News
If you follow us on social media or if you’ve been to our beer stand at a beer festival, then it is more than likely that you’ll have seen or met our Marko aka Mad Marko. So here is another Meet the Brewer blog to find out how Marko ended up in the brewing world and as the brewery manager of the Uiltje nest!
Mad Marko
So how did Marko end up in the beer world? Well 9 years ago, Marko and his wife Jelena went to visit Belgium to try some classic Belgian beers, “opening a whole new world to me” as Marko explains. Back home in Belgrade, Serbia, Marko was encouraged by his friends to start using RateBeer. Trying as many beers as he could get his hands on, he was particularly taken aback by a super fresh IPA that an American friend gave to him. Before long Marko was chasing all the available beers throughout Serbia, trying over 400+ beer! In the meantime, he and Jelena were returning to Belgium every 3 or 4 months to try new beers with fellow RateBeerians. Before long, Marko was sucked into the beer world, fully submerged in the Serbian beer community, helping to organise beer festivals and the likes.
The Netherlands
Four and a half years ago, Marko and Jelena moved to the Netherlands. They started meeting with local Ratebeerians which was a great way of meeting new people as well as attending lots of beer festivals and visiting breweries. So how did Marko end up in the Uiltje nest? Well when he first went to the taproom in April 2016, he met our Roel who showed him around the brewery which was still under construction. At the end of May, Uiltje put a call out for help with packaging which Marko signed up for – he eventually started in May 2017. Though Marko had done some home brewing, he had no previous experience of working in a brewery. However Roel soon showed him the ropes with a lot of encouragement from Rob. It’s safe to say that Marko has since risen through the ranks, as he went on to become head of packaging and planning and very recently became the brewery manager!
Favourite beer(s)
In his spare time he loves to discover new beers with his wife Jelena, and they’ve travelled all over Europe and other parts of the world to visit breweries and sample their beers – they’ve already tasted over 5000 beers! If you’re keen to see what adventures they get upto, make sure to follow them at #twobeergeeks on instagram! And lastly but very importantly, what is Marko’s favourite beer? No surprise perhaps that it’s fresh IPAs, which he enjoys particularly during the summer! And what about his favourite Uiltje beer? It’s none other than the Big Fat Double 5! However Marko is also a huge fan of the Belgian classics, in particular lambic beers, as well as German classics such as those from Franconia and Marzen style beers.