April 14, 2021 - At the fourth edition of the prestigious London Beer Competition, held on March 17, 2021, the Međimurje Lepi Dečki brewery won three silver medals, a gold medal, and the "Best beer in 2021 for price/quality" award, which is just further proof of the international quality of Međimurje beers.

To win these medals, selected beers from Lepi Dečki brewery had to meet three value criteria - quality, price, and packaging.

Lepi Dečki took home as many as four medals, one gold and three silver, and the title of the best beer in terms of price and quality. Four beers were registered and awarded: Međimursko beer in the lager category, Čakovecko beer in the pilsner category, Regoč as imperial IPA, and Hyperbola as Russian Imperial Stout.

"We are extremely proud of this important award and recognition of our work. We are carrying four medals from London and the title of the best beer in the price and quality category," said the owner of Lepi Dečki, Danijel Radek. "We create the beer that the customer wants, that is attractive, high quality, and enjoyed, and this has been recognized by the industry that has supported and rewarded our philosophy."

Sid Patel, CEO of the competition, spoke on behalf of Beverage Trade Network:

“The craft beer revolution has spawned many new and rediscovered lost and forgotten beer styles. Our beer judges extensively tasted and discussed the qualities of all registered beers from the customer, beer lovers, and beer sommeliers, and the experts. The quality of the beer itself is evaluated professionally, but it is important to evaluate the quality of the packaging and the price-quality ratio. "

Beer was judged on a scale of 1 to 100 at the London Beer Competition, where beers with over 90 points won gold medals, while those with over 76 points won silver.

Lepi Dečki was founded in 2016 in Čakovec, and since 2020 it has been operating in a new production plant with a production capacity of 600,000 liters per year. They have as many as 18 different beers in their beer portfolio, and at the competition in London, four were awarded medals.

The first beer produced was Međimursko, a lager that received 82 points, with which Čakovecko, Pilsner, one of the most popular beers in the portfolio, were rated. The third silver medal with 83 points went to Regoč, until recently the strongest and most intense beer of the Imperial India Pale Ale style, a thick, full beer that pairs well with food.

"From the very beginning, we have been producing lagers, pilsners, and that has been our focus, so these awards are just a confirmation that we are going in the right direction," adds Radek. "In addition to the basic lager portfolio, of course, we also do intense, demanding styles such as Regoč and Hyperbola, which are our best-rated and praised beers by default!"

The winner among the beers at the competition in London in the price-quality ratio category is Hyperbola, a thick, dark, complex beer in the style of the Russian imperial stout, with notes of chocolate, coffee, and spices. The density of beer and abundant earthy notes, flavors, and aromas of berries and milk chocolate can be felt on the palate.

All beers of the Lepi Dečki brewery are distributed nationally, and with this latest recognition, we do not doubt that exports will start soon.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes on the 13th of October, 2020, the Medjimurje-based brewery Lepi Decki has officially opened a new plant in Mihovljan in Cakovec, from which as much as 50,000 litres of beer will be able to be produced per month, almost nine times more than the previous capacity of the brand that first conquered the north of Croatia on the craft beer scene.

The company Aggero has invested approximately nine million kuna into Lepi Decki's brand new space covering 6000 square metres (of which 1200 will be the production plant, and 2000 the warehouse).

"Back at the end of 2019, we started thinking about a larger space, so in the spring of 2020 we moved to our own plant in Cakovec. But due to the lockdown and the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, everything was quite demanding and intense. The relocation was conditioned by partners, subcontractors and everything was late,'' says Lepi Decki's owner Danijel Radek. Despite such dire circumstances and the closure of restaurants where their produce would be purchased, at the end of May something alarming happened to them - they had no beer.

"It took us several months to fix it all,'' he said. In Lepi Decki's brand new ''base'' by the end of the year, their offer will be enriched with a beer tasting room, depending on the epidemiological picture and financial possibilities.

“It would be a real ale house-type pub, a pub with food. It's interesting how many people mix the terms ale house and brewery, in essence we want to alleviate this problem for them. We'd also like to open a shop within it, and enable the purchase of beer at the place of production. It would be a great one-stop shop, brewery, pub, ale house, beer shop, which is in principle an interesting tourist aspect,'' explained Radek, adding that the plan is to launch a Free Spirit distillery, with whiskey, gin and beer liqueurs on offer. Over the years, this brewery has positioned itself as one of the leaders in the constant "thriving" market of Croatian craft beer. Their list of as many as 20 labels is impressive, and certainly lot for a team of seven employees and several external associates.

''Our concept isn't just to make different beers and try new styles. We make beer in a combination of an impossible triangle, the master brewer is Drazen Balenta, and I devise the recipes, while the marketing department, ie my colleague Kreso Biskup, devises sales and marketing placement. All three of them must create the best possible product through inputs and so far it seems that we're doing well, at least according to the reactions of customers, beer drinkers, and also new craft beer fans,'' explained Radek. They have 15 varieties in constant production, and by the end of this year they plan to present English bitter ale and dark lager. The most popular are lagers and pale ale, ie their debut Medjimurje beer and Kaj-El.

''New styles and more modern brands have done excellently and the audience loves them very much. For example there are Tria de los Muertos, lager, pilsner Cakovecko, Waitapu Blond Ale, XO as West Coast IPA. One of the more popular summer beers we made is St. Martin’s, kolsch style ale, in collaboration with Lifeclass Spa Sv. Martin. Cooperation with them means a lot to us as a brand because they recognised the quality and our effort and work,'' noted Kreso Biskup. Lepi Decki are also not giving up the concept of production in large bottles, all but two styles with more alcohol are in the volume of 0.5 litres, which is a rarity among crafters.

"Craft beer in itself is more expensive, we have the impression that the customer today has no problem setting aside a few kuna more for a premium, higher quality product, but at the end of the day they at least want it to be a real, big beer, not just two sips. We also offer cans of 0.33 as well as 0.5 in certain styles. They're the future of production because they're completely recyclable, they're easier and more compact for transport, and the beer is also of the highest quality,'' stated Biskup.

Until the coronavirus pandemic struck, 95% of Lepi Decki's beer was sold in the HoReCa channel from Medjimurje to Dubrovnik, in retail stores and in specialised stores, as well as several times a year in the popular Lidl chain. This year, in which the coronavirus has been dominant, was challenging in terms of sales, so they started with online sales through their webshop and through the channels of their partners and distributors.

"This has enabled us to develop in a more robust and sustainable way,'' they concluded from Medjimurje's Lepi Decki.

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