This just in courtesy of our man in Praha, Joey Bosworth...a full report on our adventures last weekend. Like I wrote in my brief 'we're in Prague' blurb last Saturday, Joey loves the city and had planned an extensive tour for us so that we might see some of the gems of the Czech beer scene. While the beer had its ups and downs, the spirit of adventure was always high, and everyone had a wonderful time. Not only is Joey a gracious host, he's a solid chronicler of beer travels. Czech it out:
''After dropping off gear and parking the car, the first order of business was to visit an anchor of the Prague microbrew community. A restaurant and taproom called Pivovarskey Klub, it is one of the only places in Prague to have multiple Czech microbrews on tap. The Klub also happens to be the premier Czech bottleshop, with a huge selection of international brews. Everything went well and along with getting their first taste of gulash, the brewers worked their way through most of the draught selection. The standout was the Stepan lager brewed across town at the Klub’s sister brewery, Pivovarsky Dum. To me it is an excellent example of a basic Czech pilsner, clean, bright with decent hop presence. After our stomachs were lined with a protective layer of thick Czech gulash, we moved on to the wide selection available at our next stop.
Several weeks ago I went to a Belgian beer festival hosted by a luxury hotel here in Prague. I was nervous at first as I was the only person in the room speaking English, but tasty beer turned out to be universal. I made some friends, and after the festival they took me Zly Casy, which translates as ‘Mean Times’. I get a kick out of exclusivity, so I appreciated the lack of advertisement outside and out-of-the-way location. The offerings inside were even better. Zly Casy has sixteen beers on tap, all microbrews from the Czech Republic, with an emphasis on newly opened breweries and innovative beers. The brew crew once again worked through the more promising offerings on the draught list. Every beer passed around the table brought a new discussion of phenols, polyphenols, esters, and other aspects of beer composition known only to the initiated. While most of the conversation was far above my head, it was exciting to hear a combination of both passion for brewing and knowledge of the process. Eventually the night moved to a hazy exploration of the Czech Republic's native liqueurs, including Slivovice a rather harsh plum brandy, and Becherovka, an herbal digestif.
Despite having misplaced several members of the party the night before, Saturday morning we got on a train to Beroun, the next stop on my ad-hoc Tour de Pivo. A short ride away from downtown Prague, Beroun has little to recommend itself as a tourist destination. Stepping off the train feels like a going back in time twenty years as the entire town gives off a distinctly Soviet industrial feel. Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Beroun does have a fascinating brewpub called Berounsky Pivovar. It is one of my favorite pubs to visit with friends because of its location, which is a scrapyard full of Soviet era military hardware. The décor aside, the pub itself is exceptionally friendly. For a place that doesn’t see very many strangers, the wait staff always seems happy to see new customers, even if they speak terrible Czech. Unfortunately, the beer was a disappointment. According to the polyphenol posse, the flaws were most likely caused by heavy metals in the water used by the brewery, as well as oxidation and dying yeast. The day was not over however, and we returned back to Prague to continue the tour.
After visiting Prague Castle and several other medieval attractions we continued on to U Medvidku, a microbrewery hidden behind a larger Budvar pub. U Medvidku, whose brewmaster was honored several days ago at the Czech Beer Awards, inspired disbelief among the Siebel crew. Apparently the quaint wooden fermenting tanks and open air cooling device were not up to the strict hygiene standards so ingrained by their study. The beer, which is usually one of my favorites, showed signs of sitting in the lines, and we once again left in disappointment. After stopping to pick up the previously lost members of the group, we went on to the third brewery of the day, a touristy but essential stop on the Prague brewery circuit called Novomestsky Pivovar. This stop was the quickest of all, the two small tasters we ordered had the same heavy metal taste that we encountered in Beroun. Despairing at my apparent betrayal by Czech beer I proposed we move on to my personal stock of Belgian IPAs. All was made well as we shared an excellent Houblon Chouffe while overlooking a beautiful oldtown Prague.
The next day the mash tun mob set off again for Munich, having experienced the ups and downs of Czech beer and undoubtedly determined to perfect their own pilsner recipes.''
Where Joey's story ends, I'll start up: we spent Sunday afternoon touring the famous Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen, about an hour west of Prague. Pilsner Urquell is the home of the pilsner beer style, and we had a great time admiring the mix of hypermodern and far antique technologies that they use to produce the beer. The highlight, universally agreed upon by the Siebel crew, was a visit to the extensive tunnel network underneath the current brewery, where thousands upon thousands of wooden barrels for fermentation and maturation. Some of those barrels are still used today, and we were lucky to taste this ''keller'' version of the pils, which had the complex mix of woody, musty, and spicy hops that great German kellerbiers have. It was the best beer we tasted in the Czech Republic.
We made it back to Munich safe and sound on Sunday night, ready to buckle down and work hard in our final week of class.
PS Photos to follow shortly!
''After dropping off gear and parking the car, the first order of business was to visit an anchor of the Prague microbrew community. A restaurant and taproom called Pivovarskey Klub, it is one of the only places in Prague to have multiple Czech microbrews on tap. The Klub also happens to be the premier Czech bottleshop, with a huge selection of international brews. Everything went well and along with getting their first taste of gulash, the brewers worked their way through most of the draught selection. The standout was the Stepan lager brewed across town at the Klub’s sister brewery, Pivovarsky Dum. To me it is an excellent example of a basic Czech pilsner, clean, bright with decent hop presence. After our stomachs were lined with a protective layer of thick Czech gulash, we moved on to the wide selection available at our next stop.
Several weeks ago I went to a Belgian beer festival hosted by a luxury hotel here in Prague. I was nervous at first as I was the only person in the room speaking English, but tasty beer turned out to be universal. I made some friends, and after the festival they took me Zly Casy, which translates as ‘Mean Times’. I get a kick out of exclusivity, so I appreciated the lack of advertisement outside and out-of-the-way location. The offerings inside were even better. Zly Casy has sixteen beers on tap, all microbrews from the Czech Republic, with an emphasis on newly opened breweries and innovative beers. The brew crew once again worked through the more promising offerings on the draught list. Every beer passed around the table brought a new discussion of phenols, polyphenols, esters, and other aspects of beer composition known only to the initiated. While most of the conversation was far above my head, it was exciting to hear a combination of both passion for brewing and knowledge of the process. Eventually the night moved to a hazy exploration of the Czech Republic's native liqueurs, including Slivovice a rather harsh plum brandy, and Becherovka, an herbal digestif.
Despite having misplaced several members of the party the night before, Saturday morning we got on a train to Beroun, the next stop on my ad-hoc Tour de Pivo. A short ride away from downtown Prague, Beroun has little to recommend itself as a tourist destination. Stepping off the train feels like a going back in time twenty years as the entire town gives off a distinctly Soviet industrial feel. Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Beroun does have a fascinating brewpub called Berounsky Pivovar. It is one of my favorite pubs to visit with friends because of its location, which is a scrapyard full of Soviet era military hardware. The décor aside, the pub itself is exceptionally friendly. For a place that doesn’t see very many strangers, the wait staff always seems happy to see new customers, even if they speak terrible Czech. Unfortunately, the beer was a disappointment. According to the polyphenol posse, the flaws were most likely caused by heavy metals in the water used by the brewery, as well as oxidation and dying yeast. The day was not over however, and we returned back to Prague to continue the tour.
After visiting Prague Castle and several other medieval attractions we continued on to U Medvidku, a microbrewery hidden behind a larger Budvar pub. U Medvidku, whose brewmaster was honored several days ago at the Czech Beer Awards, inspired disbelief among the Siebel crew. Apparently the quaint wooden fermenting tanks and open air cooling device were not up to the strict hygiene standards so ingrained by their study. The beer, which is usually one of my favorites, showed signs of sitting in the lines, and we once again left in disappointment. After stopping to pick up the previously lost members of the group, we went on to the third brewery of the day, a touristy but essential stop on the Prague brewery circuit called Novomestsky Pivovar. This stop was the quickest of all, the two small tasters we ordered had the same heavy metal taste that we encountered in Beroun. Despairing at my apparent betrayal by Czech beer I proposed we move on to my personal stock of Belgian IPAs. All was made well as we shared an excellent Houblon Chouffe while overlooking a beautiful oldtown Prague.
The next day the mash tun mob set off again for Munich, having experienced the ups and downs of Czech beer and undoubtedly determined to perfect their own pilsner recipes.''
Where Joey's story ends, I'll start up: we spent Sunday afternoon touring the famous Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen, about an hour west of Prague. Pilsner Urquell is the home of the pilsner beer style, and we had a great time admiring the mix of hypermodern and far antique technologies that they use to produce the beer. The highlight, universally agreed upon by the Siebel crew, was a visit to the extensive tunnel network underneath the current brewery, where thousands upon thousands of wooden barrels for fermentation and maturation. Some of those barrels are still used today, and we were lucky to taste this ''keller'' version of the pils, which had the complex mix of woody, musty, and spicy hops that great German kellerbiers have. It was the best beer we tasted in the Czech Republic.
We made it back to Munich safe and sound on Sunday night, ready to buckle down and work hard in our final week of class.
PS Photos to follow shortly!
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