of Dalmatian Croatia from around 910. It is not clear exactly where that was, or whose duke he was, but Charlemagne’s kingdom was not far away at the time. According to a few documents, he was declared king in 925 and he ruled through 928 or thereabouts, when he died. And that is about all there is to this legend. At any rate, the only thing that is absolutely sure about Tomislav is that it is a dark beer very to my liking.

Addendum (October 1, 2016)

I like dark beer, indeed. And Tomislav is a dark beer very to my liking, as well. But this piece skirts the very reason why I started drinking it in Zagreb. Used to relatively cheap but reasonably good wine in Motovun, I was quite stunned by wine prices in the Croatian capital. A glass of any wine worth drinking would cost as much as four bottles of beer. And no kidding. At the time, two deciliters of reasonably good wine would cost about sixty Croatian kuna while five deciliters of Tomislav would cost fifteen kuna only. Amazing, to say the least. By comparison, one would get two deciliters of good wine for twelve kuna in Motovun. Although I would rather drink wine in Zagreb, too, I switched to beer because I found wine prices no less than ridiculous. Actually, outright insulting. I discovered Tomislav quickly enough, and I stuck with it. In short, Croatia prides itself as a wine country, but its capital is definitely not a wine city. To this day, wine is way too expensive there.