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Clock What can you say about a city in which the best lagers in the world are available on every street corner at a quarter of the cost of pub prices in Dublin?

It’s a beer lover’s fantasy and I found it hard to believe I was really there, and this was before I discovered the micro brewed offerings. I flew from London but Aer Lingus provide a regular service to Prague and the journey from the airport to the city centre can be made by taxi or for just 20 CZK (75 cents) via public transport. The taxi service appears official and well regulated with a set price for the trip while the public transport option we took entails a bus journey and a metro connection. The metro runs beautifully, is safe to use and easy to navigate. The city itself can be easily traversed on foot or the metro can be used to get around very quickly.

ChurchMy first sup was some Pilsner Urquell in a small bar on the far side of the Charles Bridge and cost all of 27 CZK (€1). I got a shock when it arrived as it had 4 or 5 centimetres of foam on it and looked like it had been dispensed terribly but when I inspected the glass I saw that it was oversized and I had the requisite half litre of cool golden pilsner and all for only a quid. Having sampled a few of the commercial beers I greatly looked forward to finding the beer houses and micro breweries around the city....

 

U Fleků

Dark beerThe onsite brewery at U Fleků claims to have been established in 1499 and is located on a quiet side street in the New Quarter of Prague. Some heavy construction being carried on the pub façade as we approached made me fearful that it might have been closed, but all was well when we got to the door. As we entered we were immediately met by the main bar upon which a great many glasses of dark, frothy beer were lined up ready for distribution. A good omen, I thought. We made out way to the outdoor beer hall which was organised in the traditional way; comprising long tables and benches with boisterous groups of people rubbing shoulders. Within minutes of taking our seats a waiter, without so much as a word of introduction, fired two glasses of their dark beer in front of us and promptly disappeared. I wasn't terribly upset by this abruptness as perhaps you can imagine because I had a large glass of rich looking frothy beer in front of me. I took a few moments to take in my surroundings before tasting their brew and observed a number of waiters roaming the beer hall straining under large trays, carried one handed at shoulder height, full of dark beer glasses. The waiters slammed the glasses down in front of anyone who didn't have a glass in front of them or who had an empty (or nearly empty) glass within arm's reach. Seemingly they assume you want more unless you say otherwise. A dangerous assumption when coupled with how good their beer was.

TunsThe dark beer that was so abundant in U Fleků was dubbed ‘Flekovsky Tmavy Lezák 13°' beer and had a sulphurous nose that was initially off putting but seemed to fade after the first mouthful. It was nicely bitter and rich in flavour with not as much roasted flavour as the deep colour would suggest. At 59 CZK (around €2.20) for 400ml it is quite a bit more expensive than beer available elsewhere but still good value with respect to Dublin prices. It really came into its own when coupled with the traditional goulash and dumplings that I picked from the menu, with the strong flavour of the beer cutting through the spiciness of the goulash. Their "Flek" beer was the only one available in the place and this it turns out is quite typical of beer houses in Prague. Often a pub or beer hall is attached to a particular brewery, much like the tied house system in Britain, and it is only possible to get beer from that brewer plus a house brewed beer if it's available. U Fleků, being a successful place, has decided to shun other breweries altogether and does a great trade in its own brew. There is a brewery on site and a small museum of brewing history, both are which are available for tours, but we arrived too late for a tour and there were other beer halls to tempt us.

U Pinkasů

 U Pinkasů Established in 1843 and situated in the Old Quarter near Wenceslas Square, this pub is tied to Pilsner Urquell and is somewhat more sedate then the brusque U Fleků. Along with the excellent Pilsner Urquell on tap, U Pinkasů also offers a homebrewed ‘Master 18º Dark' beer that proved to be excellent. Having dabbled in some brewing myself I knew that the designation ‘18º' meant I was in for something special. It is common for Czech breweries to put the original gravity in degrees Plato on their wares rather than the finished alcohol by volume, and appears to be the norm in microbrewery beer houses.

MasterThe ‘Master' beer had a deep red/brown hue, tan head, with sweetness in the nose and was served in a chalice like glass. The alcohol content was evident from the first mouthful but its full palate and rich coffee flavour balanced it nicely. Once again this was an example of a beer that suited the accompanying food perfectly. I opted for some 'beer sausage' which came with some fresh horseradish and mustard, the strength of which may well have overpowered a weaker beer. Again this in house beer proved to be almost double the price of the commercially brewed beers but still markedly less than the prices we suffer at home.

 

U Medvidků

Once again in the Old Quarter, this establishment carried out the many roles of bar, brewery, restaurant and pension. Established in 1466, one of the dining rooms was a former malt house and the smallest brewery in Prague can be found at the rear of the restaurant. Sadly the brewery is no longer in use but we were free to wander the museum that is now there and read up on the history of the site. There is also a shop where rarer Czech beers can be bought along with an excellent selection of glasses and other memorabilia. U Medvidků is tied to Budvar and I was very happy to see Budvar's dark lager on tap when we entered the bar. I've wanted to try this beer ever since I read about it in countless beer books and figured that a trip to Prague was the only time I would try some, and I was not disappointed. It reminded me very strongly of a porter, particularly Fuller's London Porter, and was by far the best of the commercial dark lagers. There are a number of commercial dark lagers available with Budvar's offering being the best followed by Staropramen's which was the lightest in colour of them managing a only dark amber with a subtle flavour. Another dark lager available freely was Kozel dark brewed by Velké Popovice which had a red/brown hue and toffee like flavours. The only one I was disappointed with was the dark beer produced by Krusovice which was gassy and metallic tasting as a result.

Along with the Budvar beers on tap U Medvidků also served a 13 º ‘Lezak Oldgott Barique, semi-dark lager'. I expected it to come draught when I ordered but instead got a 330ml swing top bottle served at room temperature, elaborately opened before me by the barman. The beer was amber in colour and had a sweet smell which was balanced with delicate hop bitterness. According to a scrapbook of beer labels in the attached museum, the brewery produces or has produced quite a number of beers but the one I tried appears to be the only one available at the moment.

Pivoarsky Dum

This bar was situated in the new town and I was immediately impressed upon my arrival as the first thing to meet my eye was a row of unfamiliar taps and a large glass tube of beer sitting on a lucky punter's table from which he dispensed foamy beer for his fellow diners. Having already eaten elsewhere we weren't planning to dine but the menu certainly seemed as good as the others we had seen.

DumPivosky Dun offers seven homebrewed beers which was by far the most of any of the pubs we visited. A wooden wheel containing seven 100ml glasses was presented to us when we spotted on the menu that tasting all the beer was an option. First up was a light lager which had surprising hop and malt character for such a light beer. Perhaps the Czech idea of ‘light' varies considerably form what we might consider light. Next we tried the wheat beer which proved to be fairly standard fare with banana and phenolic flavours to the fore. The three beers that followed were very unusual and not to my taste. They comprised a banana beer, sour cherry and a nettle beer. The two fruit beers tasted more like an artificial sweet fruit flavour while the nettle beer was, first off, green with a green head and tasted piney and sap like. I hoped that the coffee beer to follow would be better but it tasted like a cold cup of coffee and really was a ‘coffee beer' rather than a coffee stout as it was dark amber without the stout-like richness. Being a traditionalist I saved their double IPA for the end and wasn't disappointed. While it didn't kick like a mule in the way many American double IPA's do, it was bitter with wonderful cascade aroma.

Out of curiosity we went to "Rocky O Reilly's", a heavily advertised Irish bar off Wenceslas Square to see what the Czech take on this great institution might be. It was louder than the other bars and clearly aimed at the tourist market which respect to pricing. A half litre of Budvar was going for 60 CZK, three times the cost of any bar in the vicinity. Guinness was offered in an unusual 400ml glass that had been specifically made complete with logo. It was a little strange and makes me wonder what St. James' Gate has against 500 ml glasses. Fortunately there was a "Czech Bitter" available called Velvet. It was served in a tall glass and was nitrogenated to give it the smoothness the named entailed. It tasted initially quite sweet but finished bitter and was rather a strange addition to the Czech beer market, I thought. A large selection of beer is available in supermarkets at only 50 cent for half a litre and I also spotted a 20 litre Staropramen party keg for only €25. There is generally amazing value for money to be had in Prague but the low cost of such high quality beer is remarkable.

Oslo it ain't.