For centuries, Bukhara was one of the main cultural and religious hubs of Central Asia. It also had a bustling trade activity due to its location by an oasis in the Silk Roads. Samarkand is probably more famous in the West, but Bukhara’s historical importance is even greater.
Bukhara does not have such breathtaking single monuments as those in Samarkand, but it compensates this with more places to visit and a much more consistent urban plan – in Bukhara, you won’t walk through newly constructed soulless avenues, but around a real city. In Bukhara, it is much easier to imagine Central Asia when the silk roads thrived.
In two full days you will be able to visit all places of interest in Bukhara (in Uzbek: Buxoro) described in this post. Bukhara is probably the city with the best atmosphere in Uzbekistan and, if you came for shopping, you may want to stay a day or two more. Its downside is that there are not many places to visit around Bukhara – just Vobkent and Gidjuvon, or an impressive minaret and a madrasah. West of the Bukhara oasis is just an endless steppe.
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Arriving in Bukhara
In Bukhara internacional airport (BHK) there are flights to many destinations, including Istanbul and Moscow. Actually, you can start your trip to Uzbekistán in Bukhara.
To travel to other cities in Uzbekistan, the best option is the train. There are high-speed trains to Samarkand (1h30) and Tashkent (3h50). The regular train is slower – 3h to Samarkand and 7h to Tashkent.
Train tickets are quite cheap, around €10 or less, and can be easily bought in the official website of the Uzbek national railway company: https://railway.uz/en/
Bukhara train station lies in the city’s outskirts, East of the old city. Beware of taxi drivers, they try to scam tourists!
Upon leaving the station, a taxi driver offered us a ride for 150.000 som (around US$15) – he didn’t insist much and went for another tourist. Finally, we got a ride for 60.000 som. When leaving Bukhara for Khiva, the hotel staff negotiated with a driver and he took us for 35.000 som (around US$3.50). You won’t get this price unless a local negotiates for you, but at least don’t pay those $15!
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.jpg "Bukhara - feel the Silk Roads 2")
Moving around Bukhara
Bukhara’s old city is the largest in Uzbekistan, but it can be easily explored on foot, with the exception of Sitorai Mohi Xosa, the Summer Palace of the last Emir of Bukhara, 4 km North of the old city, where you can go by minibus or taxi (around US$2-3).
Actually, Bukhara’s old city is main pedestrian and it is lovely to walk around, because, unlike Samarkand, it still preserves and old city vibe, even if it is really touristic, with historical buildings on each corner.
Where to stay in Bukhara
Bukhara has many accommodation options, with better prices than in Samarkand (and more are being built). We stayed in a small but modern hotel, more comfortable that the usual family guesthouses, just East of Lobi Hovuz, Kukaldosh Boutique Hotel.
A bit of history of Bukhara
Bukhara’s history spans over 2000 years. “Bukhara” was first used to name all the oasis where the city lies, and it is thought to be related to the existentes of Buddhist monasteries. Muslim chronicles describe a city with several ethnicities and religions upon their conquest in 650.
Despite the Muslim conquest, Bukhara’s dwellers maintained their religions and traditions until the real Arab invasion in the 8th c. that started Bukhara’s islamisation
In 892, Ismail Samani moved the capital of the Samanid Empire from Samarkand to Bukhara and asserted the empire’s independence from the Abassid Caliphate. The Samanids where Sunni Persians and their empire spanned from Kabul to the Caspian Sea, in parts of modern Afganistan, Turkmenistan and Eastern Iran.
Thus started Bukhara’s Golden Age, when the city became a first-class cultural hub in the Islamic world. Rudaki, considered the father of modern Persian poetry, lived in Bukhara’s court, but the most renowned Bukhari in the Samanid era was Abu Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna). The great philosopher, considered the father of early modern medicine was born in a nearby village and was raised and studied in Bukhara.
There are only a few buildings left from this era in Bukhara, like the Samanids Mausoleum.
In 999, the Kara-Khanids conquered Bukhara. Although Bukhara was not the Kara-Khanids capital, they built one of the city’s most iconic monuments: the Poi Kalyon minaret and the old mosque, later destroyed by the Mongols, as well as the Magoki Attori Mosque.
In 1220 Genghis Khan sieged Bukhara and conquered it. The city’s population surrendered, avoiding the harshest punishment – most of its dwellers were spared, but most of the city was burned. This is why very few of Bukhara’s monuments predate the Mongol conquest.
By the end of the 14th century, Bukhara started to recover from the Mongol sack and, due to its strategic position by an oasis in the Silk Roads. It was incorporated into the Timurid Empire, whose capital was in Samarkand.
In 1506, the Shaybanid dynasty conquered Bukhara, Samarkand and most of the Timurid Empire lands. The Shaybanids established the Bukhara Khanate, and started an ambitious building programme to embellish the city. Many of the most beautiful buildings in Bukhara date from this time, like the Mir Arab Madrasah, which is still active, in front of the Kalyon mosque and minaret.
In 1785 the Khanate gave way to the Bukhara Emirate, under the Manghit dynasty. This dynasty could not claim to descend from Genghis Khan and their legitimacy was based of Islamic Law, hence the title of Emir instead of Khan.
The Bukhara Emirate soon got involved in the Great Game (Britain and Russia’s rivalry over Central Asia). It was then when British Stoddart and Conolly, after a big diplomatic mistake, were arrested in Bukhara’s fortress prison, in a pit infested by reptiles and insects, and were later executed.
In the mid 19th century, Russia conquered a large part of the Bukhara Emirate, and what remained of it, including Bukhara city, soon became a Russian puppet state. The last Emir, Alim Khan, was dethroned when the Bukhara Popular Soviet Republic was proclaimed in 1920. Bukhara was soon incorporated into the Uzbek Socialist Soviet Republic, in the current national borders.
2 days in Bukhara
Ark
Our visit to Bukhara started with its citadel (Ark), which lies on the North of the old city. The Ark is on the edge of the Registan, a large square, facing the Bolo Hauz Mosque.
The origins of the Ark are lost in time. It is thought that a first citadel was built around 1500 years ago. Its origin was Persian (arg, means citadel or castle in Persian), but nothing remains of it.
Throughout Bukhara’s history, through the invations of Arabs, Turks and Genghis Khan, the citadel was destroyed and rebuilt, adapting to changing rules and religions.
The construction of the current Ark started in the 16th c. under the Shaybanids, and it was enlarged until the 1740 Persian invasion. Later, the local Manghit dynasty (1788-1920) recovered it and took it to a final artistic and military splendour.
In its zenith, around 3000 people lived in this citadel, mostly the Khan or Emir and his family, his harem and noblemen with with bureaucratic or military positions. There were also prisoners in the dark cells located along the access staircase.
In 1920, Ark was partially destroyed by a Russian air attack. This is why most of its interior is in ruins, but there are still a few interesting things inside.
Entrance costs 25.000 som (a bit more than US$2). Although it looks large, you can visit it in less than one hour, because only the Western part that wasn’t damaged by the Russian bombing is accessible.
Access to the citadel has always been through the Registan gate, but the one we see today dates from the 1740s. Once inside, you will find the Friday Mosque (Jo’me masjidi) where the Ark’s dwellers usually attended, although the khan sometimes went across the Registan to the Bolo Hauz Mosque.
The other main sights are the central courtyard, where the Emir of Bukhara held formal receptions (kurinesh khana) and the Chancellery (elchi khanah).
North-east of the Ark is the Zindan (fortress prison). It looks similar to the Ark, just much smaller in size.
Zindan is visited separately, and 15 minutes are enough. The highlight is the 6 metre deep pit reserved for those prisoners who deserved a harsher punishment – they were chained to their neck and tortured with snakes and scorpions. Charles Stoddart, British envoy to Bukhara, an army general with no diplomatic skills, ended up in this infamous pit in 1838, after offending the Emir in the Ark and attacking a courtier.
Conolly, who arrived in this aid, also ended up sharing the pit with him. Despite a huge diplomatic pressure, the Emir Nasrullah Khan sentenced them to death 4 years after the incident.
Bolo hauz Mosque
Bolo Hauz Mosque (also Bolohovuz) is in Registan, just across the Ark (in what is known as a kosh arrangement). Its name literally means “above the pool”, as there is a large pool just in front of the mosque, something that was usual in Bukhara.
Construction of the Bolo hauz Mosque started in 1712. This was the private mosque of the Khan of Bukhara, although it was very spacious so that most of Bukhara’s dwellers could also come to Bolo hauz for the Friday prayer. When the khan attended the mosque, a long carpet was set from the Ark’s gate to the mosque – and even if he wasn’t present, his name was always said in Friday prayers.
Bolo hauz Mosque is one of the newest great monuments of Bukhara. It was designed with an ample interior for prayers during cold Bukharian winters and an East-facing 20-column iwan, providing good ventilation for hot summers.
This mosque is still very active, and you will be able to see massive prayers. There are no touristic visits, but if you ask for it kindly, they will let you peek to see the interior.
Samanids Park
Before going back to the main area in Bukhara old city, we continued West from Bolo hauz Mosque to visit Samanids Park. This is a very interesting place, combining unique historical buildings and real local life. There is a quite decadent amusement park (free entrance) and Bukhara’s main bazaar is just North.
The park takes its name from the Tomb of Ismail Samani o Tomb of the Samanids. The Samanids were a dynasty of Persian origin who ruled Bukhara and all Transoxiana as suzerains of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Built in the 9th-10th c., this is the oldest Muslim mausoleum and the oldest surviving building in Bukhara, one of the few that survived Genghis Khan’s conquest. The Tomb of Ismail Samani has remained unscathed because it was forgotten and buried until its rediscovery in 1930.
The Tomb of Ismail Samani has a rather different architecture to any other building in Bukhara. Structurally, it is similar to Zoroastrain fire temples of the Sassanid Persians, and it adds to it a very unique and balanced decoration.
A bit to the North is the Chashma Ayub Mausoleum (literally “Job’s Well”), built between the 12th-16th centuries. Nowadays it hosts a small museum of water management in Uzbekistan, which displays the water management systems of Bukhara and its oasis along history, up to the Aral Sea disaster.
Close to this mausoleum is the Main Bazaar of Bukhara, where we did a quick stroll to check out the local atmosphere and tried some somsas.
To the West of the Chashma Ayub Mausoleum there is a small section of Bukhara’s old walls and one of its gates, which does not appear in many tourist guides.
On the other side of the amusement park there are two madrasahs, in a qosh arrangement (face to face on either side of a sqaure), so sometimes they are referred to as Qosh Madrasah – the are the Madari Khan (Khan’s Mother) Madrasah is the oldest and smallest. Across, Abdullah Khan Madrasah follows a similar style. They disregard the Islamic rule that madrasahs should have an axis aligned with Mecca.
Both madrasahs were built by Abdullah Khan II (1557-1598), the last ruler of the Shaybanid dynasty, who funded the construction of many buildings in Bukhara, including the representative trade domes (toqi). Anyway, these madrasahs are quite minor compared to others built before and later in Bukhara.
Poi Kalyon
From the Samanids Park we went back to the Registan and then to the heart of old Bukhara. The first place arriving from the north is Bukhara’s most breathtaking and iconic sight: Poi Kalyon square.
Poi Kalyon (also Po-i-Kalyan) is a monumental ensemble made up of the Kalyon Mosque, Mir-i-Arab Madrasah, across, and the Kalyon Minar (minaret). Poi Kalyon is especially magical at dawn or dusk, when the sun rays make the mosque or madrasah’s tiles scintillate.
Kalyon Mosque is the main mosque of Bukhara and the third largest mosque in Central Asia.
Under the Kara-Khanids (12th c.) a large mosque was erected in this same place, but it was destroyed by Genghis Khan’s Golden Horde. Its ruins stayed on stop for some centuries, until construction of the new great mosque started. It was finished around 1530.
The Kalyon Mosque follows a similar structure to Samarkand’s Bibi Khanum – a four-iwan entrance, two large domes and a spacious courtyard (measuring 130 by 80 meters, and featuring 288 small domes).
Unfortunately, Kalyon Mosque was closed for restoration works during our visit.
The Kalyon Minar is the sole survivor of the primitive mosque – Genghis Khan spared it because, according to the legend, he was amazed by its beauty since he first saw it when approaching Bukhara.
Kalyon Minar is 47 metres tall and is features an intricate decoration based on geometrical motifs made by the bricks arrangement. The thin bands of coloured tiles were added later.
It is said that his architect took great care in building the minaret to last, laying 10-metre deep foundations, letting the mortar set for two years before laying the outer bricks and with a slope that provides for earthquake protection.
The legend says that the architect asked to be buried below the minaret, so that if it collapsed, it would fall over his head.
Mir-Arab Madrasah is the newest building ot the Poi Kalyon ensemble, built in 1535, after completion of the Kalyon Mosque.
If follows the model of other madrasahs of its time, with an exquisite faience pishtaq and two turquoise domes. Mir-Arab means “prince of the Arabs” and it refers to Sheikh Abdullah Yemeni, leader of the Muslim community of Bukhara when it was built and counsellor of a few khans of Bukhara. He is buried inside the madrasah.
Another thing that makes the Mir-Arab Madrasah unique is that, unlike other historical madrasahs in Uzbekistan, it is still an active madrasah. In fact, it was the only madrasah that continued working under Soviet rule.
This is the reason why it is not open for tourists, but you can peek on the courtyard and see the hujras, still student rooms, decorated with tiles.
Finally, the Amir Alimkhan Madrasah (also referred to as Khanaqah, building for sufi gatherings) is behind the Kalyon Minar.
It is an 18th-century madrasah to which a hammam was added later. It bears the name of the last Emir of Bukhara, although it was built before his reign.
Being so close to an amazing sight like the Poi Kalyon, many people overlook it, despite its interesting decor. It is anyway closed to visits.
Continue behind the Kalyon Mosque to find another hidden gem, Xoja Zayniddin Mosque, from the mid-16th c. It is a white mosque with wooden portico, still in use. The best is its interior decoration, so don’t miss it if you find it open!
Toqi zargaron
Leaving Poi Kalyon you will soon find the first of the toqi or trade domes: toqi zargaron, originally a textile market. It is strategically located where two of the most important streets of old Bukhara cross.
Crossing toqi zargaron you will arrive to the beautiful Abdulaziz Khan and Ulug Beg madrasahs.
Abdulaziz Khan Madrasah & Ulugh Beg Madrasah
Just after exiting toqi zargaron you will arrive to two beautiful madrasas in qosh arrangements: Ulugh Beg Madrasah and Abdulaziz Khan Madrasah.
Ulugh Beg Madrasah is the oldest, built around 1420, and one of the few buildings in Bukhara dating from the Timurid era. Bukhara had lost importance in relation with Samarkand, Amir Timur’s capital, but this madrasah could have meant a cultural rebirth for Bukhara, attracting thinkers and students.
The madrasah is quite simple but harmonious, and it has barely been reconstructed. It was originally flanked by 4 minaret-shaped towers that have long been lost. The iwan‘s inscription says “knowledge is the duty of all Muslim men and women“.
Inside, it is not in good shape, because many of its tiles have been lost. Anyway, it has a few interesting features: windows in the top floor are communicated creating a corridor. Unlike other madrasahs, the entrance leads directly to the courtyard, but also to a mosque on the left and a lecture hall on the right.
Abdulaziz Khan Madrasa was built 130 years later, across Ulugh Beg’s. Its pishtaq is much more ornate, one of the most beautiful in Bukhara. The front tiles bear an intricate decoration with Chinese dragons and the iwan shows colourful muqarnas.
Inside you will find some merchants selling tablecloths, pillowcases and the likes. Left of the entrance is the winter mosque and on the right, the lecture hall. There is a museum (around €2.50) inside the lecture hall, but what is more interesting is the decor than the exhibit itself.
The summer mosque is in the courtyard. Although most of the faience tiles have been lost, interesting mural paintings are still preserved in the lecture hall and mosques.
Khalkikat Street & Toqi telpakfurushon
Leaving these madrasahs, you can take Khalkikat Street towards the south. This is a wide shopping street opened in the mid-16th c. under the rule of Abdullah Khan II and it is still the main shopping street in Bukhara’s old city, where you can find good quality products, including silk scarves and carpets.
In this street is Abdulla Khan’s Tim, a large trade commercial building that is still full of merchants.
Khalkikat Street will take you to another very iconic space of the city – Devonbegi square. But in order to arrive your, you will cross another trade dome, toqi telpakfurushon (“Hat seller’s dome”), even larger than toqi zargaron. Continue south and you will arrive to toqi sarrafon (“Money changer’s dome”).
Magoki Attori Mosque
Crossing toqi telpakfurushon you will first arrive to an open space containing the ruins of a hammam and a caranvaserai.
But the most interesting building here is the Magoki Attori Mosque, one of the few buildings that predate the Mongol invasion.
Built in the 12th c., it is said to be the oldest mosque in Central Asia still standing. It was built on top of an old Zoroastrian fire temple built during Sogdian times. Before the arrival of Islam, there was a large market, in which pagan idols were sold even after the islamisation of Bukhara.
Magoki Attori Mosque shows a somewhat strange structure because of the changes in the 16th c. At a lower level is the original main gate, with a unique decoration, very different to that in other mosques in Uzbekistan. On both sides of the gate, the scroll columns use a motif that probably predates Islam.
If you arrive to the most from Labi Hovuz you will see the 16th-century pishtaq. There is a large difference in height between both entrances that is compensated with a steep staircase, which looks weird in such a small building.
Labi Hovuz
Labi Hovuz is the most bustling square in Bukhara. Now that the Registan is a hard and tough space here is where all tourists gather and also one of the favourite places for locals, at least to take wedding photos.
Labi Hovuz is organised around a pond – hence its name Lyab-i Hauz is Persian for “next to the pond”. West of the pond is the 17th-century Nodir Devonbegi Khanaqah. It is named after the vizier that ordered its construction, he was the uncle of Imam Quli Khan, a Bukhara governor of the Kara-Khanid dynasty.
Now the Khanaqah hosts a small archaeological exhibition. Inside, there is a beautiful mihrab with colourful muqarnas.
On the other side of the square, across the pond, stands the Nodir Devonbegi Madrasah (also built in the 17th c.), the most iconic sight of Labi Hovuz. Its structure is more typical of a caranvaserai than a madrasah, because the main entrance communicates directly with the courtyard (madrasahs usually have an inner wall so that the courtyard is not directly visible from outside).
It is likely that this building was first designed as a caranvaserai, but then was turned into a madrasah. In the 17th c. the silk roads trade declined heavily, but Bukhara’s position as a first-order cultural hub continued. Caranvaserais were not so needed any more, but there many students came to the city and needed madrasahs.
Nodir Devonbegi Madrasah is especially famous because of its beautiful iwan decorated with tiles. It shows fantastic birds on each side of a solar disc with a human face. This deviation from Islam orthodoxy, which forbids the depiction of humans and animals was not so rare then and is also present in Samarkand’s Sher-Dor Madrasah, built around the same time.
Now the madrasah’s courtyard is a restaurant for tourists, where traditional music and dance shows are held every afternoon.
In front of the Nodir Devonbegi Madrasah is Khoja Nasreddin’s statue. This is a popular character of Sufi tradition that features in many tales to illustrate Sufi philosophy and learnings.
The third main monument of the Labi Hovuz ensemble is the Ko’kaldosh Madrasah, on the north side of the square. This madrasah is a bit older, built in 1569. It bears the name of its sponsor, Qul Baba Kukeldash, Emir under Abdullah Khan II.
The Ko’kaldosh Madrasah was originally decorated with coulourful and intricate tiles, but after a violent earthquake, its decoration was remade with cheaper majolica. It is a large madrasah, with 160 hujras in two floors where up to 300 students lived.
Chor Minor
East of Labi Hovuz, leaving the old city you will arrive in less than 10 minutes on food to Chor Minor (Persian for “four towers”). What we see today was actually the main gate of a huge madrasah, that is now lost, and was built in 1807 by a rich Turkish merchant.
Now there is a crowded shop inside. For 50000 som you can walk the stairs up to the dome, where you can have a close look at the towers. It is believed that the inner part of the dome was used as a library. Some say that the four-tower design was based on a similar building in Hyderabad, India, but the truth is that it doesn’t look like a rare sight in Bukhara.
Jewish Quarter
Bukhara’s Jewish quarter lies just south of Labi Hovuz. Jews once were a very important minority in Bukhara, and influenced its cuisine. Now just a few families remain, but you can still visit and old synagogue and a Jewish house in their quarter.
Fayzulla Khodjaev House
Just a 10-minute walk south of Labi Hovuz you will find a sight you can’t miss in Bukhara – Fayzulla Khodjaev’s House. On your way, there are some more old madrasahs and mosques, thought not as spectacular as the classic ones in the old city centre, like Khoja Gaukushan ensemble or Imam Gazoli Vali Mosque.
Fayzulla Khodjaev was the son of a rich merchant, but he dedicated his life to politics. After studying in Moscow, he created the Young Bukharis secret society – following the model of Mustafa Kemal’s Young Turks – that vied for modernisation (or westernisation) of Islam and society in general. Later, he became president of the Uzbek SSR, before being purged and sentenced to death by Stalin in 1938.
His father’s house, typical of Bukhara’s 19th c. high bourgeoisie is very well preserved, despite the turbulences of the 20th c. in the region and is now the best example of 19th c. civil architecture in Bukhara.
First, you will cross and large patio until you arrive in the house’s main entrance, surprisingly small, which hides the house’s luxuries. The house is arranged as a U, with a beautiful iwan with carved wood columns and mural paintings based on blue and red.
The rooms are decorated in a similar style in very colourful stucco. The walls with holes shaped to display different kinds of crockery can be surprising, but are typical in other 19th c. Uzbek mansions and palaces.
Sitorai Mohi Xosa
Sitorai Mohi Xosa was the Summer Palace of the Emir of Bukhara, Said Alimkhan, who reigned until 1920, when Bukhara was incorporated to the USSR – although he was just a sovereign in name, de facto a Russian vassal.
This palace is 4 km al north de Bukhara city centre, outside of the modern city. A taxi will take you for 20000 or 30000 soms. You can also arrive by bus lines 17, 37 and 53.
This palace ensemble was built in a style that resembles Russian orientalism, a mixture of romantic European architecture and Arab and Central Asian motifs.
The most important building is the palace itself, structured in three wings around a rectangular courtyard – the white hall and a roofed wing decorated painted in sky blue and gold. The first meeting of the Soviet of Bukhara was held here in 1920.
The palace now exhibits some of the Emir’s personal belongings, but the most interesting thing is its overelaborated decoration, which combines plaster, ceramic tiles and glass. It features Russian-style fireplaces, Central Asian Muslim symbols and some European-inspired motifs.
The Emir used to raise peacocks in his garden, and there are still some running around. In front of the palace is the Guest House, a smaller building with an elegant decoration and beautiful ceilings.
A bit further, there is a small platform that the Emir would climb to see his palace from above. In front of it is the harem, a small Oriental-style porticoed palace that is mirrored in a pond.
Where to eat in Bukhara
Apart from the ubiquitous Uzbek dishes like plov, shashlik or soups, Bukhara’s cuisine features some local specialties that you can only taste here (or in Bukharian restaurants in other Uzbek cities).
Vaguri is one of the most iconic. These are lamb chops grilled on both sides under pressure, so that the meat is crispy and well roasted.
We also tried jiz, another common Bukharian dish with Uyghur origins – it is basically stir-fried beef with soy sauce and it will remind you to Chinese food.
Bukharian cuisine also has Jewish influences, as Jews were an important minority in the city for centuries. This is why plov in Bukhara is cooked in three separate pots and the ingredients are only combined when serving.
From our experience, Bukhara is the city in Uzbekistan with more bars and restaurants in the city centre. This is probably because tourists spend more time in Bukhara than in other cities, as its streets are especially charming.
There are many Russian tourists – hence many restaurants mainly oriented to Russians. Some of these are very expensive compared to the rest of the country.
There are our restaurant recommendations:
Old Bukhara is one of the best-known restaurants in Bukhara city centre. It is a lovely place, with a courtyard and a first floor with a nice view. The food is good, but it is very touristic and a bit expensive for Uzbekistan.
A local recommended us Al Buxoriy Umedjon oshlari: 100% local plov (we were the only foreigners there). The menu is only in Uzbek and Russian, something common in such places, but ordering plov is very easy. It is south of the city centre, around 20000 soms by taxi – and it is worth going!
Chinar is a large restaurant, some 200 metres from Lobi Hovuz. It’s quite fine and its menu includes many traditional Uzbek dishes and, especially Bukharian dishes.
For dinner and some beers or drinks, we recommend Chalet, just East of Lobi Hovuz. Its food is quite decent and, especially, it is the bar with the best evening atmosphere in all Bukhara (OK, there is not much competition). Both tourists and locals gather here.
It opens every day until 2 am. There is good music, good atmosphere, narghile, draught Uzbek beer (Sarbast), both filtered and unfiltered.
