Czek Republic Beer

Judy and I toured the Czech Republic for two weeks this summer and were delighted with the history, the food and the beer. It was, after all, about the beer. When we hinted that we liked beer to the person who was introducing us to her country for our self guided tour, she assured us we were in the right place. Her immediate comments was, "Drink the beer, it is cheaper than the (bottled) water." She also thought that the Czech's have come a long way since the fall of communism in 1989 but that there is still a lot of potential, and regarding Budweiser, "They stole our name including the style in which it is printed, but they didn't steal the beer. She was right about all three.

In the Czech Republic it is all about the Pilsner and Urquell rules for good cause. It is available and advertised everywhere. It is clear, crisp, thirst quenching with an appropriate amount of malt flavor, and cheap, as were most things (average price $1.75 per pint ). It was our favorite.

First brewed by Josef Groll in Pilsen on November 11, 1842, after locals dumped barrels of the dark bitter porter of the day onto the street as a protest. Using locally grown Saaz hops, fresh iron rich water and local barley, he produced the "first golden beer". It is still brewed with the same recipe in the same town, "pure original pilsner from Pilsen". Although we never made it to Mecca we turned west and said our prayers everyday.

Our beer adventure in CR, other than drinking a lot of Pilsner, was walking by and almost touring or trying to tour two breweries. I believe our experience would fall under the CR has a lot of potential, or do it in high tourist season.

Eggenburg Brewery in Cesky Krumlov.

While looking at their signs, one would

think that the Eggenburg Brewery has been in production since the 1560's. I think the facts are that beer has been produce in CK since that time, but a lot has changed through the past 500 years, including Nazi and communist control. The bottom line is that the brewery was privatized, the last time, in 1993. Since then the owner changed the name of the brewery to the original families name and has increased brewing. He has also added a US or German style large brew pub and has even added soft drinks to the production line. There production is mostly for consumption by the local communities.

We were there on a cool rainy day in September and after being used to eating local food in small restaurants were turned off by the feel of the large brew pub, and it was almost empty. The tours of the brewery were not in English and not convenient so we also passed on that. We did sit at the beer garden, however, with some locals, and the pictured bar fly to test some of their beer. Granted, we should have called ahead for a tour. The beer was not remarkable.

Bohemia Regent Brewery

The Regent Brewery was another example of "We should have called first". It was another rainy day when our tour took us through Trebon. We found the brewery easily, a massive old fortress/castle like structure, but it was not as easy to get in. There was some language problems when we tried to find out about tours, but the message was clear, "NO". Next we tried to get into the retail store. It was open 12:00 to 12:30, no kidding. People were lined up and bought their kegs and cases quickly. Again, there was a language problem and we only bought 2 bottles of beer, but we felt like we were in an old Motor Vehicle Registration office in the US. There were no smiles for the tourists. Apparently they have a large outside beer garden set up, but in September and in the rain it was closed.

Regent is promoted as one of the oldest continuously run breweries in Europe. Monks were brewing in Trebon in 1379. They say some of that original equipment is still being used. The current building was built for the brewery in 1712. The best part of the "tour", however, was the lunch in Trebon. We went into a small restaurant close to the brewery and hit the jackpot. We ended up sitting next to an English speaking older local women who filled us in. It was the place the older locals went for the special soups. I had already ordered baked carp, and Judy the apricot dumplings. The waiter heard us lamenting that we missed the potato leek soup, so he brought us a cup. The fish was boney but excellent, the dumpling were way too sweet for a main coarse, but delicious, and the soup was to die for. From then on we looked carefully at soups when we ordered. The beer was good, although I cannot be more specific, one of the best dark beers I had in the CR. I was having such a good time I asked the waiter if I could buy one of the Regent beer glasses from him. He told me to go to the retail store. It was 1:30.