“A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.”
Czech saying
Having lived in Prague for four years, I learned to appreciate Czech beer. Although the new international owners of some wellknown Czech breweries have done their best in order to give also Czech beers the international taste of euro-beers, they have fortunately not been 100% succesful. Pilsner Urquell still has got its own taste, and the same can be said about the Czech owned Bernard beer, which is one of my personal favourites. Also the Moravian Starobrno brewery makes excellent beers.
But the most interesting Czech beers are the ones brewed by the minibreweries, which have become quite popular in recent years:
There is another positive outlook – the rising number of minibreweries where one can find not only the “Czech” lagers but many other honestly produced and professionally treated beers, such as ale, weissbier, bock, porter, stout and most amazing other experimental brands. Such a boom in the beer culture is bound to last.
Just a remark: there was only one single minibrewery that survived the era of communist mass production – that of the tourist-besieged U Fleku – which is also the oldest Czech brewery with a continuous commercial history since 1499. At present there are approximately 80 small breweries and family-operated microbreweries (if we deduct for subcontractors and educational beer facilities), which surpass in number the 48 industrially operated big breweries that have been on a downslide due to competition. Is it a comeback to the previous style of beer brewing when at the beginning of the 20th century there were in Bohemia and Moravia nearly 400 breweries?
Read the entire article on the Czech Beer Tours page.
My favourite minibrewery in Prague is U medvídků, where they brew Oldgott, an excellent bottomfermented half-dark lager. If you visit Prague, don´t miss to try out Oldgott!
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