Beer Hero of the Week

I am something of a cynic when it comes to marketing, so when I see companies raving on about how they brew beer that their customers want I tend to think either:

• said customers have no taste in beer
• marketeers are liars - actually I think that about marketeers in general regardless of industry

As I was perusing the beers available on BeerRitz I came across plenty of breweries I had never heard of, naturally requiring me to check out their websites. One that I enjoyed reading a lot was that of the Bradfield Brewery near Sheffield, in particular the page entitled "Your Beer?".

Here is a brewery who actually want to hear what kind of beers their customers want, and rather than giving us an "info" email address to contact they have a form which is easy to fill in and clearly presented.

That is why my Beer Hero of the Week is:

The Bradfield Brewery.

Early Planning

Having discovered the delights of BeerRitz I decided to make a provisional list of the beers I plan to order when I get paid next month to be shipped to my brother's place in Kent in preparation for Christmas.


Comments are more than welcome if you think I have picked a dud.

Despair

Liverpool played Portsmouth last night, so I was in Zlata Hvezda to watch the match - although by half-time I had the beginnings of a headache so I went home. I have been watching Liverpool matches, and the 6 Nations, at Zlata practically since I first came to Prague in 1999. In that time I have no doubt drunk vast quantities of beer in the place, starting with Velkopopovický Kozel back in the good old days when they made a good lager, to the modern era where the ubiquitous Gambrinus is the beer of choice along the regulars, visitors who just ask for a beer get a 0.4l of Pilsner Urquell for almost twice the price.

Zlata is something of an institution for my circle of friends, most of us met there, and we see each other most when there a game is on - which given the owner's canny acceptance that Liverpool fans will be at every game he can find, duly finds almost every game. Zlata is also my favourite pub when I am on a beer fast, because I really have to sink low these days to be tempted by Gambrinus, let alone the Gambrinus at Zlata - universially regarded as somewhere between passable and rank. Thank god for Mattoni in bottles.

I have been finding it odd lately though the fact that more people aren't refusing to drink the beer. Some of the lads I drink with enjoy excellent beers when they go home to the UK, often texting me to tell me what pints they are drinking and in what historic pub over looking some natural wonder, so why drink Gambrinus in Zlata (well, why drink Gambrinus at all really)?

I guess some people just don't care what they drink, as long as it gets them drunk as quickly as possible and for as little money as possible. Recently when I was reading Pete Brown's Three Sheets to the Wind, I started to wonder if there really is something uniquely British about getting wankered on crap.

Excellent News

Whilst reading Beer Culture, I came across a comment which has filled me with happiness.

Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf, that myself, Evan and Pivní Filosof rave on about now have their first permanent tap in Prague.

The tap is at Tlustá Koala on Senovažná, they currently have the excellent stout available, and the beer will change every fortnight.

Here's looking forward to Kocour getting the far wider acknowledgement that their ground breaking beers deserve!

Taking shape

As I am sure I have mentioned several times on here, in a couple of weeks I am heading to Ireland for a long weekend just before my birthday. I have never been to Ireland before and am really looking forward to it - not just for the opportunity to try out a few places like The Porterhouse and Messrs Maguire, but also because I have something of a fascination with Ireland in general (well ok then, I have a weakness for girls with a Connemara accent!).

We will be staying with friends of Mrs Velkyal in a village called Rochfortbridge in County Westmeath, so hopefully we'll avoid some of the tourist traps of Dublin and get to see the real Ireland a wee bit - whenever we travel we like to go to the places locals hang out in rather, my sincerest hope for the afternoon of the 15th is to find a good pub to watch the rugby in (unless someone reading this has 4 tickets going spare for the game at Croke Park and an overwhelming urge to let my lovely American wife continue her rugby education!).

As a result of the planning for this trip to Ireland, I have decided to make November my Dark Beers Month - as you can see from my Little Cellar Holdings list on the side of this page I have stocked up on a few bits and pieces, and plan to bring a couple back with me. Obviously I won't be drinking purely stout and porters for the month, but will also include dark beers from the Czech Republic and anywhere else I can get my hands on.

Oops...

Time for a confession, I failed. My plan to have a fortnight without beer came crashing down on Saturday afternoon when I stuck my head into Pivovarský klub to see who was working that day. The plan as formulated in my head was to go for a walk with my camera around the Karlín district of Prague, and pick up some bottles for my cellar to enjoy after the two weeks were up – I had texted one of the managers on Friday to ask when they would have the new Primátor Stout available in bottles, and he replied saying they would have them on Saturday. So as I say, I took a look through the window to see who was working and it was my favourite staff, Ambroz and Klara – having not seen them for a while I headed in for a chat.

The plan went to pot when I asked Ambroz for an espresso and mineral water and he pointed out that they had the Primátor Stout on tap. Bugger. In some ways though the beer that was sat down in front of me was much like an espresso, very dark with a slight ruby tinge and head the colour of the foam on top of a good espresso. The beer smelt fabulous, full of coffee and chocolate, with wonderful smoky depths to it. As you would expect with a stout it was rather bitter, tasting of full roasted coffee, but nice and smooth going down. The only gripe I would have is that the body is a little on the thin side. It is a very nice beer, although I had to wait for a while to let it warm up a bit – it was served at the standard lager temperature. I do have another gripe, but not about the beer – I like stout to be in pints, well ok then as we are in metric Europe, half litres. 35kč for 300ml of stout is taking the piss in my opinion, especially given the fact that a bottle of imported Black Wych costs 45kč at Cider Club.

As Ambroz and I were chatting, I am one of those people who likes to sit at the bar, he mentioned that they had a new selection of beers from Germany which hadn’t been put out for public sale yet. I decided to get a bottle of each for the cellar, and an extra bottle of the Bischofshof Zoigl from Regensburg to have at the bar. This one blew my mind and almost gave me sensory overload. Pouring light amber with a bright white head and good carbonation, you could easily mistake it for just another lager, until you put your nose anywhere near it. The nose on this beer is quite amazing, smelling of stables, extra mature farmhouse cheddar cheese and other farmhouse smells – it reminded me of a cowshed. The beer then tasted like overripe bananas, it was sweetish and smooth, like bread and butter pudding, with honey. It was simply a wonderful beer to drink, I loved it and am very much looking forward to breaking open the other bottle in the cellar.

So while I am really annoyed with myself for messing up my intention not to drink for two weeks, I enjoyed some nice beer in one of my favourite pubs in Prague – even if Pivovarský klub could do with a little bit of music playing, nothing loud and rocking, just something to break the silence a bit.

Beer Hero of the Week

As has been mentioned many times on this blog, ale is something of a rarity in the Czech Republic. Thankfully we have Kocour making waves with their wonderful Pale Ale, IPA and Stout, the guys at Minipivovar Žamberk do an excellent Imperial Stout and now the makers of Mrs Velkyal's favourite tipple have added to their already impressive line-up by this week bringing out their own stout.

So this week's Beer Hero is:

Primátor - Pivovar Náchod for adding to the range of ales commercially available in the Czech Republic.

This will be joining the various stouts I have lined up for November's StoutFest!