About us

At The Garden Brewery, beer really matters. As something to drink but also as part of something bigger, something that brings people together.

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  Beer, food, music festivals — whatever we do across The Garden it is about creating moments of connection and collective joy; sparking conversations and creating friendships. We welcome everyone. We believe in community, shared experiences and a life lived in full colour. In a world that can feel divided, isolated and online, we bring people together in person — around tables at home, at pubs and bars, at festivals; in the everyday moments that remind us we're much more alike than we are different.

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  This belief shaped us from the very beginning. Founded in Zagreb in 2016 by David Plant, Nick Colgan, Charlotte Colgan and Thomas Alpeza, The Garden Brewery grew from a simple idea: Croatia deserved much better beer. After spending much of the decade from 2005 in Croatia running Time Out, David saw a clear gap for great beer just as the craft beer revolution was reshaping Europe. Drawing on his biotech background, business experience and brewing network, he set out to help change that. At the same time, Nick and Charlotte had built The Garden into one of Croatia’s most influential cultural brands. Through The Garden Festival — the legendary music event that helped kick-start the Croatian music festival scene — they had already created a powerful connection between music, place and shared experience. The Garden Brewery grew naturally from that world, and proudly took its name from it.

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  From day one, our focus has been simple: make excellent beer, properly. We brew with quality and consistency to create balanced, super drinkable beers that people love, trust and return to. So yes, we 100% love beer but not the snobbery, gatekeeping or jargon. Whether it's a juicebomb IPA, a hazy Pale Ale, a decadent Imperial Stout, a zesty Sour, a crisp unfiltered Lager or a hoppy non-alcoholic, our beers bring people together, not shut them out.

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  Today we've grown into one of the EU’s largest and most respected craft breweries. We brew 3 ranges: EveryDay Core , EveryDay Premium and Seasonal Specials (often with unique local Croatian ingredients) and over the years we've created more than 400 different beers. We've received numerous awards, including EU’s Best Brewery and EU’s Best Taproom, as well as recognition for innovation, sustainability and design. We have also built a reputation for something that matters deeply to us: making excellent beer at excellent prices.

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  Our Zagreb brewery is state of the art, with a centrifuge, in-house lab and high-speed canning line. We hold IFS accreditation, a GFSI-recognised standard that remains rare outside large international macro-brewers, reflecting the seriousness with which we approach quality, process and safety. We work with leading European supermarkets, distribute across Europe and beyond, and have grown into a profitable, internationally respected business.

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  Over the past decade, we've collaborated with many of the world’s best breweries. Those partnerships have helped us refine techniques, push innovation, develop new ideas and styles, and get the very best from all our ingredients. They have also helped us build lasting friendships across the global brewing community.

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  The same spirit extends beyond the brewery itself. Our Taproom is much more than a bar: it is a place where music, food and beer come together. We transformed a large concrete carpark into a beautiful outdoor garden with more than 40 mature trees creating natural shade and a beautiful microclimate. There's indoor trees in our glass atrium and we have use fungi instead of chemical fertilisers, water-permeable surfaces, eco-friendly materials and native planting — choices that are better for the environment, local wildlife, our team and our guests.

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  Sustainability shapes decisions across brewing, packaging, distribution and the spaces we create. We chose aluminium cans over bottles way back in 2016 as they're not only better for our beer but 100% recyclable and reduce transport emissions. In August 2025, we installed a 161.98 kWp solar power plant on the roofs of our Zagreb brewery and Taproom as part of our ongoing commitment to doing the right thing. It makes environmental sense and economic sense too. Croatia has abundant sunshine, the system will pay for itself within a few years, reduce ongoing costs and give us greater control over a meaningful share of our own energy needs. Quite simply, it was the right thing to do.

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  The Garden Brewery is an award-winning brewery in Zagreb, Croatia — but more than that, we're a business built around bringing people together. At heart, we exist to foster inclusivity, community and joy like all businesses in our Collective.