The first beer fountain was inaugurated in Europe

The town of Žalec in eastern Slovenia unveiled Europe’s first beer fountain on Tuesday. Beer lovers and many tourists reunited for the inauguration of the beer fountain in this part of the world and also enjoyed a music and light show. Unfortunately, the fountain isn’t the free-flowing cascade of frothing ale that beer fans might have been hoping for.

If paying a six euro fee, locals and tourists that want to taste the special beer are given one special glass fitted with a microchip that enables each deciliter to pour beer for five times, from any of the five different varieties, writes AFP. The beers on offer include Laško’s Kukec dark beer, Kratochwill honey light beer and Vizir IPA.

The fountain was set to cost the council about 170,000 euros (£133,000) - half of the total bill for construction, Dnevnik news website reports. The town's mayor, Janko Kos, says the remainder will come from private donations. "It's true the fountain was not cheap. But it's a development project, a tourism product," he told the website.

“The point is not letting people get drunk here, we want to promote the culture of drinking beer,” said mayor Janko Kos, insisting the beer was still competitively priced compared to other countries, reports AFP. Outside interest is “astonishing”, he added. The town was getting calls “from everywhere and asking what is going on in here. That can’t be bad. “The Mayor hopes that the installation, set in the town’s park, will put Zalec on the tourist map and bring publicity to the picturesque hop-growing region’s many brews.