Czech stars
Written: Dec 12 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Full flavoured beers; the genuine Eastern European brew
Cons: You may have to look for them
|
|
|
| AlanCrax's Full Review: Budweiser Budvar 12 |
Beer is reputed to have been brewed continuously in central Europe for over 700 years. The Czech Republic is justly proud of its reputation for fine pilsner beers and boasts many breweries. I had the opportunity to try several of these on a city break holiday to the capital – Prague – a couple of years ago.
Budweiser Budvar is perhaps the most well known of the Czech brewing names (apart possibly from Urquell) outside of Eastern Europe. Naturally the beers are available both bottled and on draft.
Budvar is brewed from Moravian malt, Saaz hops and soft water drawn from deep wells (300 metres deep). Like many of these beers it has an amber (rather than pale) colour. Recent samples have been slightly sparkling from the bottle – somewhat more like a draft - rather than effervescent. It has a dry initial flavour (with a slightly flowery and soapy note). It leaves a refreshing slightly bitter, hoppy aftertaste. It does not have a particularly strong nose.
For completeness, I would also like to mention the other very common (and rival) beer that is actually brewed in Prague (since 1869). This is called Staropramen. It is matured for 70 days after brewing. This beer is slightly darker with a more intense flavour and aroma. The initial taste is somewhat sour with slight mature blue cheese tones. This rapidly gives way to a slightly sweeter, hoppy after taste.
Both these beers are brewed to 5% by volume. Both give a long lasting refreshing full flavour in the mouth after the glass is empty. They are the equivalent of Bud and Mich in the US. I give both brews 4* with a slight shading in favour of the latter.
Both beers (Budvar £ 1.45 for a 500ml bottle; Staropramen £ 1.29) are available in my local supermarket here in the UK. These are the imported genuine article. To date there is no evidence that the Eastern European beers will succumb to the dreaded ‘brewed under licence in the UK’ plague that has afflicted so many other famous world wide names and brands in recent years. Still now that the Czechs have applied to join the EU, how long will that last …. ?
You can find more information about Budvar on www.original-budweiser.cz
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
AlanCrax
|
|
Member: Alan Craxford
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK
Reviews written: 212
Trusted by: 37 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.