Czech Beers

Charles Bridge - Prague

On a whim, I decided to stop by the local Beverages & More store to pick up some Czech beer. At the Britannia Arms, Katie Blooms and other local pubs, I normally order a Guinness or another ale. But a crisp lager washes down spicy home cooking quite nicely too.

While in the Czech Republic in December, I had greatly enjoyed the local pastime: drinking voluminous amounts of beer. Visiting Kutna Hora with friends, we washed down our fried cheese with Budejovicky Budvar. Back in Prague, in a pub near the Flora metro station, it was time for goulash with big mugs of Staropramen. Wandering about on my own, I sampled the Radegast Triumf. All good stuff.

En route from Frankfurt, I had woken up when the Prague-bound train stopped at a station in the middle of the night. I looked outside, at the snow-covered landscape and the big sign that said “Plzen”, and something stirred in me, a little voice telling me to ditch Prague, get off the train and head for the breweries. In the end, though, sleepiness got the better of me.

Back home, the BevMo I visited carried some eight or nine Czech beers, and I chose three of them: the classic Pilsner Urquell, Starobrno, and finally Czechvar, which is the beer we had in Kutna Hora, sold worldwide as “Budweiser Budvar” (Budweis being the German name for the brewery’s hometown, Ceske Budejovice.) The sales clerk and I chatted about Czech beers, and the long running dispute between Budvar and Anheiser-Busch over the use of the “Budweiser” name. I told him I would be back for the offerings from Lion, Lobkowicz, and Staropramen.

That is, if I don’t make a pilgrimage to Plzen first.