My first port of call was Prague. Full of tourists but still one of Europe's most beautiful cities. I arrived late, but not too late to visit the Jamajka pub on Staropramana. It was open until 1am on a Monday and no it didn't have Staropraman beers but three beers from the Nymburk brewery. The basic pub had a pleasant atmosphere, the beer was cheap and like many Czech pubs it was smokey. I tried all three beers the 10%,11% and 12% (don't worry czech beer strength is measured differently from ours). The 11% was dark and caramelly, the 12% had a long lemony finish. The walk back to the centre is very pretty at night / early morning.

The next day I decided to walk around the Zizkov and Vinorady districts of Prague. Here you will find less tourists and better pubs. The centre of Prague is dominated by the large breweries and is quite expensive, although there are some good brewpubs. My first visit was to Restaurant U Radnice in Havlickovo Namesti. Unusually it was a free house serving 6 beers from different breweries. I had the rare Velicon 11% from the Zvikov brewery which was bittersweet with a lasting bitter finish and a very malty Demon by Lobkowicz. I arrived at opening, so it was quiet. The woman at the bar was friendly. I returned a week later and the beer choice was completely different with another friendly server. I recommend this place. Just up the road on Lipanska is Osudova Pritazlivost selling 3 Svijany and 3 Budweiser beers. It was relaxed and very blue. I tried the Budvar 10% which was well balanced and had a fair amount of hops. After a long walk, I reached Hrom Do Police on Chodska. This restaurant / pub sells all 6 of the Policka beers and is well recommended. Again it was quiet but friendly. The beers were really good. At the moment there is a trend amongst Czech brewers to produce unfiltered or yeast beers (kvasnicovy). Policka do 2 and I felt they were the best I tried all trip. I tried the full range of 6 and returned another day for a repeat. The Otakar 11% and the Zavis 12% were both full bodied with good bitter finishes as were the unfiltered versions, the dark Hradebni tasted like a good mild. Next stop was the new brewpub near the Prazsky Most (bridge) in the centre. I tried their own, expensive dark (cerny). It looked good but tasted a bit sour. Fortunately their Svetle (light) beer was much better. They also had lots of "guest" beers including the rare, very good Skalac tmave (dark) by the Rohozec brewery which was fruity with coffee tones and quite dry.

L- R Pivovar Modra Hvezda, Pivovar - Chyse, Stribro, Uradnice

On the Wednesday I went to the Halesovice district. First stop was the down to earth Klasterni Pivnice on Overnecka. This basic, smokey  pub serves an excellent Klaster svetle 11% good grapefruit finish and a decent mild like tmave 11%. I liked this pub. Just around the corner on Jireckova is the Svijansky Rytir. Quite an upmarket restaurant / pub which sells the whole range of Svijany beers. The Kvasnicak 12.5% was slightly yeasty but with a good grapefruity, bitter finish. The rare Baron 15% was again grapefruity with a long bitter finish. The best of the lot was the Rytir 12% svetle, a classic bitter. It rained so I stayed for 3. It was nice to see lots of young people there, all drinking beer. Not far away was the Na Melniku on Frantiska Kriza (try pronouncing that after some beers)! This pubs has a special tanked, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquel which was really nice, quite hoppy and very full bodied. I headed back to the centre of Prague to visit Ferdinando which has all the Ferdinand beers. It's off Wenceslas Square on Opalotava. Quite a trendy pub with good beer. The 11% tmave was smooth, quite fruity with coffee flavours. The 12% svetle was like a really hoppy English bitter with a long bitter finish. The 11%  svetle was well balanced and the 13% spiced beer was quite tasty too.

The next day I ventured out of Prague to the nearby village of Chyne to Pivovarsky Dvur Chyne. There is a small rustic style bar where I found 3 of the brewery's beers all of the beers were quite sweet and malty. The pick of the bunch was the 14% special. The barman was very friendly, the beer was cheap and the measures generous. In the pub I met Ian from Manchester who must be Czech Republics number one ticker. He told me about a lot of pubs which I visited later. After Chyne I went to the Bulovka area of Prague to the Richter brewpub. I have to say I was disappointed with the beers. They had a house beer and a dark and light wheat beer but they tasted one dimensional, the day was saved by the good, coffee and chocolate flavoured Tmave 14%. Their beer range does change so maybe it is better on other days. On the main road called Husistka not far from the main bus station (Florenc) there are 2 really good pubs, one is a bar selling the Chyne beers. This place had a really good Special Dark (cerny) which was not available at the brewery. It was a pleasant historic building, spacious and airy and sold other Chyne beers as well as the lovely dark beer. On the same street was the down to earth, loud and smokey U Slovansky Lipy. This pub has the full range of the impressive Kout Na Sumava beers and is really cheap for central Prague. The 12% svetle is a great beer as is the Tmave Special. I tried the 18% tmave extra special which was very dry with hints of blackberry and quite winey. I also tried the unfiltered 12% svetle which was quite bitter.

The next day in Prague was mainly spent in the Nusle area, where you can find some good pubs. Zly Casy on Cestmirova is a free house. I went twice and the choice varied from good to very average. You need to go downstairs to find the bar. The pub had 3 opat beers which I found quite dull and lacking in hops. They had a very cloudy and unfiltered beer and a lovely 19% porter probably by Opat but it could have been the famous Pernstein beer (no one seemed to know)! Just around the corner was the Basta brewpub. Unless you go outside to drink, It's difficult to fully appreciate the beer due to the almost overpowering malt smell of them brewing in the pub!  The light beers were very malty but full bodied but the Tmave dark beer was very nice. Unfortunately I exchanged cross words with the bar staff as I found them very rude! Slightly hidden and hard to find is the basic boozer called U Klokocnika (it's on a street called Na Veseli) which has some very yeasty unfiltered / yeast beers by the Kacov brewery. It wasn't listed but I noticed a friendly local drinking a dark beer so I tried one of those. This was much better. It was dry with licourice and coffee tastes. The pub reminded me of a traditional estate pub, the beer was really cheap and some of the locals were tough. They were fighting outside when I arrived but were quite well behaved in the pub. On my way back to the hostel I found a pub called Woodstock. It was a small pub covered in 60's posters playing Stones, Hendrix and Beatles cds. They had 2 Svijany beers on, both well priced. The 13% Tmave was very dry with a fruity berry finish.

After Prague it was time to move on to Plzen (Pilsen). Quite industrial but it has an attractive main square, an impressive cathedral, one of Europe’s largest synagogues and plenty of good pubs. I started at U Sveteho Rocha on Rocha street just over the bridge from Roosevelta leaving the main square. This friendly pub has 3 very cheap beers by Bakalar brewery. The 2 lighter beers  (svelte) were full bodied but rather sweet and malty. The polotmave was quite dry and coffee-ish. They had bottles of the tmave which was a nice dark coffee flavoured  beer. I continued on away from the centre onto the long dual carriageway called Karlovska into the Lochoty area. You can walk, the view of the city is good, or, there are many trams. This restaurant / community pub is large and airy with plenty of wood beams and some murals. They brew 2 yeasty sweet beers here which are okay but nothing special. En it was back into to the centre to 2 pubs just off the main square. The pub Uncle Paya was an alternative pub with lots of reggae, a whit, dope smoking rasta and the Young Ones in Czech on tv! The unfiltered Bernard 12% was really good, dry with a long lasting bitter finish. They also has the Bernard special dark. Just around the corner next to the Pilsener Urquel museum is U Parkana, a busy wood panelled touristy busy pub with a rare unfiltered version of Pilsener Urquel which was dry and bitter and enjoyable.

The next day I took the train to Dobrany to the Modra Hvezda blue star brewpub. This place was very busy with lots of cyclists and brewed a lot of beers. The service was pretty good considering how busy they were. All their beers are unpasteurised and ranged from yeasty and disappointing (the 10% Desikta), strong and well rounded (17% Special) to dry, licouricey and stout like (14% tmave special).

Continuing the theme of daytrips from Plzen I went to the pretty town of Stribro to the upmarket brewpub / restaurant U Rybicek on Plzenka just off the main square. This place had quite a lot of it’s own beers. The 13% Hornik tmave was a mix of coffee and licourice flavours, the Duchmans weissebier was a good version and the Ostralec special beer very well balanced with a good finish. I returned to Plzen to go to another brewpub Purkmistr in Cernice (from Plzen centre get tram 1 or 2 to the end of the line and then bus 13 to Cernice or bus 13 from near the train station. A very upmarket restaurant / brewpub serving Purkmistr beers. I was a little disappointed with their beers except for the tmave 12%.

It was time to say goodbye to Plzen and head towards the pretty spa town of Karlovy Vary via the small town of Chyse to – yes you‘ve guessed it, to another brewpub. This one, Zamecky Chyse, is a refurbished, up market building next to the pretty castle / chateau. Again this was a pleasant historic place with the shiney brewing coppers in the corner and a really helpful bar lady. Speaking a bit of German really helps in the Czech Republic as does finding a menu as it has a list of beers available at the back. It isn’t always possible to see which beers are on at the barv because all the pump clips are often the same ! The 14% Velikonocni was very thin but the 12% tmave and polotmavy (half dark) were quite nice. When I arrived at Karlovy Vary I found another pub the on Sevlerova street near the bus station called the Prokop that also sold the chyse beers the tmave 12% was good.

The next day I went to the beautiful town of Loket. A lovely place for a wander with its impressive zamek (castle) and pretty main street. Here you will also find the restaurant / brewpub Svety  Florian. It has one, expensive beer Florian polotmave 11% which is full bodied with a good mixture of malt and hops and a pleasant dry finish. I then got the bus to Sokolov and then the nearby Lomnice to find the Permon brewery tap. The bus driver had a sticker for the brewery on her ticket machine and let me on the bus free when I asked her about the pub! Be aware the pub doesn’t open until 4pm on weekdays and seems to run out of beers and not have any others ready. The svelte and polotmave beers both had a herby flavour followed by a pleasant bitter finish. The 14% tmave was fantastic. It was black with coffee flavour and an excellent bitter finish like a proper stout. They ran out after one otherwise I could have drank it all night. In the evening I went to the village of Velichov to the basic boozer called Hospuda U Mexickehu. The pub has a talkative and friendly landlord who brews the 11% Forman beer. This beer started off quite malty but had a really refreshing orangey / tangeriney finish which was very long lasting. After 4 of these the brewer showed me around his brewery and store cellar which has massive wooden barrels to put the beer in.Karlovy Vary didn’t seem to good for pubs, but, I did find the Vinarny W. Vaclava. These small pub with intimate side rooms had 2 Platan beers the 14% svelte was very nice, agood mix of bittersweet flavours and very full bodied. The beer was cheap for such a touristy town.

On my final day I headed towards another pretty spa town, Mariansky Lazne. Not far from the train station is a Chodovar pub called U Jakuba which is a down to earth, cheap but not very friendly pub selling a cheap chodovar 11% which was hoppy with a nice bitterness. I then took the train to Chodovar Plana (turn left at the station follow the train line for 10 minutes) the busses go to and from the main road in the centre. The Chodovar brewery tap is an upmarket and expensive place. I went to the Pivnice Hotel Slunc. They had a better choice of beers which were very cheap. Unfortunately the lady at the bar was very unfriendly. However I stuck it out and was rewarded with some really good beers. The 10% Svetle was well balanced with a good hoppy mouthfeel and lovely bitter finish. I don’t usually like 10% but this is one of the best I’ve tried. The castle (zamecky) special 13% was similar but had an even longer hoppy finish, excellent. The 11% cerny / dark was like a black country mild having a good body and caramelly. I recommend going back into Mariansky Lazne and having a walk around, it’s very pretty.    

I headed back to Prague for a few more beers at pubs mentioned at the start of the article before getting my flight home. What a great adventure! If anyone wants more info on good pubs and beers and places to stay for most of the Czech Republic contact me on teacherchris@ntlworld.com.

Cheers.  

Chris Greenwood