Food & Beer Culture

Kranjska klobasa, the Carniolan sausage, is Slovenia's classic beer companion. It's served fried or poached, with mustard and bread or sauerkraut. The salt and fat of the sausage pair well with a cold lager, whose carbonation clears the palate after every bite.

In the upper Sanntal, locals know Savinjski želodec, a stuffed and smoked pork stomach that's sliced and served. It's often accompanied by Štruklji, rolled dumplings with a curd cheese or nut filling, served as a side dish or dessert. A mild lager holds its own against these dishes without overpowering them.

The year's biggest celebration is Pivo in cvetje in Laško, the Beer and Flowers Festival. It draws around 150,000 visitors each summer and ranks as the country's largest folk festival. The flowers represent the spa town, the beer represents the brewery that's stood on the site since 1825.

Hospitality in the Sanntal has a second side: the hops themselves get celebrated too. At the Ekomuzej hmeljarstva in pivovarstva in Žalec you learn how the harvest once worked, and out on the square in front of the Fontana piv you'll find locals in no hurry to finish their glass.

Alcohol is treated with a light touch here. Beer goes with food, not with getting drunk, and anyone who's driving orders something else. The hosts of the valley take pride in their hops and love telling you where they come from.