Beer fountain Green gold
The Green Gold Fountain
First Beer Fountain in the World.
This year, 23 brewers will present themselves at the fountain with a total of 30 different beers.
The story of the Green Gold Fountain
The Green Gold Fountain is a tribute to the hop growing heritage of the Lower Savinja Valley and Žalec, which is the hop-growing centre of Slovenia. Slovenia is also the fifth largest producer of hops in the world and hop is the “spice” that gives beer its distinctive flavour.
In Žalec we wanted to connect the history with today and set the foundations for an appealing tourist story for the future. The Green Gold Fountain is the result of these efforts.
The story of the fountain began in 2014 at the initiative of the then president of the Association of Tourist Societies of the Municipality of Žalec, Mr. Matjaž Omladič. The original idea encouraged the Municipality of Žalec to start looking for an architectural solution in the very same year at a design competition. From among six proposals, the Municipality selected the architectural concept designed by the company RC Planiranje. In the next year the preparations began. The project group was appointed which dealt with many challenges and solved them successfully. The construction of the Green Gold Fountain started in April 2016 and the opening ceremony will take place on 6th September 2016, on the anniversary of the second all-Slovenian national meeting from 1868, which is a holiday of the Municipality of Žalec.
The beer fountain is positioned in the town park, in the town centre, next to the marketplace. The architectural design is a symbolic hop flower, which is expressed as two semi-circles; one a beer fountain and the other a water fountain. The semi-circles are clad in copper lace, symbolizing beer foam.
The fountain was built by the company Remont, and the technology was supplied by the company Etra.
Purchasing and tasting of beer at the fountain
The visitor can buy a glass beer mug at various locations in the town and for the price of EUR 11.00 they can taste 6 x 1 dcl of beer.
The glass, equipped with a microchip, is put under the tap which detects it and pours the beer automatically. At the beginning and end of tasting, the taps are lifted and dropped automatically with an authorisation card from an authorised person.
The beer mug for the Green Gold Fountain was designed by the renowned industrial designer and an honorary citizen of the Municipality of Žalec, Oskar Kogoj, and produced by the company “Hrastnik 1860”.
Ingredients of beer
Hops
Slad
Yeast
Water
Offer of beers, method of dispensing
IHPS Institute for Hop Research and Brewing Slovenia: KUKEC LIGHT
Haler Brewery: GREEN HALER BEER
Flajs Brewery: FURMAN BEER
Green Gold Brewery: WET HOPZ BEER – IPA
Loo Blah Nah Brewery: IPA BEER
IHPS Institute for Hop Research and Brewing Slovenia: KUKEC DARK
History of hop-growing and brewing industry
Hops originate from Asia. Already in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, people made beverages from grains and other plants. Dry hops were used in beer brewing also by old Slavic nations who brought it to our territory during their migrations.
As a culture, hops were already cultivated in the eighth and ninth century in France and Bavaria. At that time beer was brewed in monasteries, and hops were grown everywhere where there were breweries. Only later on did they start growing it in places that were optimal in terms of location, soil and climate. Hop-growing bloomed in the 16th century. In Europe, the centre of hop growing was in the Czech Republic and Bavaria.
The first mention of using hops for beer brewing on the Slovenian territory dates back around 1160 in a urbarium of a landowner from Škofja Loka. A turning point in the development of hop-growing on the Slovenian territory occurred during the reign of Maria Theresa, when between 1764 and 1767 farmers’ associations were established, which encouraged and promoted the introduction of various industrial plants, including hops. A more intensive cultivation of hops began after 1870 on the territory of the Lower Savinja Valley.
The first hop plantation in the Lower Savinja Valley was planted in 1876 at the Novo Celje Mansion by Josip Bilger, who was the mansion’s caretaker at the time. The official beginning of cultivation of the Savinja Golding variety of hops was in 1886 when Janez Hausenbichler and Karl Haupt performed their first tests.
Beer brewing industry also has a rich history in Slovenia. The first documents testifying to the brewing of beer on our territory date back to the 13th century. At the end of the 19th century, small breweries were quickly expanding across the land and the largest ones were capable of brewing up to 3,000 hl of beer. After WW1 all the Slovene breweries merged into a joint-stock company. Vrhnika and Mengeš stopped brewing beer in 1922, and the year 1925 was fatal for Kočevje, Kranj and Žalec. After WW2 three large breweries were established: Union, Laško and Talis. New smaller breweries started to appear, such as the Adam Ravbar brewery from Domžale, the Kratochwill brewery and others.
(Source: Priročnik za hmeljarje (Hop growers’ manual), IHPS Žalec and http://www.ekomuzej.si )
About hops and beer
Hops
(Humulus lupulus L.) is a perennial industrial plant belonging to the Cannabaceae family, originating in Asia. It is cultivated for its bitter, sticky content – lupulin. Lupulin is a yellow pollen-like substance on the hop cone petals, containing the bitter aroma.
On the hop fields only female plants are grown; the part under the soil is the root, which is perennial, and the parts above the soil are the stem, main and lateral leaves and the flowers and cones – the fruit. All the parts above the soil are annual; in the autumn they die off and are cleaned from the field. In the spring, new sprouts start from the root. The male plants are repressed, as pollinated cones reduce the quality of produce.
Hops are picked in late summer (mid-August to beginning of September) when the content of the industrially interesting substances in the cones is optimal.
The majority of the produce is used in brewing industry as an addition in the production of beer, and a small portion of the hops produce is used in the production of medical and cosmetic products. In the production of beer, hops are an indispensable raw material, giving the beer its pleasant bitterness, fullness and aroma.
The most well-known Slovenian hop varieties are the Savinja Golding, Aurora, Bobek and Celeia.
Beer
Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the world with a several thousand-year long tradition. The production processes have changed throughout history but the ingredients remain the same.
The story of hops
The Green Gold Fountain tells the story of the hop-growing tradition which developed through a century and a half. In some places it lives on, in others it has become nothing but a memory. Several tools, habits and traditions still remind us of this heritage.
Hops stack – “Hmeljevke”
Hop pickers – “Obirovke”
Pole-man – “Štangar” and Cat claw – “Maček”
Bushel – “Škaf”
Card – “Baleta”
Pickers’ lunch – “Obirovska južina”
Feast – “Likof”
Hop princess and hop elder
It is a well-known fact that Simon Kukec is the most important brewer, known by the inhabitants of Laško as the father of the Laško beer. A less known fact is that he also owned a brewery in Žalec, which stopped operating after World War I. This ended a several decades-long tradition of brewing industry established and managed by Simon Kukec.
He was born on a small property in Povirje pri Sežani (1838). He married Ana Smolka and lived in Martinščica near Rijeka, Croatia, at the time, where he worked as a railroad guard. He and his wife managed a restaurant and he also worked as a transport entrepreneur during the construction of the harbour.
Eleven years later they moved to Trbovlje, Slovenia, rented the mine restaurant and made a lot of money on it. Later they moved to Žalec where they bought enough hop plantations to be declared landowners.
Simon Kukec had another great passion – gambling. They say this contributed significantly to his wealth, as he is said to have had a “lucky hand”.
He bought an old brewery from the widow of Franc Žuža, a landowner from Žalec who had established the brewery in 1842. Kukec expanded the brewery, modernised it completely and added his own malt-house to it. At an auction he bought the Laško brewery – Laški trg. He combined both breweries and named them Združene pivovarne Žalec in Laški trg (Associated breweries of Žalec and Laški trg). The Laško brewery was managed by his son Edvard and he managed the Žalec brewery himself until he died in 1910.
It is known that Kukec employed predominantly Slovenians. As there were no brewing experts from the region, he employed some Czechs as well.
Kukec was full of ideas and soon he started using thermal water in the beer production process, which improved the beer’s flavour. He introduced a thermal beer, which still exists to this day, although in a slightly altered form. The business bloomed and they were producing increasing amounts of beer which they successfully sold throughout the Slovenian territory and abroad. The beer was consumed in Budapest, Egypt and even as far as India.
There is an anecdote, related to the thermal beer. Due to the vernacular translation of the term “thermal beer” (Kurbier – Kurort/spa and Bier/beer [in Slovenian the homonym “kurbir” is a vulgar word meaning “adulterer”]), men who liked to bed-hop were called “thermal beer” in order to avoid an inappropriate expression.
Simon Kukec left an important impact on Žalec and Laško, so we decided in the Institute of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Žalec to revive the memory of this man.
The Kukec beer can be tasted at the Green Gold Fountain and at the Eco-Museum of Hop-Growing and Brewing Industry in Žalec. Other reminders of Simon Kukec are the souvenirs; the “triplets” with various combinations of beer, beer mugs, t-shirts, aprons that can be bought at the Eco-Museum, TIC Žalec and the Green Gold Shop.
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Let's have a beer … and then what?
Opening hours
FROM APRIL 5 ONWARDS
Monday: 11:00–18:00
Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday: 10:00–18:00
Friday–Saturday: 10:00–19:00
MAY
Monday: 11:00–19:00
Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday: 10:00–19:00
Friday–Saturday: 10:00–20:00
JUNE, JULY, AUGUST
Monday: 11:00–20:00
Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday: 10:00–20:00
Friday–Saturday: 10:00–21:00
SEPTEMBER
Monday: 11:00–19:00
Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday: 10:00–19:00
Friday–Saturday: 10:00–20:00
OCTOBER
Monday: 11:00–18:00
Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday: 10:00–18:00
Friday–Saturday 10:00–19:00
You can buy beer mug at the store at least half hour before closing of a beer fountain.
Purchase of beer mugs:
- Green Gold Shop at the beer fountain, Savinjska cesta 11, Žalec - you can buy beer mug at the store at least half hour before closing of a beer fountain,
- TIC Žalec, Šlandrov trg 25, Žalec
- Eco-Museum of Hop-Growing and Brewing Industry in Slovenia, Cesta žalskega tabora 2, Žalec