PRAGUE. Upon reading an article in this month's in-flight Czech Airlines magazine, I was spurred to go out and hit some regional brew-pubs that I'd, unfortunately, neglected over the years. Now, I've lived in Prague for some time, and I've been surprised and dismayed by the dominance (ever growing!) of the larger breweries. As such, I try to support local brewing craft and smaller breweries because they are, frankly, generally better than the big guys. But, it's getting harder and harder. I was happy to have a couple of suggestions for new places to go. Case in point, although I lived in Plsen for a time, I generally avoid Pilsner Urquell, the number one Czech brew, which is now owned by the international brewery mega-conglomerate, South African SABMiller (yes, the people that bring you Miller Lite, Henry Weinhard's, Amstel, Peroni, and Milwaukee's Best). Interestingly, I've had P.U. in both Prague and NYC on the very same day, and it tastes completely different, for reasons I don't understand. That all being said, the Pilsen brewery makes one of the world's finest beers, the not-for-export Gambrinus, which is marvelous. And, even my old neighborhood brew, Staropramen, in the Prague working-class neighborhood of Smichov (west of the river, south of the castle), is now owned by the Belgian conglomerate InBev (the folks that bring you Leffe, Stella Artois, Brahma, and Beck's). Tonight, forgetting about the big boys, and yearning for craft brewing, I started at Pivovar Podkovan, which has a brew pub at restaurace U Radnice ('restaurant at the city hall'), in the Zizkov neighborhood of Prague (east side), on Havlickovo namesti, right off Prokopova street. They operate a small restaurant, with only eighteen tables. The beer is obviously the focus.  They serve--on tap--five types of beer (I'll explain the types in another post), including a dark 10 degree, light 10 degree, 12 degree yeast beer, a 12 degree light beer, and a 14 degree beer. The brewery itself dates back to 1434. I had the 12 degree svetly (light), which is the standard, premium beer (with an alcohol content somewhere around 5%). At 17 Czech crowns (about $0.76 USD) for a half-liter (about a pint), it's a gift from the gods. It was not flowery, but slightly bitter in a refreshing way (as any pilsner should be), with a very soft back-palate. The slight bitterness lingered after the taste. I highly recommend it. It's refreshing and light. Fantastic. I'll be back. And, surprise, surprise, they apparently export to the U.S., under the name "Diplomat." Look for it.

PRAGUE. I was out the door before the slivovice and beers kicked in. The higher the "degrees" of a beer (a measurement of the specific gravity of the beer during the brewing process--to be explained in a later post), the higher the alcohol. But I was undeterred in my quest for the last beer on tonight's tour: Mestansky Pivovar v Policce, which dates back to 1517. Their flagship pub in Prague is located in the Vinohrady neighborhood, straight west of the center. The restaurant is called Hrom do police. (No, that's not "police" as in "F the Police," but rather, literally, "thunder to the shelves" which colloquially translates into our phrase 'bull in a china shop.' In Czech, the name of the town where the beer is from, Policka, means "shelf" or "ledge," which lends itself to the pun for the restaurant name. It's pronounced "POH-lit-seh.") This is the largest of tonight's three pubs. Twelve tables in a basement setting, with a large menu to order from. Here, I grabbed a bite to eat, and tasted the last beer of the night: the 12 degree svetly ("light," remember?), called Zavis (pronounced "ZAH-veesh"). This is a very smooth beer. I'd recommend it to those who are new to the pilsner world, since it's lacking the bitterness common in pilsners. It's crisp, light, and vanishes from the palate completely, with, just maybe, a hint of caramel. All in all, a successful night.

...we go running for beer. And tonight, it's not just any beer, but another straight from a Czech tap. Bernard is a smaller brand that's easier to find than this weekend's brews (see prior posts below), but still not one of the larger breweries. The brewery is the Bernard family's 1991 revival of a 16th century brewery in Humpolec. I stepped back into the Vinohrady neighborhood of Prague, and into a funky pub called Kvelb & Pub Pasticka ("PAHS-tich-ka"). I had both types of Bernard they have on tap: a 12 degree svetly, and 11 degree "polotmave" ('half-dark' or 'amber lager') beer. Now, let me tell you. These beers are sweet. They are both tasty, but they are some of the sweetest lagers out there. Recommended. You have to love these guys: they have a great explanation on their website as to why pasteurization of beer is akin to physical abuse: "During pasteurisation, the beer is heated to a temperature of over 80 °C, which eliminates all microorganisms present in the beer. This drastic treatment, when the beer is given a shock by being "torn" from the calm of the lager cellar, guarantees a longer lifetime for the beer, but damages its taste and colour."

PRAGUE. In the neverending quest for more, better, different, we decided to go bottom of the barrel to sample three of the cheapest bottled beers we could get our hands on. Now, this being the Czech Republic, we expected that even the cheapest brews would rank higher than some of the major-label cheap beers we grew up on. (Reminds us of the description Sid Vicious was rumored to have given of his "girlfriend" Nancy Spungen: 'the kind of girl who licks out toilets.' Which might lead some to think she enjoyed the taste of Bud Lite.) We were not disappointed. They blow away the American competition, hands down. The three were Klasik, from the folks that bring you Pilsner Urquell, Měšt'an (which roughly translates as "townie" or "bourgeois"), from the Staropramen brewery in Prague (owned by big InBev), and a grocery-store generic called Lahváč (slang, which means, literally, "bottled beer"), from the Holba brewery (in Hanušovice in northern Moravia, near the Polish border). Klasik is the priciest of our three, weighing in a budget-breaking 7 Czech crowns (that's 32 U.S. cents, plus bottle deposit, even in these days of rock-bottom dollar exchange rates) for a half liter bottle (that's basically a pint, folks). At 3.8% alcohol, it's a light beer. Měšt'an was our former cheap-o champ, at 5.90 crowns (27 U.S. cents, plus deposit). It now even comes in the handy 1.5 liter plastic bottle too! At 3.2% alcohol, it's the lowest of the three. Lahváč was one we hadn't seen before. It cost a budget-busting 4.30 crowns (19.5 cents, plus a deposit that was only 1 crown less than the full bottle itself). It's got 3.5% alcohol. A true "lawnmower beer" in the truest sense (that is, nothing better to drink on a hot summer day while pushing around the mower--an American tradition). First, in beers this light, forget aroma. There isn't any. Second, as to appearance, none has the beautiful, golden color of a great pilsner (but neither does any big American so-called "pilsner"). So skip these tasting points. Drum roll, please. The cheap bottled beer November 2nd 2006 award goes to Měšt'an. Out of the three, it has the biggest taste. It's remarkably drinkable (although we'd avoid the plastic bottle--it's not bourgeois enough for us). Klasik has a poor mouthfeel and a funny, sweet finish that we couldn't place: wood? Lahváč, while it had the best foamy, white head, and the best color, is just a plain, old light beer; simple, nothing to write home about. But buy it when your budget is tight. Měšt'an, while being the flattest (unfortunately), actually has a little bit of complexity to it. After conducting this non-scientific taste-testing, we weren't surprised to find that Měšt'an actually won Czech beer of the year in 1996 (the PIVEX Golden Cup award). We'd spend our 27 cents on Měšt'an. Save up your 8 cents to buy it instead of Lahváč, and save your 5 cents over Klasik. And, of course, return the bottle.

PRAGUE. Our travel schedule is filling up. Added to our ever-growing list of beer-cursions is Vendelin Krkoska's tiny micro-brewery in Vratislavice (near Liberec, northeast of Prague). Mr. Krkoska has been brewing "Vendelin" since 1999, when he built his backyard pivovar (brewery) for about $4000 USD. His production maxes out at 100 liters a day. Only one pub has it on tap, but you can drive up yourself and buy a 50 liter keg ($41 USD), or sit and drink in his barn. While we haven't yet had the pleasure of sampling the beer, his unpasteurised masterpiece is said to taste slightly sweet. One secret? All water used is from a spring on his property, with pure water coming from deep inside the Jizerske Mountains. Another? Rather than the steam process used by bigger breweries, he boils his beer using an open fire. Word of his beer has traveled, and he's been approached to build breweries for others. He's already completed one for a Czech-run microbrewery in Honduras.

PRAGUE. We've blogged about the Czech Bernard brewery before. This time, we're hittin' the bottle, though. You can only get the "Svatecni lezak" ("Celebration Lager") in bottles, and it comes with the lovely old-fashioned lightning/swing-type closure (ala Grolsch) that can be re-closed. We have absolutely no idea why anyone would re-close this beer, however. Final fermentation in the bottles and unpasteurized. Full head, beautiful color, yeasty aroma. Fantastic. Sweet, like Bernard's other beers, but with a very clean finish, and just the right amount of pilsner bitterness. Incredibly drinkable. The name is so right. "Svatecni" is a Czech adjective meaning, literally, "sainted." It, of course, also means "festive," "holiday," etc., owning to the Slavic tradition of having "name days" (sg., "svatek") for saints (and those named after the saints). St. Bernard. Ergo, the best day to drink this beer must be Bernard's name day: August 20. We'll be back...

PRAGUE. Had to head out again with friends because we're still on a mission to sample some more "old school" beers in Prague. As in previous installments, the idea is to hit the smaller, older brews, rather than the big guys. Tonight had it's start at Restaurant Kyvadlo on V Jame in the city center. They have several of the Bernard brews on tap. Ok, Bernard is coming up frequently enough on these pages, but hear us out. This time, the target was their 14 degree Speciální Světlé ("Special Light") on tap, known as "the Ox" because of it's 5.8% alcohol content. Terrific foam head, beautiful, rich, dark yellow color, and an interesting malty taste, coupled with a typical pilsner taste and back-palate. The higher alcohol content was noticeable during our walk onward. Next, a new one. Really old school: 1570, to be exact. The beer is actually aged in caves beneath the brewery. World Brewery Championships (Chicago) winner in 2004. We're talking about brews brought to you by Klášter ("monastery"). We sampled their premium lager (12 degree), that has 5.6% alcohol content. Very, very drinkable, tried and true, without surprises. This is a true pilsner; smooth, crisp. Apparently, they import into the U.S., so look for it. And a great place to try it? A still-functioning monastery, where else? Northwest Prague's own Klášterní šenk ("monastery taproom"). It's not where the beer is from, but it'll do: the restaurant is inside this beautifully restored landmark's site, which dates back to 993 AD. And the traditional Czech food in a rustic setting is, well, cool. The night finished up at Hrom do Police (see an earlier installment), where we revisited the flagship Záviš, but went straight for their 12 degree kvasnicove ("yeast") beer on tap (it's not on their website, interestingly). Cloudy, with a huge head, and nicely sweet on the back end. And, the kind folks at Hrom do Police were kind enough to stay open way late, until we had our fill.

MARIANSKE LAZNE (MARIENBAD). New Years was great here in the western Czech Republic. Nestled between the birthplace of pilsner beer (Pilsen) and the Czech-German border is a tiny town where a great beer lives. Chodová Planá is the home of Chodovar. The original brewery dates back to 1573, and, legend has it, a dog named Albi found the spring source for the water used in brewing and, as the good luck mascot of the brewery, was fed beer daily. His picture appears on the label. The beer can be found in some area pubs on tap. We had the 11 degree premium beer (Zlatá Jedenáctka: "golden 11"). It's lovely: full head, perfect tiny bubbles, and a fantastic, rich color. The taste is complex, full, nicely hoppy, and has the hint of fruit on the back palate. Truly top notch, and very drinkable. The brewery is also home to the new (opened this year), and becoming famous (it's been in the NY Times), beer health spa. That's right: for about $25 USD, they'll give you 20 minutes in a hot tub full of "bathing" dark beer, that has some additional herbs added, and then 20 minutes of heat wrap.

PLSEN, CZECH REP. Driving through western Bohemia today, and hungry for lunch, where better to stop for goulash than the Plzensky Prazdroj, the brewery that makes Pilsner Urquell? Sure, we've been here many times, but they always deliver on their promise of good food and beer right from the "source" or "fountain" (prazdroj). The brewery hosts the Czech Republic's largest beer hall, Na Spilce, serving as many as 600 in it's cavernous underground hall. For me? Wild boar goulash (guláš), with extra dumplings (chlupaté knedlíky, or "hairy dumplings"), washed down with a pilsner.

PRAGUE. Can you think of anything better than a beer store in one of the world's beer capitols? As you might imagine, the selection is outstanding.

So, we picked up one we hadn't seen before: Rohozec Skalak, a pasteurised, 12 degree premium lager. It's from a brewery in a northern Bohemia area that's called Cesky Raj ("Czech paradise"). It's an awesome day trip from Prague, known for it's hiking around the big rock formations. (Great thing about Czech hiking: the day always ends at a pub.) The brewery dates back to 1850.

It's a gorgeous amber lager with a fragrant, foamy head (not the neat little bubbles of Urquell, but foam). It's got an alcohol aroma, which is a little unusual for this style of beer. You can taste it on the pallate too. Great mouth feel. Slight sweetness. The bite of the alcohol led us to think it had a higher alcohol content than the 5.3% advertised.

It definitely tastes mightier than a normal 12 degree, so we'd suggest it for those liking a heavier pilsner.

PRAGUE. A bottle from the Moravian town of Jihlava poured its way into a glass in front of me today. Ok, I put it there. I was interested in trying the 18 degree Jihlavsky Grand, flagship--or perhaps battleship--of a small brewery, Pivovar Jihlava.

This is one powerful beer. The taste is striking, and you taste every amount of the 8.1% alcohol level. All of the tastes and smells hint of other great Czech pilsners, but the extra alcohol adds a bite that's different from, and in addition to, the slight bitterness of the hops.

While brewing tradition in this town is recorded back as far as the 14th century, with a brewer's guild, the brewery opened its doors in 1861. While you're looking for this beer, look for their more common pilsner, Jezek ("hedgehog").

Prague. Evan Rail, formerly a Prague Post reporter, now NY Times reporter, is publishing a book on his 10 months traveling the Czech countryside, sampling over 450 different beers.

Some highlights? He traveled with his girlfriend in an old Skoda 120. He found that, despite the larger breweries being bought up by large multinationals, "beer culture is clearly thriving" with many small regional breweries and many beer styles. He particularly liked the stronger brews.

We're looking forward to the book, called Good Beer Guide: Prague and the Czech Republic, coming soon.

PRAGUE. Wow. It's been a long time since a post. Sorry. But, the good news is, we haven't stopped sampling beers. A recent visit definitely warranted a post.

Nestled in a near south-eastern part of Prague is an old-school pub (yep, they still exist). It's called Restaurace U Klokočníka (Na Veselí 702/48, Praha-Nusle) and it serves up the beers of Pivovar Kacov, which was established way back in 1457.

We tried the 12 degree yeast beer ("kvasnicove") and the 12 degree pilsner ("lezak," which they brand "Hubertus").

The yeast beer looked unassuming, with a smallish head of foam, but it has a great mouthfeel. There's a bite of yeast in the middle of the swallow, with a tasty pilsner finish. The color is beautiful, but very cloudy due to the yeast.

But, we were more impressed with the regular pilsner, which was beautiful in color, with an awesome, thick foam, and a flowery hops finish that was both sharp and fruity. Perfect hops taste, no bitterness. And, it was light in taste. This was the first time we tried the beer and were won over. It's terrific. And a 1/2 liter for $.77? Heaven.

We can't wait until we can sit outside in the garden in the summer!

New York. The brewery in Pilsen that brings us Pilsner Urquell is launching two new, high-end beers. They're calling them "Master" brews, aimed at the 'sophisicated' palate.

They'll both contain a mix of three malts, but one will be an 18 degree dark beer, and the other will be a 13 degree, "semi-dark" beer. According to the brewery, the inspiration for the beers were descriptions in old (1585) Czech brewing books.

The beers will be exported only in the region for now, and available on tap only in select restaurants in the country, according to a recent piece on Czech Radio.

NYC. This could bode poorly for Czech beer lovers.

A Prague Post article quoted industry insiders as saying the 2006 barley harvest was a "catastrophe," with yields down by 15% and prices up by a similar amount. Experts blame the harvest woes on the changing weather: late winter delayed planting, then record highs in July, and then a cold, wet August hit growers hard. 

All beer is made from malted grains, but brewers can use a variety of different feed-stocks, such as corn, rice, wheet, or oats. Czech beer, however, uses barley almost exclusively.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Prague. Many moons ago, this correspondent stopped off at the Chodovar brewery in eastern Bohemia (yes, the hops growing region).  (See the prior posts!) Continuing over time to sample the fine beers of Chodovar, we come next to the "Skalni Lezak" (rocky lager). It's also known as their "polotmavy kvasicovy lezak" or half-dark yeast lager. It comes only in bottle form, with a beautiful old-style, flip-open porcelan bottle stopper (a la Grolsch).

This is one fine beer. Although it's called "half-dark," it's really just a deep golden lager with a fruity sweetness on the back palate. It tastes more like a full-bodied "normal" pilsner. Non-pasteurized, you can see a slight cloudiness and even small particulates in the golden deep-yellow beer.

A medium head gives off an earthy scent, then it's pure heaven with a full mouth feel and that delicious back-palate.

This is one of the best beers your blogger has tasted this year. It is a fantastic, well-rounded beer without bitterness and plenty of creaminess that both non-pilsner drinkers and Czech beer connoiseur would love.

You might like the fact that "skalni" also translates from Czech as 'true-blue' or 'dyed-in-the-wool' or 'hard-core.' But, it's probably primarily a reference to the rocky terrain around the ancient brewery...but, regardless, this beer is the real-deal.

Heineken has purchased the Czech Drinks Union, whose products include Zlatopramen ("golden spring"), from Usti nad Labem. The company only had 3% of the Czech beer market, but the purchase now means that Heineken controls this brewer in addition to Starobrno, Hostan, Slovakia's Zlaty Bazant, and one of our world favorites, Krusovice.

New York. Ok. Call us slow. But, even after extensive travels, this is the first time we've come upon the thousand-year-old beer Žatec. And it was right here in NYC.

Some history. People in Žatec have been brewing since 1261. On the label, they've stuck the year 1004, which, apparently is the earliest date they have for the production of hops in this region of the Czech Republic (Bohemia), where Žatec is located. The actual brewery had it's cornerstone laid in 1798.

So, argue all you will about the date the brewing started, but this beer is the real deal.