Beer

The well-known lager from Ceske Budejovice in the South Czech Republic starts to sell in China from 17th July. If Chinese decide to have a Budweiser, they are lucky. The name in Chinese – Bai De Fu means ‘A lot of luck’, something like good luck wish.

Why would the well known brand rename? A Chinese is not able to pronounce Budvar or Budejovicky, so the business managers for East Asia decided to find a new name with locals, short and optimistic one.

The golden Czech beer starts in 13 million Shanghai. The Patent Office gave the Czech Brewery licence for whole China.

Is it an absurd vision, that a police officer would give you a free beverage? Well it can happen, where else than in Prague. Since today to Thursday, the traffic-preventive action called ‘Alcohol doesn’t belong behind the wheel’ takes place in Prague.

The police is going to check drivers for alcohol, those who didn’t drink before driving will get a free, non-alcoholic beer as a reward.

The meaning of the action is to emphasize, drivers can drink only non-alcoholic drinks, and to warn against hazards of drunk driving. But it wouldn’t be Czechs, if the solution wouldn’t include beers… I guess beer really is the Czech word for water...

The page nelso.cz brought an interesting insight – if you come to Prague for good and cheap beer, this could be your guide to both. The map depicts Prague parts with colours according to prices, with little glasses, representing pubs and restaurant.

As it goes with the web 2.0, the map is interactive, so it still grows in information and quality. Prague citizens themselves form the information part. And how to summarize it? If you have a beer at the Old Town Square, you can pay ten times more than in the rest of Prague. Prague 1 prices are equal to those in Britain, but if you move just a little, you can find beer in normal Prague price – 25 czk or less for a 0,5 l.

The interactive map of beer in Prague is here

MF Dnes have drawn attention to the fact; Germany, which has symbolised the rich and expensive country for Czechs twenty years ago, is now becoming comparably cheaper.

If we go through a little counting, we find out: a bottle of Pilsner Urquell costs 19,90 CZK, meanwhile in Germany it is 15,93 CZK. The beer is four crowns cheaper, and also empties of Pilsner pay for more in the Czech Republic, than in Germany.

It would be very lucrative to build a business on it, however there is a problem; beer sold in the CR must have a Czech label.

Why the company Plzensky Prazdroj, the maker of Pilsner Urquell, puts its prices so high? They can afford it, as every second beer drunk in the Czech Republic is made by the company. They are setting the price. In 2006 it made 130 millions €, which makes it tenth most profitable company in the CR.

Last year, the Czech beer brand Pilsner Urquell held its 17% share on the non-alcoholic beer market.

Half a million hectolitres of nonalcoholic beer has been sold in the Czech Republic only. A year before, it was 328 thousands hectolitres. The general director of Urquell Mike Short claims, the sales of non-alcoholic beer are growing up in the whole Europe, but not so fast as in the CR.

Urquell’s brand is called Radegast Birell and it competes with another 25 brands on the Czech market.

When Skoda Auto introduced , during the Christmas season, their skoda-cake advertisement, it was just one of the ads they show to the world. By the way, the British Television Advertising Craft Awards went to this ‘baking’ advertisement.

Skoda advertisements have their place reserved at the web Ads of the Wold, which maps creative ideas, like the one when Skoda inform es they re-plant forests at various places of Earth; “Skoda compensates for the pollution of its cars, reforesting specific areas in the world.” (picture)

The second most well-known Czech product is beer, and the Kozel brand advertisements are recognized by world’s creative minds. Kozel is the beer with the billy-goat in its emblem, and the billy-goat propagates the beer e.g. by presenting ‘beer receipts’ in Finland, or by re-cycling the 3D glasses idea in Russia.

Hundreds of contestants throughout the Czech Republic, Poland and South Africa had endured a grueling selection process in the preliminary rounds. Written examinations tested their knowledge of the traditional development of Pilsner Urquell and the brewing practices that create this distinctive beer. Each of the contestants had been required to choose a photograph depicting the embodiment of Pilsner Urquell and to write an essay explaining their selection.

The subsequent test was to demonstrate their ability to consistently perform the “perfect pour.” Such an art requires finesse, patience, and a steady hand. Technique differs for draught and bottle pouring, but either can be a difficult task. The contestants were judged on the draught technique, since this is the greater challenge.

Twenty-one-year old Erik Jönsson from Norway excelled in beer tapping with huge diligence. He did not allow so that the beer would owerflow. After that he hit the right rate.

Erik Jönsson gained a prestigious title Pilsner Urquell Master Bartender 2007 and he was introduced into the hall of fame of the Pilsen Urquell Brewery. “It is a great honour for me, the victory came as a surprise, even when I was prepared. The Czech representative was definitely a favourite .”

The Day Lager was Born

The well-known Czech lager was made for the first time on 5th October 1842. The main reason was probably the brewing crisis, going as far back as to 15th century. In the city of Pilsen was not only good beer, that was mostly sold away from the city, but much bad beer, sold inside the city. In 1838 it ended in a demonstration, during which citizens of Pilsen emptied 36 beer barrels on the main square. As a consequence, the Mestsky pivovar(City Brewery) was founded.

In 1842, the first brewage of a lager, as we know it today, was made there. Its author was the brewer of German origin, Josef Groll. He combined German advanced technology of brewing, combined with our local ingrediences – unique barley, local hops and soft water. By doing so, he set the basis for the new type of beer, that forms about 2/3 of the world beer production. Pilsen Urquell became the world first international beer.

Of course, the beer preparation came a long way until today. For example, for the quality check was used a simple test – the beer was poured on a bench, and one sit on it, wearing leather pants. If the pants stucked, the beer was considered of a good quality.

Of which quality the Pilsen Urquell beer is today, you can find out in Prague restaurant Kolkovna, where the celebrations of the anniversary take place today, 5th October.

By: Pavla Kozakova

Plzensky Prazdroj, the largest producer of beer in the Czech Republic, is going to raise the price of all the brands of beer by six or eight procent. One of the most famous Czech beer, pale lager Pilsner Urquell, may be by 1.40 CZK more expensive from this November.

The reason for the increase in price are the higher prices of barley and hops. “The current price of a ton of barley is about twice as high as it was last year,” said the head-manager of Plzensky Prazdroj company Mike Short. If the prices of hops and barely keep on rising, Prazdroj suspects further rise of the price.

Another brewery that’s going to increase the price of its beer is Budejovicky Budvar. Staropramen, the second largest brewery in the Czech Republic, doesn’t plan any increase of price yet.

Prague mini breweries prepared many specialities for this summer. The most alcoholic beer in Prague can be found in ‘Restaurant U Medvidku’ (Na Perstyne 7 street, Prague 1). Their beer called X-Beer contains 12% of alcohol, which is about the same amount like in dry red wine.

A real rarity is a beer ice cream in ‘Richter Pub’ (Bulovka 17 street, Prague 8). Three scoops of beer ice cream with cream on it cost 65 CZK. The ice cream contains alcohol, therefore it’s not suitable for children and drivers. The ice cream is made on cream bases with bitter flavour of beer.

White wheat beer that used to brewed in the medieval times can be tasted in Strahov Brewery (Strahovske nadvori 301 street, Prague 1). Beer made from Bolivian cereal quinoa is tapped in ‘Pivovarsky klub’ (Krizikova 17, Prague 8).

The Czech Republic is not only the country with one of the highest consumption of beer but it has now also a beer dispenser that can recognize the age of a person. Karel Stibor and David Polnar invented a machine that can read data on identity cards or on passport and refuse underage consumers.

If the person is younger than 18 years or used a wrong (e.g. copy copied) identity card, the machine will return the money back. The machine can be used also for selling cigarettes, at the entrance of night clubs and disco, etc. The read information are not saved in the machine, so the data shouldn’t be abused.

Stibor and Polnar are now applying for international patent for their invention. They also signed a contract with Czech brewery Plzensky Prazdroj. The brewery wants to distribute the dispensers in Prague and central Bohemia first, especially in hotels, student dormitories and shopping centres.

Czech people are known for their high consumption of (especially Czech) beer. The statistics for the last year prove it completely – several records were broken last year regarding beer production, distribution and consumption.

Czech breweries produced 19.79 million hectoliters of beer last year, which exceeds the ‘top’ consumption of beer in the year 1992 by 330 thousand hectoliters. Czech people drank 16.25 million hl last year. Average Czech person drank 158 liters of beer per year.

Also the export of beer abroad broke records. More than 3.5 million hl of beer were sold to foreign countries, especially to Germany, Slovakia, England, and the USA.

The Czech Minister of Finance Vlastimil Tlusty finally vetoed the EU plan to increase the minimum EU tax on beer to reflect the inflation. Tlusty’s argument was that there is zero minimum tax on wine which give wine a favourable market position. According to Tlusty Czech brewers should have the same tax conditions as winegrowers.

After Czech minister vetoed this plan, other ministers said no to the other Finish plan: to establish automatic increase in taxes on alcohol according to the inflation. Germany will take over the EU chairmanship next year, so it is not probable that this issue will be discussed again soon.

The Czech Republic send a new diplomat to Brussels to support equal tax policy on beer and wine. The “new diplomat” is nothing less than a beer barrel. It will support Czech diplomats at the meeting of EU Ministers of Finance on 28th November.

Czech government does not like the idea that consumption tax will be increased only on beer but not on wine. “Beer is a part of our culture like wine is a part of French culture,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandr Vondra who took over the beer barrel, that travelled from Plzen to Prague on a horse-drawn carriage, in front of Cerninsky Palace in Prague.

The beer barrow containing Pilsner Urquell is signed by many prominent people. Also President Vaclav Klaus supported this mission with his signature on the barrel.

Czech people drink the most of beer in the world. The number is 160 liters per person/per year. Their beer is also renowned in the world. “Spolek pratel piva” (free translated as “The friends of Beer Club”) gave several awards concerning beer, Prague was awarded in several categories.

If you want to taste beer from the best brewer in the Czech Republic for the year 2006, Martin Matuska, go to Monastic brewery Strahov (Klasterni pivovar Strahov) in Prague (near Prague Castle in the area of Strahov Monastery).

The best pub is First Beer Tramway (Prvni pivni tramway) that offers many kinds of beer. Every three days there is a new manu concerning beer. The pub has a very original interior. It feel like you are sitting in a tram. You can call in the waiter by pulling a rope with a bell.

The best non-alcoholic beer is Staropramen Nealko, which is produced also in Prague. 5% of consumed beer in the Czech Republic is non-alcoholic.

Beer will not be more expensive. At least not yet. The ministers of finance in EU did not come to an agreement to increase the consumption tax on beer.

The EU ministers of finance wanted to change the tax rates for alcohol because the last rates were set 14 years ago. Inflation has decreased the value of the tax since then.

If the ministers pass the 31 % increase of tax on beer, spirits and strong wine, the beer will cost one eurocent more than now. New hearing is planned for 28th November.

Even though the increase in price is slight, the ministers of finance of the Czech Republic and Germany criticise this action. These precaution are supposed to lower the consumption of alcohol, but they do not affect the wine industry.

The biggest brewery in the Czech Republic Plzensky Prazdroj, a.s., the producer of Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus, Kozel or Radegast, increases the price of beer. The rise of price is expected this November.

Half a liter (a glass of beer in CR) of Pilsner Urquell will be 1,60 CZK more expensive, a glass of Gambrinus or Radegast pale lager will cost 1 CZK more and Gambrinus and Radegast pale tap beer 0,60 CZK more. The reason for the rise in price is the higher costs of barley, gas and electricity. For a glass of beer in general you can pay then over 20 Czech crowns.

Due to the fact that Prazdroj is the biggest on the market, it is probable that other Czech beer will become more expensive.

Good news for all beer lovers. Soon they can try traditional Czech beer in the newly reconstructed house U Zlateho andela in Celetna street in the centre of Prague . The beer will be produced in the underground of the house as it used to be six hundred years ago.

The brewery will start to make the beer in spring next year. The producers will try to make original beer and yet in the tradition of Czech brewing industry.

The curiosity of this brewery will be the self-service beer taps. After paying a certain amount of money the guests can sit behind the table with a beer tap and serve themselves at their pleasure.

The Czech Republic is known for its enormous consumption of beer, the biggest in the world. Czech beer is famous and accredited. In near future it may become more expensive due to ‘beer taxes’.

European Union plans to increase the consumption taxes on beer. According to EU more expensive beer would decrease the consumption, which would lead to healthier population. Czech diplomacy and producers of beer now strictly protest and search for allies. “The restriction would not only make the beer more expensive, but it would also decrease the production of beer in the Czech republic,” said the spokesman of Bernard brewery Zdenek Mikulasek.

In the worst case the Czech Republic is prepared to veto the tax burden, because European Union decisions concerning taxes must be unanimous. How much more expensive the beer would be is not certain yet. However, the price should not be increased before 2008.

Contest for best beer was at 10th volume of Slavnost piva (Beer festivities). Higher prize won in category Light Lager Preminum beer Branik. Best Light Tap-room Beer 10% was voted Staropramen.

There was as competitors 47 breweries and 220 beers from Czech republic and Slovakia. Only largest breweries in Czech Republic – Budweiser Budvar and Pilsen Urquell did not compete.