Better would have been beers made with the whole fruit or herbs — not extract or syrup — in the brewing kettle, not added at the end as a kind of cocktail. Better still would have been to skip the gimmicky flavored beers and honestly attempt the world’s classics: Vienna lager; Baltic porter; Bock and Doppelbock; smoked beers; wheat beers; Belgian styles; stout, porter, bitter, mild or IPA.

But now, many of those classic beers are being produced — often quite successfully — in the Czech lands. And in hindsight, not all Czech flavored beers seem like gimmicks. Although some were (and are) downright terrible, a few flavored beers have been quite interesting, such as vavřín, the new bay-leaf beer from Pivovar Broumov, aka Opat.

Although it is produced with an extract of bay laurel, aka laurus nobilis, the taste is less artificial and lab-like than many flavored beers. (In particular, sour-cherry beers produced with extract are often unpleasantly medicinal, tasting too much like cough syrup.) Cloudy gold in appearance, it has a lovely savory nose of bay leaf which is also slightly spicy and peppery with an undercurrent of citrus. In the mouth, an initial bitterness reveals more black pepper notes with a light, moderately acidic finish, not unlike a thin-bodied Weizen. It repeatedly brings to mind citrus fruits and sweet lemonade.

Somewhat surprisingly, Opat’s vavřín is very good. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it pairs extremely well with hearty Czech recipes, especially those which use bay and other traditional spices of the region. When I tried it with a slice of sekaná, the Leberkäse-like Czech meatloaf, it brought out more of the pepperiness and spices in the meat. Instead of doubling up the bay notes, the beer’s own spiciness was pleasantly attenuated by the pairing. The beer’s light body made each sip highly refreshing.

To some, bay-leaf beer might sound like another newfangled gimmick. But in fact there is a long local tradition of drinking beer with bay added to it. One of the many Bohemian beer expressions I listed in Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic goes as follows:

Píme pivo s bobkem, jezme bedrník! Nebudeme stonat, nebudeme mřít!

Raise a glass of vavřín and say it yourself. Or try the English approximation:

Let’s drink beer with bay, let’s eat pimpernel! We won’t get ill, nor will we die!

Pivovar Broumov — aka Opat — is one of the country’s most interesting small breweries, regularly making an appearance at the Czech Beer Academy’s beer tastings with their “extra-hopped” medium-bodied beer, Opat Bitter extra-chmelené, one of the most aromatic pale lagers in the country. Other noteworthy models from Opat include beers flavored with honey and a new arrival made with coriander.

But this time of year is for Opat’s great Christmas brew: the 17° Sváteční speciál. Among Czech holiday beers in bottles, this one stands out.

In part, the Opat — or Abbot — has a much higher profile because it’s one of the stronger such brews, brewed at 17° Plato / Balling and bearing 6.6% alcohol, rather than the typical 14° Plato and 6%. However, it carries its higher payload quite subtly.

There’s actually quite a bit of subtlety going on: it pours a beautiful light amber with a loose, creamy head (and describes itself as a polotmavý, or half-dark). At refrigerator temps, the nose is rather attenuated; at cellar temperature and higher, the bouquet starts to open up with hints of vanilla, pie spices and stewed fruits. In Czech food terms, it smells just like povidlová buchta with a rich vanilla cream sauce. Ask your babička.

The mouthfeel is only slightly chewy; the carbonation is minimal. There are more vanilla and spice notes in the mouth, as well as serious hints of honey and caramel. (The beer is not brewed with spices, however: it just tastes that way.) The sweet initial flavors are followed by a pleasant astringence and a lasting aroma of Saaz hops.

Opat 17° Sváteční speciál is a minor classic: perhaps not something you’d need to drink every day, but certainly something you wouldn’t want to miss over the holiday season. Though it has dessertlike aromas and flavors, those would really disappear when paired with a sugary holiday sweet, instead highlighting the beer’s innate bitterness. Instead, I’d consider pairing this with a creamy soup or a moderately sweet cream sauce like svičková to play off the difference in mouthfeel and the beer’s peppery hop notes.

Whatever you eat with it, do so while you can: I found my bottle at Pivovarský klub, and they also carry it at several Opat outlets in Prague and around the country. The sign outside the new Vinný ráj (Za Poříčskou branou 11, Praha 8; just steps from metro Florenc and one block from Pivovarský klub), says that it is currently available in bottles, with the lovely Bitter extra-chmelené on draft.

On Wednesday, November 19, the Sdružení přátel piva held its annual awards ceremony for the greatest beers, breweries, and the best brewmaster in the Czech Republic.

Often rendered in English as the Union of Friends of Beer, the SPP is the Czech beer consumers’ organization, a counterpart to the Campaign for Real Ale and other fellow members of the European Beer Consumers Union, similarly working to promote quality beer and preserve local beer traditions. Though there are many beer awards in the lager-loving Czech Republic, the SPP awards are among the most prestigious and most anticipated such ceremonies on the Czech beer calendar.

The awards, handed out this year inside the cozy beer hall on the Budweiser Budvar brewery grounds, went to the following:

For 10° (desítka) beer of the year — a category of beers of moderate alcohol and the most commonly consumed type of beer in the country — the winners were:

First Place: Moravské Sklepní nefiltrované from Černá Hora
Second place: Pardál světlé výčepní pivo from Budvar
Third place: Budweiser Budvar světlé výčepní pivo

For 11° (jedenáctka) beer of the year — a category of medium body and alcohol — the winners were:

First Place: Ležák 11° from Pivovar Klášter
Second place: Otakar ležák from Polička
Third place: Svijanský Maz from Svijany

For 12° (dvanáctka) beer of the year — premium lagers of the classic “Bohemian Pilsner” style — the winners were:

First Place: Sváteční ležák from Bernard
Second place: Pilsner Urquell
Third place: Opat from Pivovar Broumov

For Speziál of the year — a category of higher-gravity special lagers — the winners were:

First Place: Primátor Exklusiv 16° from Pivovar Náchod
Second place: Kvasar from Černá Hora
Third place: Démon from Lobkowicz

For dark beer of the year:

First Place: Budweiser Budvar tmavý ležák
Second place: Speciální černé pivo from Bernard
Third place: Svijanská Kněžna from Svijany

For polotmavý pivo of the year — half-dark and amber lagers — the winners were:

First Place: Skalák from Rohozec
Second place: Primátor Pale Ale from Pivovar Náchod
Third place: Primátor polotmavé 13° from Pivovar Náchod

For non-alcoholic beer of the year — a growth category in the Czech lands — the winners were:

First Place: Bernard Free Jantar (amber)
Second place: Bernard Free (pale)
Third place: Svijanská Vozka from Svijany

For minipivovar of the year — “mini brewery,” aka “brewpub” — the winners were:

First Place: Prague’s Klášterní Pivovar Strahov
Second place: Pivovarský dvůr Chýně
Third place: Malostranský pivovar in Velké Meziříčí

For brewery of the year:

First Place: Svijany
Second place: Budweiser Budvar
Third place: Pivovar Náchod (Primátor)

For sládek roku, brewmaster of the year:

Ing. Josef Tolar from Budweiser Budvar

In addition to the awards, there were plenty of great brews on hand. Klášterní Pivovar Strahov brought its wonderful Autumn Dark, made with this year’s fresh Saaz hop harvest, which tasted even better — with much more hop bite in the finish — than last year’s version; the brewery’s excellent wheat beer provided a nice light counterpoint. Both the 11° and 12° pale lagers from Pivovar Polička were on draft, as was just about everything from Budweiser Budvar; the only Budvar beer I didn’t see there was the oft-maligned Bud Super Strong.

After the awards ceremony, the attendees went on a tour of the Budweiser Budvar brewery led by brewmaster Josef Tolar himself. I’ve been on the public tour at Budvar before, but this was the first time I saw so much behind the scenes and got to ask so many questions. (Q: What hops are used in the new love-it-or-hate-it Pardál? A: 100% Czech hops of the Angus variety, due to its higher alpha-acid content than the traditional Saaz hops used in Budvar. Q: When did Budvar complete its switch from open fermenters to cyclindro-conical tanks? A: 1996.)

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stop in Budvar’s chmelárna, or hop room, which was a bit of a disappointment: Garrett Oliver once described the intensity of the hop aroma getting stronger and stronger as you take the slow freight elevator down into the chmelárna, and how the scent of all those hops — Budvar uses only whole Saaz hop flowers, no pellets or extracts — is nearly overwhelming once you’re actually in the room.

It was a great day out. Members of the Polish Bractwo Piwne, another European Beer Consumers Union member group, were also in attendance, as was Toshi Ishii, brewmaster from Japan’s Yo-Ho Brewing Co. I asked Miroslav Šmejda of Primátor about the brewery’s new stout, who said to look for it in Prague at Kaufland stores sometimes next month. Everyone seemed to have a great time: winners, losers, and especially lovers of great Czech beer.

And then, just a few minutes before we were supposed to take the bus back to Prague, Zbyněk Holan and Tomáš Maier from SPP told me to come with them. As the party continued, Mr. Tolar broke away from the celebrations and led us back across the darkened brewery grounds. He made a quick call on his mobile. A moment later, a Budvar employee arrived, opening the doors to the freight elevator for the hop room.