1.PRAGUE AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC

This is the first in an occasional series describing personal accounts and viewpoints on visits to interesting locations abroad to explore beer and the culture surrounding it in those countries.

We start with the Czech Republic, which has a great tradition in beer culture. It's inhabitants, per capita, have the highest annual consumption on average in the world at 160litres per annum that's 281 imperial pints. They take their beer very seriously and despite the westernisation and resultant reduction in independent breweries there is still a lot of excellent beer to be sampled. However the popularity of Prague as a tourist destination is unremitting and as a result many of the traditional bars have sadly either closed, have been revamped into theme bars for tourists and the young and affluent or have so overrun with loutish tourist behaviour they don't want anything to do with tourists at all.

The ideal place to start your exploration is the capital Prague. Not only is it a beautiful city in its own right with many fine buildings, but it is also very easy to get to from our area with the excellent daily low cost service by Jet 2 (check out their website www.jet2.com for the latest fare deals) from Leeds/Bradford airport.

When you arrive at the airport go to the local public transport kiosk and buy a travel pass they are more likely to understand English there than in the local ticket offices. You can also buy them from metro stations, newsagents kiosks, and some hotels.These are excellent value and are valid on all bus, tram and metro services in the central Prague area. You can purchase 24 hour, 3 day, 7 day, or 15 day tickets (e.g. a 7 day pass costs 280 Kr in spring 2006). Armed with one of these you can board the 119 bus. Validate the ticket once in the yellow machine on the bus and it takes you to the edge of the city centre at an interchange called Dejvicka. From this terminus a variety of trams or the Metro connect you with your chosen accommodation. (The inspectors are plain clothed and and carry a metal badge to indicate authenticity don't do what my wife did and try shooing one away thinking he was the local equivalent of the Big Issue saleman when he tried to show his badge and check our tickets.^IB)

A little about the language. The Czech language is quite a challenging one, not only does it add interest trying to find the right characters to produce this article and possibly give the Type Setter something more interesting to do, but is also a bit of a tong twister to learn, so to stop you saying "Railway stations" to confused barmen a few points. "Cheers" in Czech is "na zdravi" whereas station or railway station is "nadraži". Here's some more useful terms in the table below. You still might not be understood, but any attempt to say a few words of Czech is normally appreciated. Always emphasise the syllables in bold type.

English	Czech	Pronunciation
Yes	Ano/no/jo	Ano or no or yo
No	Ne	Ne
Goodbye	Nashledanou	Nasledanou
Hello	Dobry den	Dobree den
Good Evening	Dobry vecer	Dobree vecher
Two beers please	Dve pivo prosím	Dvye peeva, proseem
One dark beer please	Jedno cerné pivo prosím	Yedno cherner peevo, proseem
One pale beer please	Jedno svelté pivo prosím	Yedno svyetler peevo
Can I have the menu please	Jidelni Listek prosím	Yidelnyee leestek proseem
Where are the toilets?	Kde jsou toalety	Kde ysow toileti
How much does it cost?	Kolik stojí?	Koleek stoyee
I want to pay	Zaplatim	Zaplatyeem
Thank you	Dekuju	Dyekuyu

Another hazard is it is very difficult to say "no" to another beer, once one has overcome the natural reluctance to do this the next hazard is when one is getting to the bottom of the glass the Czech waiters have a habit of whisking it away and replacing it with another foaming headed full one and another mysterious line joins the others on the piece of paper on your table (we took to clasping our glasses tightly whenever a waiter approached our table) added to which yes and no are easy to confuse (see above) so a slightly hesitant no could end up with another foaming headed beer on the table in front of you. Finally if you go to the Czech republic don't go in a group of 4; 4 is almost impossible to say in Czech, we ended up having to say "two twos"

Now for those bars worth a visit and the beers worth sampling in no particular order other than vaguely radiating outward by distance from Staromĕstské námĕsti (Old town Square).

U Medvidku (Little Bears)

Na Perstyne 7. www.umedvidku.cz.

Tram stop: Narodni trida.

This is a hotel with a cavernous restaurant decked out like a German beer hall, it also has a small adjoining public bar called the Budvar Bar. The restaurant offers very good Czech cuisine and the service is extremely efficient, don't leave an empty glass in front of you or before you know it, it has been removed and a full one put in it's place whether you want another or not! Budvar pale 12° and dark 12° are the draught beers. In the Budvar Bar you can sample these as well as Budvar 10° pale, the unfiltered version of Budvar 12° pale, and Staropramen Granat a semi dark beer. A new development on the premises, since our previous trip, is a microbrewery and beer shop Dům Piva. You can buy bottles of Old Gott to take away or sample in the bar. Tours of the brewery are possible during the day.

U Zlatého Tygra (The Golden Tiger)

Husova 17, Stare Mesto.

Tram stop: Staromestska. www.uzlatehotygra.cz.

Recently made famous because of a visit by Bill Clinton. Pilsner Urquell is the beer and the pub doesn't open until 15:00. By quarter past it will be full! It's a local's bar and to be fair they want it kept that way, and why not. Go in early to have any chance of a seat at the table on the right as you enter, most other tables are reserved for local drinkers. The menu choice is simple; large beer or large beer, it is quite amusing watching 3 small Japanese girls trying to look inscrutable while struggling through 3 large beers knowing full well they run the risk that when they get near the bottom it may be whisked away to be replaced by full ones.

Branicky Sklipck

Vodickova 26

Situated behind Wenceslas Square. There is an entrance on the left side into the hotel reception and a fairly smart restaurant where you can get good hearty Czech fare. Menu only in Czech. While on the right there's a basic public bar for locals. They're none too keen on visitors in that part. The beers available are Branik 10° Pale, 12° Pale and 12° Dark. The brewery is now owned by the global group InBev.

STOP PRESS: It has just been announced (Mar.06), that the Branik brewery is to be closed shortly. The world's local brewer just got a bit less local.

Pivovarský Dum

Jecna

http://www.gastroinfo.cz/pivodum/index-a.html

Take one of the many trams to I.P. Pavlova alight here and go on foot the short distance down Jecna where you will it on the left. This is an enterprising brew pub with spacious dining areas. ( you may find room downstairs if upstairs is full, but do wait to be seated if very busy). The copper brewhouse vessels can be seen by the bar and there is a glass viewing window into the fermenters where you can see the beers working or them being filled or emptied ready for the next process.

They brew a pale 12°, a delicious dark, and an interesting wheat beer, and experiment with fruit flavoured variants and if you find one particularly to your taste you can have your own mini glass 'column' called a 'Giraffe' of beers set-up on the table to fill your glass without recourse to catching the waiters eye. On our visit, cherry, banana, bilberry and nettle were available, some working better than others, but certainly worth a try. The service is excellent, and very good quality Czech cuisine is served up by cheerful staff.

Baronycky Rychta

Trziste.

Somewhat difficult to find, up an alley way past the American Embassy. On the way there, you can watch the antics of the heavily armed security police with torches and mirrors checking under any vehicles arriving in the vicinity.

On arriving, turn right through the first set of doors into an intimate wood panelled room. It's popular, so try and get there early. The food is very good and traditional Czech, it provides a rare outlet in Prague for Svijany Beers. There is a 12° hoppy amber lager Rytif, a stronger 13° Knieze, and a delicious sweetish dark 13° Karamel. The beers are not gassy and very moreish! A must visit.

U Fleku (The Frog)

Kremencova 11, Nove Mesto.

Tram stop: Narodni trida.

No first visit to Prague is complete without a visit. One of the city's most historic pubs, worth a visit just to see the interior. They brew just one beer on the premises a 13° dark and well worth sampling. Beware, it is a big tourist attraction and most evenings is packed to the rafters with (mostly German) tour groups. So go early doors to be sure of a seat (10 o'clock Sunday morning is a bit bleak though). Also beware of being duped into buying a glass of what appears to be complimentary schnapps by the ever zealous waiters; this should be met with a firm "Ne." if not desired.

The Hippo (U Hrocha)

Another local's bar. It would appear to be very old, but in fact, has been in existence barely a decade. It's set up in traditional style with table top bar and two smallish rooms separated by a covered courtyard. Again, because the locals treasure its existence many tables are often reserved for them. Pilsner Urquell is the beer on draught, locals say it's the best in Prague. You must form your own opinion.

Potrefena husa

Situated on Kolinska (number 19). The other big brewery in Prague is Staropramen, now owned by the dreaded InBev. One of their branded pubs in the Vinohrady district is worth a visit for the good food available and the fact you can sample the entire range of Staropramen draught beers. They are: 10° pale, 12° pale, 12° dark, Granat a sort of amber beer, Velvet ( nitro keg!), and the dark Kelt a sort of stout. It's modern and attracts a younger clientèle, staying open until 1am. It's interesting to watch the punters who purchase 3 litre glasses (a bucket) of Hoegaarden, yes three litres!!! and their efforts to drain the glass!!

Monasteri pivovar

A brew pub adjacent to the Monastery at the top of the hill. Excellent lunches and snacks are available including 'soup in a bun'. Their own brewed beers include a 13° amber and 14° dark under the St. Norbert banner ( had problems here, my bosses nick name is Norbert and the thought of him being canonised appealed but not in the normal sense of the word^IB). You can see some of the brewery vessels in the bar. It's a cheery place with Budvar 12° also available. Committed to good beer, a visit round the brew house may be possible.

The Black Ox (U Cerneho Vola)

Fine traditional bar that was saved from oblivion by the dedicated locals. As such, it is a local's bar so it's as well to keep a low profile. The beers are Kozel 10° dark , 12° pale, and Pilsner Urquell. Seating is at tables with long benches and as is the case in many Czech bars it is customary, if no free table is available, to ask if you can join people already seated. Snacks to go with the beer are also available.

An excellent place to refresh before/after/both meandering down to look at the Castle and, if you time it right, the changing of the guard and marvelling at the tromp l'oeil stonework on the old Schwarzenberg Palace which is undergoing renovation. Remember the bar closes at 10p.m. in the evenings.

Pivní Galerie (The Beer Gallery)

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A little out but worth the trip. Board a No.12 tram towards Holesovice. Go two stops past the Holesovice metro station then alight and walk back to U Pruhonu. This place is a shrine to independent Czech breweries. A beer shop and off licence with every bottled beer imaginable from every independent brewery who "hasn't sold their soul to the devil". Of course, since the so called "velvet revolution", many Czech breweries have either closed, or been taken over by global brewing conglomerates. Testament to this is the former Mestansky Brewery just over the road from the shop. It won an international award for it's dark beer in 2000, then it was closed down two years later!

Petr Vanek, the owner, runs a great operation from this emporium and is a mine of information on the Czech brewing industry. He flies the flag valiantly for independent breweries in the Czech Republic, and deserves every bit of praise in his endeavour. Part of the shop is taken up with several tables and bench seats, and a serving area, dispensing two draught beers. Your luck's in if one goes off and you just have to stay and try another!

Do make the effort to go, it's well worth it. Opening hours are 11:00-20:00 Monday to Friday.

Further Afield

If you want to venture out of Prague for a change of scene, a couple of straightforward excursions can be easily done by train are Kutna Hora and Plzen for starters. Czech railways are good and offer very cheap and reliable travel. Services are frequent enough to make a day trip comfortable to a number of stations outside Prague.

Kutna Hora not only offers the chance to sample the local beers under the Dacicky brand, but there's culture too, as the town has been designated a World Heritage Site. You will find a well signposted heritage walking trail mapped out around the town which takes you to all the sites including a superb Gothic cathedral of Saint Barbara an adjacent old Jesuit College building, town museum, former Royal Mint and palace and just on the outskirts of town close to the main rail station, the creepy Ossiary with it's artwork made of human bones.

Dacicky Pivnice

Rakova 8. www.dacicky.com.

This is an excellent renovation of an old Czech pub in the bar area, with an extension at the back with bench seating to accommodate large tour groups, and if weather permits a pleasant beer garden.

You can sample all the Kutna Hora beers here. They include a delicious 10° dark, a 12° pale which they also do in an unfiltered form, this is akin to the increasingly popular so-called 'Kellerbier' in Germany. In the Czech Republic it's marketed as 'Kvasnicové' or 'yeast beer' in English. You can also try all three of the mainstream Budvar beers: the comparatively rare 10° pale, the well rounded 12° and the excellent new 12° dark.

Another easy excursion from the capital, is to Plzen. It's about 70 miles roughly west of Prague, close to the German border. There's a good hourly train service and a return ticket will set you back about 110kr. (£3 per person!)

Plzen is primarily an industrial town, it being the home of Skoda car manufacturing and therefore, not the prettiest place on earth. It has a tremendous brewing heritage much akin to the likes of Burton on Trent, blessed as it is with pure soft water from the sandstone substrata. It is the home to Pilsner Urquell, Radegast and Gamgrinus breweries, sadly now all part of the SAB Miller global brewing conglomerate. Certainly there's been plenty of controversy since Pilsner Urquell was acquired; not only have they dropped the gravity from 4.8% to 4.4% ABV, but they now brew some of it away from Plzen, mostly in Poland, so probably a lot of what we buy in the UK has never seen the Czech Republic.

Nevertheless, it's worth the trip to tour the brewery (the pictures below show the brewery and the famous tradmark brewery gate) and the brewing museum in the town centre. You can buy tickets for both sites at the brewery for slightly reduced admission charges, oddly this reduction does not apply to tickets purchased at the museum to include the brewery!

They do two tours daily in winter, increasing to four in the summer months. It's all a very corporate but of particular interest is a look at the labyrynthine cellar storage system. We were reliably informed by our tour guide, that there are 9km. of caverns hewn out of the sandstone rock. The 2nd picture below shows our guide stood infront of map of the cellers. These once held countless wooden barrels each containing 3 - 4000 litres of maturing Pilsner Urquell. Sadly today, there's just a token few with a small number of open wooden fermenters on view for the visitors. (see below picture) You do get a glass of it to taste straight from the cask and it's the best you'll have of this once fine beer. We were marched round and kept in line by an a lady that looked about 80 (that or too much beer) in high heels, she had learned her English in Germany and you could tell. (If you do the trip and can miss the video in the visitors centre do so, you will feel better, it's nothing more the Americanised marketing bilge^IB).

Pilsner Urquell Brewery	Our guide and map of 'largering' cellers	An 'Original' brew vat	The trademark gate

There are a few reasonable bars in Plzen.

Na Parkanu

is sort of attached to the brewing museum. Service is efficient rather than friendly but when we visited they did have unfiltered Pilsner Urquell on sale, as well as the standard 11º, possibly from those same open fermenters down in the cellar.

U Zumbera

One block south of Republiky Square, Gambrinus 10º and 12º pale are available at this old and friendly pub.

This article will be regularly updated and expanded to provide an ongoing information centre for lovers of Czech beers, bars and breweries. Our thanks go to the Stockport branch of CAMRA for providing the inspiration for us, with their excellent Prague Guide. If you plan a trip, pack this useful little guide: AA City Pack, Prague. So "Railway Stations" to you and we hope you found this article interesting, useful and or amusing. By Graham Cundall with additions and asides by Ian Berry.

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