Bierix

The Bierix, ... ... as Erwin Zupancic likes to be called, has always enjoyed drinking beer. Very early on, the Carinthian asked himself why there are people who prefer Villacher beer to Hirter beer and thus only prefer "the brand". Due to the close proximity to Carinthian beer pioneer Uli Bacher - the Bierix lives only a few hundred metres away from the Gartenrast and the Shilling brewery - there was access to many national and international beers outside the usual styles even before the craft beer boom in Austria. Gartenrast is one of the best beer pubs in the country, not only is Shilling beer brewed here, there is also a beer menu that has plenty to offer for everyone, even the most unusual beer tastes. At the Gartenrast, the Bierix discovered Schneider's Aventinus Eisbock early on, was able to taste various IPAs and had some thoroughly exciting experiences with many other beers. When he thought he could taste some washing-up liquid in a Sierra Nevada Tornado IPA, he was almost expelled from the pub. his became one of Erwin Zupancic's great passions and some time later he was even allowed to take over the section leadership of BierIG Kärnten. The nickname Bierix also comes from this time. He, in turn, is a genuine Carinthian and rejects any resemblance to representatives of Gallic peoples. Due to the regular critical comments at beer tastings, Bierix was increasingly encouraged to brew beer himself and do it better than the others. When he was able to buy a second-hand Speidel Braumeister a short time later, his ambition was truly awakened. So at the end of 2016, he returned home from a trip to Vienna with a lot of new equipment and raw materials. Shortly before the turn of the year, he had the opportunity to attend a Braumeister 20 brew at a colleague's house and gain his first experience. Thanks to Worldwideweb and the wonderful and informative brewery network in Austria, a brew was regularly brewed every month. The following summer, the first invitation to the Austrian Beer Challenge fluttered into the house - just at the time when the first pine trees were being processed for their own schnapps. The motivation was immediately there to challenge the beginner's luck and brew a Zirbenbier for the competition. At the first attempt, the Bierix managed to get the BierIG quality seal at least once with the ZirbAle. This was motivation enough to further improve the recipe and was rewarded with the State Champion (Home Brewer) in the category Creative Beer in 2021 and subsequently crowned again in 2022 with the State Champion (Home Brewer) or Best of Show Beer (Best Beer out of 17 categories of all State Champions).