Bazyliszek

Brewed for Baltic Porter Day, Denmark, January 17th 2026.

If you’re seriously afraid of snakes, then praise yourself lucky that you didn’t live in Warsaw around the year 1587. You see, that year rumors started to fly that a huge serpent-like basilisk was lurking in the damp cellars underneath the Old Town. People whispered that it was so deadly that it alone had turned Sahara into a desert by the fumes of its breath. How it then ended up in Warsaw nobody knew precisely, but never mind. The creature caused unexplained deaths, and a foul stench filled the air. Its glare was so lethal that looking at it directly would turn you into stone. Obviously, something had to be done, so the mayor offered a reward to anyone who could slay the beast. Enter Jan Męcisz, a condemned criminal facing execution. Męcisz devised a clever plan: the creature could be tricked by its own reflection, as it would mistake it for another basilisk and attack, leading to its demise. Dressed in a suit of armor lined with mirrors, Męcisz descended into the basilisk's lair armed with a torch and a rooster, whose crow was said to kill basilisks. He approached without looking directly at the monster, using the mirrors to reflect its deadly gaze back upon itself. The basilisk, enraged by its "reflection," lashed out but was mortally wounded, and Męcisz emerged victorious. The city rejoiced, hailing the basilisk slayer as a hero, and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in relative comfort. Show Less