Things you should know about Czech Beer

Czech Republic is known as the country famous for its beer production and consumption. Beer is ingrained in Czech culture so much that the beer industry is considered a part of the national heritage. Czechs rate beer as part of their lives. They even call beer the “Liquid Bread” and they very often consume it in that manner. Now once you are in a „Beer Country“ there are things you should know about Czech beer – it’s a necessity in Prague!

There are some sayings about Czech beer – one of them says that “Beer makes men beautiful bodies”. Just look around you and you will understand – Czechs call it a „Beer Belly“. If those bellies are beautiful or not that depends on your personal taste only.

Another saying about Czech beer explains why Czech women are more bosomy than other – it is because especially among women dark lagers are popular (they are usually sweeter), and there goes an old wife’s tale, that consumption of a dark beer will enhance breast growth. Whether this is true, you will have to find out on your own. This is definitely a much cheaper version of a beauty operation, and it is natural as well. So girls, drink more of Czech dark lagers and you will see!

You may feel a strong sense of patriotism in Czech beer consumers – the Czechs drink mostly Czech beers. Many foreign breweries have tried to get Czechs drinking other than Czech beers after 1989, but they haven’t had much direct success in the Czech market. Foreign importers are left to scrap over less than 1 per cent of the total national consumption! What does it say to you?

The reason is quite obvious – Czech brewing has a long history and Czech beer is among the best in the world (Czechs would swear that it is the number one), not to mention the price! Half a litre costs approximately 20 CZK. Now there can be no wonder about the reasons for the beer-tourism! More and more tourists come over to Prague only to drink price pleasant and at the same time high quality beer.

Most popular Czech beers come in the 10° and 12° versions. Those numbers don’t refer to alcohol but to the brewery method and the hops share. Alcoholic content of Czech beers is mostly between 3.6 and 4 %. To name some brands – Pilsner Urquell (Plzensky Prazdroj), Staropramen, Gambrinus, Krusovice, Radegast, Budvar and other smaller breweries.

The most widely exported Czech beer is Budvar, abroad called Budweiser Budvar or just Budweiser. It is important to distinguish between Czech Budvar and the American „Bud“ since they have nothing in common what so ever but the name. Budweiser is the name of a beer from the city of Ceske Budejovice in Czech Republic, brewed since 1265. Its name is derived from the German name for the town, Budweis – in German, something from Budweis is called Budweiser.

In 1876, the name Budweiser was adopted by Anheuser-Bush. Few years later, when the Czech brewery wished to export to the States and the U.S. Bud wanted to expand to Europe, this caused huge problems and years of legal disputes. The problem was settled not long time ago by re-branding the Czech beer on American market – it is called there Czechvar.

One last thing is important about Czech beer – it is preferred by Czechs to drink it in bottles instead of in cans, and in the pub rather then at home.

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