Zajecar, an epicenter of beer and rock & roll in Serbia

If you are looking for a base for exploring the east and the south of Serbia, or just want to grab a good quality traditional lunch after a day of visiting the old imperial Roman palace Felix Romuliana, you may find yourself in the town of Zajecar. Once you happen to be walking along its lively streets, you may think that rarely anything awakes Zajecar from its blanketed peace. It surely may surprise you to hear that Zajecar has always been an epicenter of beer and rock & roll with a long tradition in Serbia.

Zajecarsko beer

Central Square in Zajecar © Credits to Mikica Andrejic

Zajecarsko beer, produced in this small town, has become a cult and a favorite national brand of beer that carries the name of the town. It’s one of the most affordable brands of beer and comes in many varieties: a regular light barley beer, a stout with a distinctive caramelized taste, and a wheat beer. It’s well-known around the country, and you may even see people wearing t-shirts with the famous beer logo. People usually compliment Zajecarsko beer because it’s brewed with a natural mineral water that springs in the town itself. The Zajecar brewery offers organized tours once a week, or when there is a large group of interested people. The bright side of the whole beer story? It’s extremely cheap in the town where it’s originally made.

Gitarijada, a demo band competition and festival

As somehow beer and rock’n’roll go hand in hand, Zajecar is also home to the biggest demo band competition and rock’n’roll festival with the longest tradition in all the Balkan countries. Its famous festival is called “Gitarijada” and has a tradition longer than a half of a century, 52 years to this date, to be exact. The Gitarijada welcomed almost all of the praised rock musicians from the Balkan countries, and some of the big names today sang their first author songs as demo bands years ago in Zajecar.

Movie theater in Zajecar © Credits to Mikica Andrejic

During this long period of time, the festival has matured and also hosted a lot of the world-famous musicians and rock and metal icons: Laibach, Uriah Heep, Billy Idol, Jimmy Rogers, The Cult, and many more. Located in the ideal location - a large park-forest Kraljevica made for jumping around or exploring its many secrets, like those hidden old forts from the Second World War.

And there is still more to Zajecar!

With beer and rock’n’roll, somehow there is always an idea of the alternative culture. Zajecar has that too. It has a long theatre tradition and often hosts various cultural events. Young people have a strong determination to change their hometown for the better, and they keep doing so by organizing various events like the Outhide Festival.

This event unifies more than hundred young people in their efforts to promote culture, music, tradition, creativity and alternative way of thinking to the mainstream, in order to make their hometown a not-so-invisible spot on the planet. So, it’s always a good time to visit Zajecar, an epicenter of beer and rock & roll in Serbia.