Moscow (Москва):
GlavPivMag (Tverskaya) / ГлавПивМаг (Тверская)

Visited on: Saturday 29th September 2018

Bob Thompson

Firstly, let me address what would appear to be a strange name to English speaker. This is my interpretation: Glav is short for Glavny = central, Piv is short for Pivo or Piva = beer or beers and Mag is short for Magazin = shop. So we have the Central Beer Shop.

It is the third in a chain of three. The first is a bottle shop with draught beer to take away. The second is a stall in a market. This particular operation seems to have been instigated in early 2017.

It seems to be more of a bar than the others and is very well located. It is where Tverskaya, a major thoroughfare heading in a North-Westerly direction crosses the circular avenue that encircles the city centre.

I believe this was built on the old city walls. It has a different name on each section and is two separate roads with a stretch of greenery between them. From the corner where the pub is to found you can look down Tverskaya and see the towers and wall of the Kremlin at the end. This area is well-known for its bars, night clubs and restaurants, another reason for its good location.

Yet another is that it is in the same building as the Metro station Tverskaya (Тверская) on line 2 (green). Underground this station is connected to the stations of Pushkinskaya (Мушкинска) on line 7 (purple) and Chekovskaya (Чеховская) on line 9 (Grey).

Of course we had difficulty finding the pub as we had relied again on a map found on the unnamed beer ratings site which sent us the wrong way along Tverskaya.

In fact we had given up and were going to lunch when we spotted it. Naturally, we only had time for a quick drink but came away very impressed.

The entrance is quite nondescript and once inside we realised we were in a micro-pub. It is an L-shaped room with the bar counter along the front with just a few stools with shelves around the corner. The number of seats is less than twenty.

You cannot help but notice the thirty taps along the wall behind the bar, they also sell bottled beer. The beers all come from small independent breweries in and outside Moscow.

It would be too boring to mention all of the beers but I can mention the breweries represented to give you an idea: Velka Morava (Moscow); Green Street Brewery (Moscow); Salden’s (Tula) (see separate article); Plan B (Yaroslavl); Bakunin (St Petersburg) (see separate article); AF Brew (St Petersburg); 1 Tonn (Zhukovsky) and Zavod Brewery of Khimki. There were also two ciders from St Anton.

We had two beers in our short stay and one of these was the unbelievably named Tiny Pissed off Penguins F.C. (7.0%) by Green Street Brewery. I have now researched this and it is the name of a computer game in development financed with help from the beer sales. These penguins also have had Cricket, Rugby and Chess club as beer names.

Our other beer was the much more prosaic Velka Morava Svĕtlé (6.5%). We liked both considerably.

If you like to get away from the bland offerings from the large national and regional breweries this is where you must head for.

Important Information:

GlavPivMag (Tverskaya), Tverskaya Ulitsa, 18, Moscow 127006. Tel: 8 965 223 44.
Web: glavpivmag.com/glavpivmag-3

Hours: Monday-Sunday: 10.00-03.00.

You could arrive at any of the three Metro stations mentioned above. Head for the Tverskaya exit.
At the top of the escalator turn left towards the street (Tverskaya). On the pavement turn left.
You’ll find the pub on the next corner. Turn left and go up the short flight of concrete steps.