Prague — the Best Beer City in Europe

(Source: 699pic.com)

Prague is the best city in Europe for beer lovers. That probably sounds outlandish, at least at first glance. Other European capitals certainly might offer greater variety, with a few more kinds of beer available. In a city like Brussels, you could probably find 40 different types of beer, including many rarities that would be hard to spot anywhere outside of Belgium. But in Brussels, you can also walk for blocks without finding any decent beer at all. In Prague, on the other hand, good beer — and often amazingly great beer — is on just about every corner.

There’s also the question of price. Even in Prague’s most expensive pubs, good beer remains very affordable, including many imports, compared to most big cities in Europe. (One brewer from the Netherlands was recently surprised to discover that his craft beers actually cost less in Prague than they do in Amsterdam or Utrecht, even after accounting for shipping costs.) And Prague’s excellent public transportation system means that beer travellers can easily get from one pub, beer garden or microbrewery to the next, making it possible to create multi-day itineraries focusing entirely on tracking down great ales and lagers.

Glossary of Beer Styles and Terms The following list covers the majority of terms you might encounter, including both styles of beer (such as stout) and specific terms that have been codified by Czech law (such as řezané pivo and ležák).

10º – a beer made from wort with at least 10% extracted sugars before fermentation. Known as a Desítka.

11º – a beer made from wort with at least 11% extracted sugars before fermentation. Known as a Jedenáctka.

12º – a beer made from wort with at least 12% extracted sugars before fermentation. Known as a Dvanáctka.

ALE – generally, a term used for all top-fermented beers; as a style, ale is often used to refer to the traditional hoppy brews, often pale, from Britain and the United States. Often written as Ejl in Czech.

ALT – a type of malty, moderately bitter, top-fermented beer, usually amber in colour, traditionally associated with Düsseldorf.

AMBER – lager or ale type beer whose colour is halfway between light and dark beer.

BARLEYWINE – a type of very bitter and usually very sweet top-fermented beer, usually with 10% alcohol or more.

BLACK IPA – an India Pale Ale, or IPA, but very dark, often roasty in flavour, with pronounced hop flavours and aroma. In Czech: černá IPA. BOCK – a type of strong, bottom-fermented beer, often equivalent to a Czech Speciální pivo.

BOTTOM-FERMENTED BEER – often called lagers, these beers are generally produced at colder temperatures, resulting in less-pronounced yeast character. In Czech: spodně kvašené pivo.

DOPPELBOCK (from German) “double bock” – an exceptionally strong, bottom-fermented German beer whose colour ranges from rusty to deep brown. Strong and rich, with a long-lasting foam. Branded dopplebock beers nearly always carry the –ator suffix.

IMPERIAL PILSNER / IMPERIAL LAGER – a type of strong, pale, bottom-fermented beer, like a stronger version of classic Czech světlý ležák. Many brewers believe Imperial Lager and Bock to be the same thing.

INDIA PALE ALE (IPA) – a type of top-fermented beer, usually golden or amber in colour, with pronounced hop bitterness and flavours. Variations include Black IPA and Double IPA.

KVASNICOVÉ PIVO – “yeast beer,” a legal term for beer produced by adding fresh yeast or fresh fermenting wort to finished beer, often resulting in a cloudy beer with a yeasty, bread-like aroma.

LEŽÁK – lager, a legal term for the category of premium beers, made from wort with 11–12% extracted sugars before fermentation. These are the premium or flagship beers at any brewery, and include the most famous of Czech brands.

NEFILTROVANÉ PIVO – unfiltered beer. Not the same as Kvasnicové pivo, though the terms are often used interchangeably.

PALE ALE – a type of gold to amber top-fermented beer, often with pronounced hop bitterness.

PILSNER – in the rest of the world, Pilsner is a general term used to refer to pale lagers. In the Czech Republic, Pilsner is reserved for Pilsner Urquell.

PORTER – a legal term for dark beers made from barley with a wort containing at least 18% extracted sugars before fermentation. A secondary meaning may refer to one of the many porter styles of beer: dark, often bitter, top- and bottom-fermented beers originally brewed in Britain and the Baltics.

PŠENIČNÉ PIVO – “wheat beer,” a legal term for beer made with at least 33% wheat malt.

RAUCHBIER – in German, “smoke beer,” a type of beer which uses beech-smoked malt, resulting in a combination of sweet malt and smoky campfire flavours. In Czech: nakuřované pivo or kouřové pivo.

ŘEZANÉ PIVO – “Half and Half beer/ Black and Tan,” a legal term for a mix of pale and dark beers, generally produced by tapping two types of beer into the same glass. Technically not the same as Polotmavé pivo, though the two are often confused.

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT – a type of strong, dark, very bitter, top-fermented beer, usually over 9% alcohol.

STOUT – a type of bitter, top-fermented black beer common in Ireland and England.

SVĚTLÉ PIVO – “pale beer,” a legal term for golden brews made primarily with pale malt.

TMAVÉ PIVO – “dark beer,” a legal term for dark brews in general.

VÝČEPNÍ PIVO – “taproom beer,” a legal term for the category of basic beers, made from wort with 7–10% extracted sugars before fermentation. These are often light, easy drinkers or “session beers,” designed for mass consumption.

WEISSBIER, WEIZENBIER – originally from Bavaria, a group of top-fermented white or wheat beers, including beers where wheat malt was added. As the name suggests, they are light-coloured and of a refreshing flavour.

WITBIER – a type of wheat-based, top-fermented beer from Belgium, usually flavoured with coriander and orange peel.

Recmmended Breweries & Brewpubs

Klášterní pivovar Strahov (‘The Strahov Monastic Brewery’)

Strahovské nádvoří 10, Prague 1 – Hradčany Mon–Sun 10am–10pm +420 233 353 155 www.klasterni-pivovar.cz 1

Not far from Prague Castle, the Strahov Monastery complex houses a historical brewery which offers its own beer called Sv. Norbert along with excellent Czech cuisine. The history of the Royal canonicate brewery of the Premonstrates in Strahov is intertwined with the history of the monastery itself, founded in 1140. The first written record dates from 1400, when the brewery was rented out for ‘four times threescore groschen, a pound of pepper and one fattened hare per year’.

The brewery was renewed only in 2000. The first batch of beer was brewed in June of the same year, on the feast of St Norbert, the patron saint of the Premonstratensian monastery.

Presently, the Strahov Monastic Brewery includes three “locals” – a beerhall with its own copper brew-kettles and the two storey Sv. Norbert restaurant. During the summer months the brewery courtyard garden is open to visitors.

U Dobřenských Brewery

U Dobřenských 3, Prague 1 – Old Town Mon–Sun 2pm–midnight +420 222 222 141 3

The restaurant brewery in the Old Town is atypical in its specialization, that of flavoured beer. Its flagship beer is Tribulus, fortified with the medicinal plant Tribulus terrestris, and Salvia Stout – a dark beer with Sage, whose local name translates as Hag’s ear. The stylish and cosy interior of the cellar restaurant on two floors is characterized by its brick walls and wooden fittings and furniture. The beer is served with pickled cheeses, cold meats, venison pâté and homemade bread. The hot food is a modern blend of classic Czech and Austro-Hungarian cuisine. They make their own gingerbread and bacon dumplings, and among the weekly specials popping up on the menu are the chef’s specialties such as pork knuckle from wild boar, roast duck thigh or wild boar in red wine sauce

(Source: 699pic.com)

(Source: 699pic.com)