We swung by Tribaun to check out the local craft beer scene after dinner on a Friday night. The entrance is hard to miss (it says 'CRAFT BEER' above the entrance), and it leads you below ground level to an area that feels like it could double as a wine or cheese cellar. It's a cozy, intimate environment that has older finishes to it, making it feel right at home use outside the old town in Innsbruck. The music selection is on point - lots of rock from what must be 15+ years ago at this point - but they do need to coordinate their Spotify play listing with their live music performers better; one gentleman playing an acoustic guitar gave up after a few minutes after it was clear that the punk rock in the background wasn't going to stop. You can park yourself in the main area, which has a bar along with several tables for smaller groups; there is also an area next to the entrance that has a couple of longer tables for bigger groups. The bartenders themselves are friendly enough, although their English is not 100% (I was told there were no flights, but someone who spoke Austrian got a flight of 4 I would have ordered). The menus, thankfully, are easy enough to decipher when it comes to beer. Lots of local beers, but they do come in on the lighter side...the highest ABV beer was a 6-handle.
I ended up going with Tribaun's Indian Brown Ale (never had seen something like this before), along with an interestingly-named hoppy Weissbeer called '3 Dudes with Boobs'. The brown ale was not that hoppy; given the flavor profile of brown ales, it is hard to make hops come through as much as something like coffee or some sort of nutty infusion. The wheat beer, though, was excellent - the best rendition of a hoppy wheat beer I have had (Ommegang tried one in their GoT series that paled in comparison to this).
It's a nice, cozy spot to drink some of the local crafts and see what the European beer scene is beyond the big-name macros and the more famous names (e.g. from Belgium). Tribaun is worth a stop for a drink or two; don't expect the biggest variety, but do expect a decent variety from beers that are more traditionally Germanic in origin. read more