The early details:

Some 75 Belgian beers will be available.

As at last year’s Christmas Beer Markets, this event is organized in multi-hour sessions: Friday 3–5 p.m. and 6–9 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.–1 p.m., 2–5 p.m. and 6–9 p.m.; Sunday 2–5 p.m. and 6–9 p.m.

Each session is limited to only 250 visitors.

Tickets for each session cost 150 Kč (roughly $9, or €6).

There will be excellent food, as well as special beer-and-food pairings.

The event takes place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (Nebovidská 1, Prague 1—Malá Strana; tram 12, 20 or 22 to Hellichova).

In terms of exactly which beers you’ll be able to try, the early announcement only says “lager, Trappist beers, spontaneously fermented beers, Belgian wits and experimental beers.” I’ll post more information as soon as I get it.

This one sounds like a winner. Earlier events have proven to be great fun as well as nice opportunities to fill up the cellar, or wherever you keep your stash. (With otherwise-not-to-be-found-in-Prague bottles available at what I find to be very reasonable prices, I usually show up with a good-sized backpack.) Mark your calendars…

If you couldn’t make it to the Slunce ve skle beer festival last Saturday in Plzeň, here’s a YouTube video from the day. In a word: Awesome.

Above all, the one-day fest in Plzeň bears witness to the new diversity of the Czech craft beer scene. Two years ago, if you’d told me that at a regional Czech beer festival I’d be tasting a Czech Alt beer — newly arrived from Hastrman — or be able to sample domestically brewed stouts, Tripels, and American-style pale ales (and not those from Varnsdorf!), I’d have said you were just plain crazy. We’ve come a long way, baby.

Moreover, though draft remains king, many brewers — even tiny producers not far beyond the hobby horse — had their beer also available for sale in plastic bottles. And I was glad to see several Czech brewers going beyond the glass to offer glassware and even T-shirts for sale.

Personal bests of the fest: Klášterní Pivovar Strahov’s 14° wheat beer, a Weizenbock-like (though pale) Hefeweizen with a strong kick of Saaz and smooth, well-incorporated alcohol, as well as Hastrman’s new Velkorybnický Alt. In terms of atmosphere, you couldn’t ask for a better crowd or a better day. But you could certainly ask for more than one. Next year, can Slunce ve skle go all weekend?

On Friday, the Czech Beer Festival kicked off at Letňany exhibition grounds (last year’s version is pictured above). It’s fair to say that there was some chaos at the opening: when Velký Al from Fuggled and I arrived a half hour after things got started at 3 p.m., there was only one beer available on tap. Tent #6, which was supposed to have Kout and other indies, had nothing going. Nor did any other tent besides #3. It sounds impossible: at a beer festival, beer fans were going thirsty.

But within an hour or so, the situation righted itself. Several great beers from Náchod’s Pivovar Primátor started flowing, including the brewery’s new 11° pale lager. Within a short while we were even sampling Kout na Šumavě 10°, a desítka with as much character as most 12° beers in these parts.

It’s very different from last year’s festival in that there is no entry fee. Most beers are 40 crowns, though this year the strong beers, like Jihlava’s 18° Jihlavský Grand, are served in .3-liter glasses, which makes far more sense than serving them by the pint. You definitely should check it out before the festival closes on May 31.

But there’s more.

Soon after we got to Letňany, Velký Al and I were joined by Max Bahnson of Pivní Filosof. He had just come from the concurrent festival at Zlý Časy, an all-micro running over the same days, including beers from the new brewery at Broumy (more on this soon) and the return of Rampušák, a brewery closed since before the publication of Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic and only recently returned to production. Zlý Časy’s festival theme is 30 micros in 10 days, making just about every beer an interesting one, and most kegs are one-offs, so when they run out, they’re gone. Go.

In other news, next month’s big event is the wheat beer tasting at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. In the same vein as last year’s outstanding Christmas Beer Markets, Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf owner and Czech beer juggernaut Honza Kočka will present a tasting of various wheat beers, including Leipziger Gose and the return of Herold’s Bohemian Wheat. The cost is 150 Kč for each four-hour session. The dates and sessions are as follows: Friday, 12 June, 6-10 p.m.; Saturday, 13 June, 1-5 p.m.; Saturday, 13 June, 6-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 14 June, from 3-7 p.m.

And finally, I’ve agreed to host another beer tasting and dinner at the Mandarin Oriental on Thursday, 26 June, in the wine cellar of the hotel’s Essensia restaurant. The program for this tasting isn’t completely set, but earlier tastings have covered new Czech beers and focused on raw materials. Suffice it to say we will have great food and outstanding Czech brews on hand. For reservations and more information: tel. +420 233 088 612, or via email at moprg-pr@mohg.com.

There’s more information about the Christmas Beer Markets taking place next weekend, December 20, 21 and 22, right here in Prague. Not only will some of the best Czech brewers bring their holiday and seasonal specials to the capital, but next weekend’s festival will also include a handful of great names in brewing from around Europe.

If you’re at all interested in craft beer, you won’t want to miss a single one of the festival’s just-announced foreign brews.

From the announcement at www.pivnidenik.cz:

The Christmas Beer Markets take place next Saturday, Sunday and Monday, December 20–22, at Prague’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Beyond domestic — meaning Czech — seasonal beers from craft producers, this year’s festival will include several notable foreign specialties.

Germany’s legendary wheat brewer Schneider Weisse will offer Aventinus Weizenstarkbier, an outrageously good wheat Doppelbock, as well as the special Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock rocking 12% alcohol by volume.

Two as-yet-unnamed surprises will come from the Bamberg region.

From Denmark’s Nørrebro Bryghus, attendees will be able to sample various beer styles including the brewery’s brown ale, IPA, stout, coffee stout, Imperial IPA and more.

From Scotland, beer from the Inveralmond Brewery.

Also from Scotland, BrewDog — makers of the excellent Punk IPA — will offer beers including the 10%-alcohol Paradox, a deep and mysterious Imperial Stout aged in whiskey casks from some of Scotland’s greatest distilleries.

As a kicker, the Christmas Beer Markets will also include a selection of beers from Belgium.

That’s a big step up in terms of variety from last year’s Christmas Beer Markets. The only thing that’s missing is the cult Norwegian brewery Nøgne Ø, whose Dark Horizon Second Edition (17.5% alcohol) the organizers planned to include, though the price and the expense of delivery proved to be a bridge too far.

Which just gives us something to look forward to next year.

Christmas Beer Markets
December 20, 21 and 22 (Saturday, Sunday and Monday)
Inside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (Nebovidská 1, Prague 1—Malá Strana)
Tram: 12, 20 or 22 to Hellichova
Two sessions daily: 1-5 p.m. and 6-10 p.m.
Entry: 150 Kč including glass and one beer

For more information, see the previous Beer Culture post on the Christmas Beer Markets.

Last year saw the inauguration of Prague’s Christmas Beer Markets (Vánoční pivní trhy), much like the Christmas markets that appear all around Europe at this time of year, only with a serious malt-and-hops theme. Taking place in a vast pavilion at Prague’s Výstaviště exhibition grounds, the first edition featured craft and specialty beers from around the Czech Republic, as well as brews from Slovakia’s Kaltenecker.

This year, the Christmas Beer Markets will return in a more refined locale: inside Prague’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which will host the 2008 Christmas Beer Markets on December 20, 21 and 22.

The final details are still being set, but the early outline for this year’s festival sounds terrific.

From the announcement at Pivnidenik.cz:

The 2008 Christmas Beer Markets will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (Nebovidská 1, Prague 1—Malá Strana; tram 12, 20 or 22 to Hellichova) on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, December 20–22.

There are two four-hour sessions on each day: from 13–17 and 18–22.

Entry will be limited to 300 participants at each session.

The entry fee for each session is 150 Kč and includes a commemorative .3-liter glass and a beer.

The entry fee for the whole day — two sessions — costs 250 Kč.

Entry to all sessions over all three days costs 500 Kč.

Tickets can be purchased at the hotel or at selected beer-friendly pubs in Prague: První pivní tramway, Zlý časy, Obžérství and Tlustá koala.

The final beer list is not yet set, but it will include specialty and Christmas brews from around the Czech Republic, as well as rarities from Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Slovakia.

To accompany the great beers, the Mandarin Oriental will also offer its outstanding classic Czech cuisine, Asian dishes, selections of cheeses and desserts.

In addition, the Christmas Beer Markets should include exhibits on homebrewing, beer festivals, and foreign breweries, as well as beer tastings and presentations on beer and gastronomy.

Beers at the Christmas Beer Markets will be both bottled and on tap. Guests will be able to buy bottled specialties to take home.

This is realy taking things up a notch from last year’s Christmas Beer Markets, not least in terms of the location: the Mandarin Oriental is a very special place, composed of Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance architecture and newer additions, with its luxurious day spa housed in a former 14th century monastery. The wine cellar where we have our regular beer tastings and seminars as part of the hotel’s Czech Beer Academy is one of the prettiest and most atmospheric such spots in Prague, and the hotel’s Essensia restaurant serves some of the best Asian cooking in the country.

For most of us, this will be a rare chance to step into a refined world.

More details to follow soon. Mark your calendars now.

Max Bahnson has an interesting post about the opening ceremonies and the first day at the Czech Beer Festival, along with some good insight and opinions on what works and what doesn’t. Please read.

From where I sat, the first day seemed to go very well, especially given the scale of the event and the fact that this year’s is the first. There were some great beers that are never seen on draft in Prague. There was a friendly, festive atmosphere with lots of catching up. Honza Kočka from Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf dropped by. Tomáš Erlich from SPP showed up with friends from Poland’s Bractwo Piwne (still in town from the recent Days of Polish Beer at Pivovarský klub).

The most rewarding thing? To my eyes, the beers from small producers were by far the most popular.

But it turned out I wasn’t the only one who thought so. The next morning, I got a call from the festival organizers.

Everyone, they said, was going for the beers from the small breweries. The vast tents from state-owned Budvar and the large breweries owned by multinationals were not nearly as popular. Thus, they had a request: could I recommend another small brewery or two to bring in?

I offered up a few suggestions. I’m happy to say that from today onward, the festival will also serve Herold Bohemian Black Lager and Herold Bohemian Granát Lager, two great Czech lagers that definitely deserve wider recognition (and wider distribution). There’s a chance that even more beers from small producers will show up this week.

Another possible change: the festival organizers have been considering dropping the 120 CZK entry fee, or at least dropping it after 8 p.m. Though it hasn’t been ixnayed yet, if there’s news, you’ll see it here.

In any case, I think it’s a great sign that, given the choice between the big brands and small producers, consumers are picking the smaller breweries.

And why not? The vast Pilsner Urquell tent serves Pilsner Urquell, a great beer, sure, but one which is available in what seems to be more than half of the pubs in Prague. At the small breweries tent, you could try twelve unusual brews including Jihlavský Grand, a strong golden lager much like a Doppelbock, with a rich maltiness that completely masks its 8.1% alcohol, which many Ratebeerians seem to admire, and yet which is never seen on draft in Prague. I found the Rohozec 12° pale lager to be in fine form at the festival, and yet I know only a couple of pubs in Prague that have it regularly.

According to the organizers, there’s a chance as well that Konrad will start bringing in more of its beers beyond the first two on the Czech Beer Festival’s official beer list. (Perhaps the beer called Joker, which no one at Beer Advocate has even tried.)

Depending on how things shake out, more of the festival space currently devoted to industrial brewers might be turned over to small producers — almost the exact opposite of what usually happens in most beer retail outlets.

For a first attempt at a festival on a large scale, things are looking pretty good: great service, friendly atmosphere and plenty of unusual beers (with even more on the way). It actually looks quite a lot like the picture up top, though that is in fact a shot from Munich’s Starkbierzeit, which has been going on as an organized event since at least the nineteenth century. Only in its debut, the Czech Beer Festival is already almost there.

A couple of days ago, we wondered out loud what beers would be present at the first annual Czech Beer Festival, which takes place 23 May–1 June 2008. As we asked then,

Will Janáček serve its Comenius? Will Jihlava offer Jihlavský Grand? Or will it all be 10° and 12° světlý ležák, the pale lagers that dominate 95% of all local consumption?

We now have the answers: Yes, Yes, and No!

Color us at least slightly impressed: We’ve just received the finalized beer list from the organizers and not only are Jihlavský Grand and Comenius ready to be tapped, but several other great brews from small producers should also be waiting for you over at the Výstaviště exhibition grounds. (We also have a 3-D map diagram thingy you can print up to help plan your session.)

Here are the beers that are supposed to be there, organized by tent and/or brewing group.

Budějovický Budvar

• Budweiser Budvar světlý ležák

K Brewery Group

Černá Hora

• Páter 11° světlý ležák
• Kvasar 14° speciální světlé pivo s přídavkem med

Svijany

• Svijanský máz 11° světlý ležák
• Kvasničák

Janáček

• Patriot 11° světlé výčepní pivo
• Comenius 14° světlý speciál

Jihlava

• Ježek 11°
• Ježek 18° (Jihlavský Grand)

Platan

• Platan 11° světlý ležák
• Platan Granát tmavý ležák

Rohozec

• Skalák 11° světlý ležák
• Skalák 12° světlý ležák premium

Hols (Pivovar Konrad)

• Konrad tmavý 11°
• Konrad světlý 11°

Pilsner Urquell / SABMiller

• Pilsner Urquell
• Radegast světlé výčepní 10°
• Radegast světlé výčepní 12°
• Radegast Birrell (nonalcoholic)
• Velkopopovický kozel tmavé 10°
• Velkopopovický kozel světlé 10°
• Velkopopovický kozel medium 11°
• Gambrinus výčepní světlé 10°
• Gambrinus výčepní světlé 12°

Staropramen

• Staropramen Granát, ležák polotmavý
• Staropramen Ležák, ležák světlý
• Staropramen Světlý, výčepní světlé
• Staropramen Černý, ležák tmavý
• Ostravar Světlý, výčepní světlé
• Braník, ležák světlý
• Braník, výčepní světlé

That’s 30 beers and 1 nonalcoholic brew, if I’ve counted correctly.

Confused about what to order? Some off-the-cuff recommendations:

Session Beer: Svijanský Máz, Skalák 11° or Páter 11° (all K Brewing Tent), or Ostravar Světlý (Staropramen Tent)

Yeast Beer: Svijany Kvasničák (K Brewing Tent)

Doppelbock / Strong Lager: Jihlavský Grand (K Brewing Tent)

Bock / Medium-Strong Lager: Comenius (K Brewing Tent)

Classic Czech Pilsner style: Rohozec 12° (K Brewing Tent), Pilsner Urquell (Pilsner Urquell Tent)

Amber Lager / Vienna Lager: Staropramen Granát (Staropramen Tent)

Dark Lager: Konrad tmavý 11° (Pivovar Konrad / Hols Tent), Platan Granát (K Brewing Tent)

Flavored Beer: Kvasar (K Brewing Tent), a 14° pale lager with honey.

Here’s the map, which should click to a larger, slightly more legible version:

Get it? The “vstup” at the bottom is where you walk in. You’ll first encounter Radegast and Velkopopvický Kozel (tents 1, 2 and 3), then a long, long Pilsner Urquell tent (4), after which you come to the Budvar tent (5). Fans of smaller producers will want to cut over to the left to the tent for “Pivovar Hols,” aka Konrad (9), or the long tent of the beers from K Brewery Group (6).

That’s how it looks from here. If you do want to know more about the beers you’re enjoying, I’ve just been told that copies of Good Beer Guide: Prague and the Czech Republic should be available for purchase somewhere on the festival grounds.

Na zdraví!

In just nine days, the first annual Czech Beer Festival takes its shot at establishing a springtime Oktoberfest in Bohemia. Not only are the first advertisements starting to show up, but I’ve just received confirmation that the beer list has expanded well beyond Pilsner Urquell, Budvar and Staropramen. In fact, it seems a slew of smaller producers will be represented.

According to the organizers, the beers on tap now include 16 brands. First, the usual suspects:

• Budvar
• Pilsner Urquell (SABMiller)
• Kozel (SABMiller)
• Gambrinus (SABMiller)
• Radegast (SABMiller)
• Staropramen (InBev)
• Ostravar (InBev)
• Braník (InBev)

That leaves us with nine smaller producers, some of which are rather unusual picks. (As in there’s no Bernard.) Witness the fitness:

• Černá Hora
• Janáček
• Jihlava
• Platan
• Svijany
• Rohozec
• Konrad
• Rakovník

Not a bad selection. However, it does bring up a few questions:

Whatever happened to Primátor, which was supposed to be included when we first wrote about the Czech Beer Festival?

Does this mean that Primátor’s special beer for dogs is also off the table?

Where did Krušovice go — and why?

What beers from each brewery are going to be present? Will Janáček serve its Comenius? Will Jihlava offer Jihlavský Grand? Or will it all be 10° and 12° světlý ležák, the pale lagers that dominate 95% of all local consumption?

In other words, it’s a great thing that the Czech Beer Festival plans to offer sixteen beers, a few of which are rarely seen in Prague. But are all sixteen going to be more or less imitations of each other?

In nine days and about an hour and a half, we’ll all find out…

Around the Czech Republic, pivní slavnosti — beer festivals — regularly bring big crowds to brewery grounds, city halls and convention centers. And yet they often have a few problems: the ones in Prague usually only serve one kind of beer. The ones on brewery grounds usually serve their brews only, and only in cheap plastic cups. And the festivals with a variety of beers usually take place in remote locations.

Enter the Czech Beer Festival, set for its maiden voyage this spring. Taking place May 23 through June 1, the Czech Beer Festival will bring in beer from a variety of producers to vast tents set up at Prague’s Výstaviště exhibition grounds, the same place that held Prague’s Christmas Beer Markets, only in a slightly different area and on a much, much larger scale. As in: employing more than 200 servers. Some 100,000 custom-designed beer tokens, produced expressly for the festival by the Czech mint and together weighing over 1,000 kilos — more than a long ton — will be put into circulation. There will be seating for at least 10,000 guests, as well as plenty of standing room under the trees. At any given time, two large bulls will be roasting on spits. And there will even be a beer for dogs.

“We want to create something like Oktoberfest,” said Jan Hübner, the festival’s organizer. “Only with Czech beer.”

Czech beer, Hübner continued, is merely the thread that runs through the 10-day party — there will also be Czech and Moravian food of all kinds, folk music and dance. The servers will be wearing custom-made, traditional folk costumes, and every night there will be Czech bands playing on stage.

The beer list starts out with some of the Usual Suspects — Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Kozel; Staropramen; Budvar and Krušovice — before branching off into a few of our great independent breweries. The beers from K Brewing Group will be represented in their own tent, as well as the wonderful Pivovar Primátor, which — no April Fools’ joke — is making a special brew for the festival’s four-legged guests.

“They are going to brew a dog beer for us,” said Hübner.

Really — you heard right. Just for this festival, Primátor is producing a beer for lucky dogs to drink.

Not all of the details have been hammered down at this point: the participation of a few smaller brewers, for example, hasn’t yet been confirmed. However, it’s clear that the festival will stay true to its name: although most of the big Czech breweries are foreign-owned, only Czech brands will be invited. There will be Staropramen, but not Stella Artois; Krušovice, but not Heineken; Pilsner Urquell, but not Miller.

Beers — brought straight to your table in a custom-made Sahm půllitr by one of those traditionally dressed servers — will cost 40 Kč.

So there it is: the first annual Czech Beer Festival, 23.5–1.6.2008. Reserve the dates. Buy the tickets. Book the hotels. And see you there.