The Tuesday Stat Attack: 18 Czech Republic 15th February 2022

So, week 18 takes us to the Czech Republic, or is it Czechia; well it was definitely Bohemia once. Prague is it’s capital and most beautiful city, with the Vltava River running through it. Plenty of castles, interesting places, towns and cities dotted around it’s 30,500 Square Miles populated by nearly 11 Million people. Beer brewed within it’s borders have changed the world, think Bohemian Pilsners, etc, etc (Pilsner Urquell and so on) and they still today produce some excellent beers.

656 Breweries according to our data base with a further 80 closed.

TOP RATERS

Marko 3172
Rotin 2978
Ascelja 2884
Gurthnar 2733
Cuso 2662
mithe 1749
kolemkoukolem 1691
z87 1649
motelpogo 1473
Quack-Duck 1415

474 is the total rates required to get onto the leader board, currently 50th place is held by @Marduk and @FatPhil .

RateBeer has split the country into 14 Regions, so lots of tables to get on if that’s your thing.

I know plenty of you have been to the country on beer related trips, so please get some stories and stats in!

<*))))))><

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Have 16 rates from the Czech Republic, my highest at 3.6 is Utopia feat. Jaroslav Tesařík PLAY ú lalala 2020

Have only been to Prague, visiting twice, one while Inter-railing, the second for a friends stag do, both well before ratebeer days

In terms of cider, there are 30 active cideries in the Czech Republic with Bacha! - Cidérka Lobeč having the most entries with 13. My tally is a lowly 3 ciders all from Utopia.

The top 5 raters for Czech Republic ciders and cideries are:

Czech RepublicCider Ratings

Czech RepublicCideries

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I was waiting for this one. I too only have Utopia rates. It’s the only option at all in the states. Marko, where is my distribution??

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Brexit has scuppered me getting any more Czech ciders

I’ve been to Prague a couple of times, a long weekend in March 2009 when it was very, very cold and for a week in Sep/Oct 2014 when it was a bit warmer; It appears I reviewed 17 different places during those two trips, well done my wife Margie and I (5 of them are now shut though). Walked across Charles Bridge a couple of times and we liked Prague a great deal, we stayed in St Wenceslas Square on our second visit.

My beer ratings sit at 119 currently and they cover all 14 Regions.

TOP BEERS

Our favourite memory of the two trips was a Sunday afternoon walkabout where we came across a couple of huge barges that had markets on them, one full of bars and eating stalls; the riverside also had stalls along the promenade. We sat at a table and I would wonder off to find a new beer while my wife found a wine seller, which was close to our seating. Every time the guy selling the wine poured a glass for a customer he would down the remaining contents through the neck of the bottle, if it was less than half full. He didn’t care if it was red, white or rosé. We watched him go from almost sober to falling over, in about an hour.

<*))))))><

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So I have nice 15 rates from 10 different regions. 1/3 of my rates are polotmavy and most the rest pils. Never visited and not on short list but who knows. When my wife and I lived in New York City we had printed out names of ~100 countries and put them in a bag, then when we wanted would reach in and pick one randomly and then have to find a restaurant with that cuisine for dinner. We did pick Czech at one point and had to travel way out to Queens to find a place. Hearty fare I recall and cold pils to wash it down. thats all i’ve got

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I forgot to mention that we arranged to meet Evan Rail (the journalist and writer of beer books), Fred Waltman (long standing American friend from Belgian beer festivals) and his father (RIP) on our first trip.

That was a good little session!

<*))))))><

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Just 13 rates for me, which came from 6 different regions. Sadly no polotmavys (polotmavies?) yet… This is definitely a “must try harder” country, especially as I do seem to prefer Czech pale lagers to those from other countries…

My top ones to date are quite common brews:

I’ve not been there in my RB days, but did visit Prague on two separate inter-railing trips in the 1990s.
We were warned to avoid the youth hostel here as it was notoriously scummy (unlike most of the brilliant hostel network) and instead to use the accommodation touts at the station. This resulted in us being taken away from the station in a large black Merc, which was quite worrying! Fortunately the tout was very friendly and genuine. After a long and complex bit of haggling involving the mix of Polish, Germany & UK currency that we had on us, we ended up with a large 2 bedroom apartment for what we discovered later was a ridiculously cheap £2.80 a night (there must have been an error in our currency conversions as both us and the tout thought we were paying a still-cheap £5 per night)!

I drank very little beer on either of my trips - the second time because I was on best behaviour whilst travelling with my future wife, and the first time because my friend was very ill and I didn’t want to go out on my own. This illness was entirely self-inflicted on his part. He had for some bizarre reason decided he wouldn’t get enough vitamins in eastern Europe. He’d therefore bought what he thought were vitamin pills from a local pharmacy… He spent two days throwing up & blaming the local food, before I asked a local to translate his “vitamin pill” packet. It turned out he had in fact been taking dog working pills!

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If you are in London go to PIVO and they should have some polotmavy (I’m going with the basis that it’s like Lego and vinyl).

I’ve 20 rates from Czech Republic which is my 11th most rated country. This includes 9 breweries over 7 regions. My top 3 are:

Screenshot 2022-02-16 231240

The top one is the only 4 I’ve given to a non-dark lager style.

House of Trembling Madness is usually a good source of traditional Czech beer but I notice they only have 10 different beers currently - I’m sure they used to have a few more.

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Even fewer ratings than I thought!
11 ratings, ranking #25 for me.

I’ve ticked 6 of 14 regions which is actually almost impressive given how few ratings I have!

Out of curiousity I just checked the listings at the LCBO (government run liquor store) and the only have 4 Czech beers listed: Czechvar/Budvar, Pilsener Urquell, Kozel, and Czechvar/Budvar Dark

For comparison they have:
Germany (50), UK (43), Netherlands (21), Poland (12), France (10) Denmark (10), Italy (9), Mexico (7) Austria (6), New Zealand (6), Iceland (5), West Bank (5)

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427 beers for me, not looked at regions but as I’ve been to all of them and usually found local beer wherever I go I’m guessing I’ll have had most.

Been going since 2003, at which time there were a mere 4 brewpubs in Praha, Dum being my favourite. Dirt cheap back then too, other than the tourist trap U Fleku, even then 49kc for 0.4l when the going rate in Praha was half that for a half litre. Travelled around as I mentioned, usually even the little kiosks on railways stations had local beer so even if we just stopped somewhere for 5 mins we’d leg it over to see what we could get. Stayed in Pegas hotel/brewpub in Brno in 2004, and did the Cerne Hora bar round the corner. Even back then Czech had a lot of small breweries, though mostly just brewing lagers of varying strengths and darkness, the aforementioned Dum being about the only one doing anything significantly different - fruit and herb beers before craft was really a thing! Even now most breweries seem to be quite trad, but with some craft among them, Sibeeria and Zichovec being my personal favourites.

A lot of beers then didn’t quote ABV, especially on draught, they just showed Balling/Plato, confusingly often with % symbol rather than º, I used to laugh when I heard normals claiming to have been drinking 10% beer all night…

ps it will never be ‘Czechia’ to me! ‘Czecho’ sounds much better, but in my spreadsheet I’m leaving it as ‘Czech Republic’

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Remember my first visit to an actual craft bar there - went to Zly Casy shortly after it opened. Barely any exterior signage, at ground level there was a bog standard Staropramen(?) bar, but if you went in the front door for that and down to the end of the corridor, there was a door with a handwritten sign leading to some steps down… at the bottom of which was a cellar bar with an unprecedented 12 taps, think I ticked half a dozen breweries that time. Next time I went they’d added a few more taps, then next time again they’d taken over the ground floor bar, and then after that they opened up a third room halfway down the stairs, by which time they had 40odd taps over the three floors. Not been for a while as I’ve tended to stick to the little cluster of bars round Vinohrady - Nubeerbar, Zloty Pes (RIP?), etc.

Away from Praha, Olomouc has a few good bars/brewpubs now, and Brno has a definite craft scene - in both cases Axiom probably the focal point. Conversely I’ve found some other cities e.g. Ostrava rather lacking

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The Czech Republic is my 25th highest rated country, with just 29 rates from 23 breweries. My top ten:

My Rating Avg Entered Updated
Cobolis Bezedný kotel Extra Stout 18° 3.9 3.42 7/23/2019
Konrad Světlý Ležák (Vratislav) 12° 3.7 3.01 1/18/2018
Pilsner Urquell 3.6 3.26 6/30/2014
Clock 12° American Pale Ale 3.6 3.58 10/21/2014
Lucky Bastard Black 3.5 3.28 8/10/2014
Valášek IPA Saison 16° 3.5 3.44 10/21/2014
U Medvídků X-Beer 33 3.5 3.35 10/23/2014
Černá Hora Velen 3.4 3 8/28/2014
Raven Sour Cherry Weisse 3.4 3.09 8/9/2017
Matuška Zlatá Raketa (Golden Rocket) 17° 3.4 3.73 12/31/2020

As you can see, I’ve not really tried anything that’s blown me away from this country unfortunately, but still some respectable scores there mostly from a trade back in 2014.

I’ve visited the country a number of times, almost always to Prague but also to Brno and some metal and hip hop festivals out in the countryside. Prague’s a lovely city, but I’ve only ever had one free afternoon to walk around. Saw the intricately detailed Charles Bridge, Prague Astronomical Clock, the Leaning House, as well as admiring the general architecture and cobbled streets of the city. I made a note of the top beer bars from RateBeer during a visit in 2014, and walked about half an hour out the centre to Zlý Časy but it was closed. Quite fortuitously next door there was a beer shop, Pivotéka Zlý Časy which was open so I picked up a few beers there. No time for any other bar visits though.

The most remarkable sight I can remember is actually located about 40 minutes outside prague, the Church of Bones (- search google image for it!). I think the reasoning behind it is to stress the fact life on earth is temporary, and our spirit goes on to heaven. Hence why every inch of the church is decorated with human bones and skulls, including an actual cello made from human bones. Mental.

That’s about all I can retrieve from my increasingly poor memory I’m afraid. I recall being in Pilsen once, I think staying in a hotel after a festival, saw the brewery but massively regret not being into beer enough at the time to visit.

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3 ratings. I am not in this league, not even the non-league version. And I don’t like lager. And rumours of English stag party overload put me off Prague even in the days when it was definitely an economical destination. Hence if anyone has tips about how I can convert my reluctant self to the wonderful world of Czech beer–I would appreciate it. For instance, I would also like to know if my failure to taste any Slovak beer is just me? and without wanting to anticipate later threads, would I be better focusing my attention on discovering Hungarian beer rather than seeking something for the non-lager lover in either the Czech or Slovak republic? One final random thought: wasn’t the Hapsburg empire amazing?

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Ah, Czechia, one of my favourite countries to visit. Have visited around 15 times I believe, most of the time away from the cities, in the beautiful forests litteres with sandstone formations. It is one of few countries where the most commonly found beers are often of high quality.

It is my 13th most rated country with 568 ratings, and a relatively high average of 3.02.

Despite nowadays having a lively craft scene with some good breweries, more or less all my highest rated Czech beers are lagers. Some of them were rated prior to breweries were overtaken by larger breweries.

My Rating Avg Entered Updated
Rohozec Podskalák Světlé Výčepní 10° 4.5 2.79 2/19/2002
Vyškovské Pivo Džbán 11° 4.5 3.2 3/25/2002
Únětické Pivo 12° Nefiltrované 4.5 3.61 5/9/2019
Klášter Ležák 4.4 3.01 4/22/2005 4/29/2005
Zvíkov Zlatá Labuť Světlé Kvasnicové Pivo 12° 4.4 3.04 7/2/2008 7/12/2009
Vinohradský Vinohradská 12° 4.4 3.57 12/23/2020
Svatováclavský Vašek 10° 4.3 3.25 11/18/2008

Most rated regions are:

Czech Regions (14/14) Average Count
Hradec Králové Region 3.09 73
Central Bohemia 2.9 71
Prague 2.97 60

My favourite beer memory from Czechia of course includes RBESG in Plzen, contested by a weekend in Olomouc and some brewpub crawls in Prague.

My least favourite beer related memory is this: Pegas Svetlý Ležák Nefiltrovaný 12° The beer itself was excellent, but oh well, still…

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After doing the USA one I realised that it made me too homesick to do it properly so glad to get to a country I can look at with objectivity.

I’ve been to the Czech Republic once, in 1997, way before my Ratebeer days. I do remember getting very, very, very drunk in a bar in Kutná Hora and I think I may have died and the rest of my ‘life’ is just a simulation. I also remember the creepy but beautiful Sedlec ossuary, which while visited sober still seems like a drunken dream. No bones about it!

My RB stats for the Czech Republic are shocking, at only 19 rates. For one of the great beer countries that really sucks. Even more sucky is the fact that the vast majority of my rates are bigger breweries or straight out macro. I guess I’ve never really sought out Czech beer, but have gotten most of my rates from the pub.

Nothing has cleared a 3.6, and Pilsner Urquell is at the top (although I think this is a very decent beer):

Weirdly I have 7 of the 14 regions with my low rates. South Bohemia leads the pack due to my 6 Budvar beers. So that’s pretty cool.

Would I like to go back? Hell yes! But I don’t know when we’ll be able to. Maybe when I do I’ll meet the ghost of my former self in that Kutná Hora bar. We could high five each other which may result in the end of the end of the universe but it’s a risk well worth taking.

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Been to the country 3 times (Prague, and once to Plzen), and have a modest 180 ratings. My highest scores were given at a time when I was less picky than I am (unfortunately?) today.

\ 7x7 My Rating Avg Entered Updated
Svatý Norbert Tmavé 14° 4.4 3.6 3/29/2005
Herold Tmavé Silné / Speciální Pivo 13° (Czech Black Lager) 4.3 3.59 3/31/2005
U Fleků Flekovský Tmavý Ležák 13° 4.2 3.58 3/29/2005
Krušovice Černé 4.1 2.96 3/29/2005 3/30/2005
Vyškovské Pivo Tmavý Džbán 11° 4.1 3.27 3/29/2005
Klášter Světlý Speciál (Premium Lager) 14° 4

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The Czech Republic (a.k.a. Bohemia and Moravia) is my 2nd highest rated country, with more than 1000 ratings. This country, the real heart of Europe, full of culture, historical sites and (sometimes) beautiful woods is the real thing if You are keen on great Lagers. In the time of the Velvet Revolution only 70 (more or less) “industrial” breweries existed, no brew-pubs (with the exception of “U Fleků”) .Nowadays the number of active breweries is more than 600! Most of them are interested in brewing the “new” anglo-american styles, but some of them, often on the revitalized premises of old breweries, like Kouť(R.I.P.), Unětice, Hostomice or Kamenice are brewing world-class Lagers. So for Lager-lovers, a trip to Bohemia is hard to avoid!

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48 rates for me, 8th on my list of countries.
31 breweries sampled.
12 of 14 regions ticked.

I’ve had a good few of my country ticks from the Pivo bar on Old Street in London

I’ve never visited, one day!

My top rated beers list gives a good clue as to my fave Czech brewery:

image

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