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Czechs amber liquid, called ‘Pivo’ is world famous, and for many centuries has been the finest beer available. The distinctive flavour of Czech beer comes from hand picked Bohemian hops. The Czech Republic is the largest consumer of beer in the world, beating Germany. That means that every adult drinks on average 1L of beer a day. The majority of beer produced in Prague is lager, the best known being Pilsner Urquell and Budvar (Budweiser). Popular Czech brand include Gambrinus, Staropramen, Krusovice, Radegast and Velkopopovicky kozel. There are also some small breweries like NovoMestsky Pivovar producing Flek (dark beer). Another dark ale style beer - Velvet, is produced by Prague breweries in Ostrava. If you like Guinness, try Czech beer Kelt. Beer is normally served in half litre glasses, unless you ask for small beer (0.3l). Czech’s generally prefer light beer but in many pubs you can ask for sweeter dark or mixed beers. Wine produced in the Czech Republic is unfortunately nothing special, however if you really like wine then try a young wine called ‘burcak’. This can usually be bought in September when the harvest season starts. If you prefer spirits all well known spirits are available there, the most popular amongst Czech people being vodka followed by rum and fernet. Fernet is a dark herbal bitter drink. Fernet can be drank with tonic and then we call it ‘bavorak’ (Bavarian beer). Becherovka is another herbal spirit originally from the Bohemian spa town of Karlovy Vary, this is very popular for its medicinal use. Another spirits you may come across is ‘borovicka’ a ‘myslivec’. In the Czech Republic absinthe is still legal and can be bought in shops (be warned this is a very strong and dangerous spirit). ‘Slivovice’ is mostly home made brandy, made from plums and originally comes from the Moravian hills. If you don’t drink alcohol, then mineral water called Mattoni is worth trying.
Czech Pubs Atmosphere
Drinking is done in smoky pubs with stained tablecloths and surly servers with dodgy maths. Anything less than half a dozen half-litre mugs is suspect – if you can drink ten you can walk away with your pride intact. |
