Saying that beer has a prominent role in Czech culture and history is an understatement, they have been brewing this stuff longer and drinking it in
larger quantities than everyone else. (Though the skeptical among us would scoff and say that their top spot in the per-capita consumption list was partly the result of planeloads of British lads popping into the pubs on their weekends of debauchery). The people are rightly proud of the many "Czech beer firsts" which includes having the "first president to have written an absurdist play based on his experiences working in a Czech beer brewery in AD 1974". How can you not love these people?? ;-D Not to bore you with this stuff, but here are some entertaining reads on
Czech beer history,
Czech beer culture (where you will find out, among other things, "why is it that so many Czech men have such a stunningly round physique?"), and how they're
exporting more of the good stuff everywhere. Great news! Just don't export your pork loin, cabbage and goulash dishes, please.
Despite a week-long fiesta of tasting one beer brand after another, I craved for more, so I joined the
Pubs of the Old Town tour, on this night led by Tomas (to-MASH), a 23-yr old university student and beer connoisseur. It was a slow night with only two other school teachers from Florida as the other tour participants. (Now these people really NEED a drink after each day of being driven mad by students). So, the plan was for us to drop by three pubs for drinks and a typical Czech dinner at one of those three. First stop was Staronetsky Klub, a small, cool happy hour type of place serving Staropramen. (Unlike the US, in Prague most pubs serve only one brand of beer due to tie-ups with the breweries). Then we were on to U Pivrnce, a traditional restaurant (ughh, bread dumplings again) in Josefov which I liked for its vivid cartoon illustrations on the walls depicting Czech humor (unfortunately, the captions were in Czech too). By coincidence, this was also the restaurant where Marketa (remember Marketa?) brought us for lunch on my first day in Prague, so I already knew the food would be serviceable but not spectacular.
U Pivrnce serves a few other beers in addition to their main offering Pilsner Urquell, and opting for something different, I absolutely loved the sweet with caramel hints taste of Kozel dark beer. Tomas chose this moment to tell the group that Czechs consider dark beer as a "ladies' beer" due to its lower alcohol content, much to our amusement. Furthermore, he pointed out, Czechs say that men who drink beer develop round stomachs, but women who do so develop round breasts, thus flat-chested girls were encouraged to indulge in the stuff. Well, you learn something (true or made up) every day, is all I can say ;-) (That's a likeness of U Pivrnce's owner on the left). The last stop was a pub frequented by locals that was a bit of a dive (the name escapes me). Drank a glass of Bernhard here, one of the country's regional beers which tasted quite bitter. Eventually the fun-filled night came to an end an hour past the three hours the tour was supposed to last, an indication of how interesting the conversations were greased by the
pivos, and after one last "
Na zdravi! (Cheers)", it was time to part and in my case, ruminate on how country's food could be so bad and yet its beer so good.
Saying that beer has a prominent role in Czech culture and history is an understatement, they have been brewing this stuff longer and drinking it in larger quantities than everyone else. (Though the skeptical among us would scoff and say that their top spot in the per-capita consumption list was partly the result of planeloads of British lads popping into the pubs on their weekends of debauchery). The people are rightly proud of the many "Czech beer firsts" which includes having the "first president to have written an absurdist play based on his experiences working in a Czech beer brewery in AD 1974". How can you not love these people?? ;-D Not to bore you with this stuff, but here are some entertaining reads on Czech beer history, Czech beer culture (where you will find out, among other things, "why is it that so many Czech men have such a stunningly round physique?"), and how they're exporting more of the good stuff everywhere. Great news! Just don't export your pork loin, cabbage and goulash dishes, please.
Despite a week-long fiesta of tasting one beer brand after another, I craved for more, so I joined the Pubs of the Old Town tour, on this night led by Tomas (to-MASH), a 23-yr old university student and beer connoisseur. It was a slow night with only two other school teachers from Florida as the other tour participants. (Now these people really NEED a drink after each day of being driven mad by students). So, the plan was for us to drop by three pubs for drinks and a typical Czech dinner at one of those three. First stop was Staronetsky Klub, a small, cool happy hour type of place serving Staropramen. (Unlike the US, in Prague most pubs serve only one brand of beer due to tie-ups with the breweries). Then we were on to U Pivrnce, a traditional restaurant (ughh, bread dumplings again) in Josefov which I liked for its vivid cartoon illustrations on the walls depicting Czech humor (unfortunately, the captions were in Czech too). By coincidence, this was also the restaurant where Marketa (remember Marketa?) brought us for lunch on my first day in Prague, so I already knew the food would be serviceable but not spectacular.
U Pivrnce serves a few other beers in addition to their main offering Pilsner Urquell, and opting for something different, I absolutely loved the sweet with caramel hints taste of Kozel dark beer. Tomas chose this moment to tell the group that Czechs consider dark beer as a "ladies' beer" due to its lower alcohol content, much to our amusement. Furthermore, he pointed out, Czechs say that men who drink beer develop round stomachs, but women who do so develop round breasts, thus flat-chested girls were encouraged to indulge in the stuff. Well, you learn something (true or made up) every day, is all I can say ;-) (That's a likeness of U Pivrnce's owner on the left). The last stop was a pub frequented by locals that was a bit of a dive (the name escapes me). Drank a glass of Bernhard here, one of the country's regional beers which tasted quite bitter. Eventually the fun-filled night came to an end an hour past the three hours the tour was supposed to last, an indication of how interesting the conversations were greased by the pivos, and after one last "Na zdravi! (Cheers)", it was time to part and in my case, ruminate on how country's food could be so bad and yet its beer so good.
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