How do you celebrate a new apartment? We spent last week moving exactly three and a half million boxes from our old place in Prague 8 to our new home in Prague 1, where we’re now just a few minutes’ walk from Pivovarský klub (danger, Will Robinson). After dumping our belongings in the hallway, I inaugurated the transition with a bottle of Nils Oscar Rökporter, courtesy of Per at Ohhh… My Head, who handed it over at the Ratebeer European Summer Gathering. (In exchange, I offered a bottle of Klostermann from Pivovar Strakonice).

First off, even though the name means “smoke porter,” this is no Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier — the smoke in the Nils Oscar beer is much more understated, closer to the version (or versions) from Brauerei Spezial. It’s deep ruby with a nice sandy head and a nose of malt, oats and honey. After a semi-sweet gulp on the tongue, there’s an aromatic, Montecristo-peppery smokiness. The finish is lasting but not overbearing. A great way to break in a new apartment — really good stuff.

I like Klostermann fine, but after tasting this I’m sure I did better than Per in our trade: Nils Oscar Rökporter is currently #41 of Ratebeer’s list of the 50 best beers in Sweden, and it was one of the bottles I was searching for while checking out Czech beers in Stockholm earlier this year. Though the original word was that this was a one-off brew, Per writes that it will now be brewed year round, and made available from October. Get one if you can.

The internet still isn’t hooked up at the new place, so I’m on a limited posting schedule. More once the tubes are connected.

Last Sunday, 35 beer fans from around Europe met in Plzeň to sample what must have been one of the world’s best collections of unusual beers: the Grand Tasting of the 2008 Ratebeer European Summer Gathering.

How unusual? This year’s Grand Tasting list included brews from Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Argentina, as well as scores of other countries which are even better known for malt beverages. It included geographically obscure brands of average quality, like Bosnia’s Sarajevsko, as well as sought-after cult favorites like Bass No. 1 and P-2 Imperial Stout, all of which were imported into the Czech Republic in the backpacks, suitcases and automobiles of users of Ratebeer.com. All were readied for the hard work of tasting — and rating.

“It gets kind of weird once you get up past 100 beers in a tasting,” admitted one attendee.

The event came as the culmination of the group’s three full days of beer tourism in Plzeň and Western Bohemia. On Friday, the Ratebeerians were given a special behind-the-scenes tour of Pilsner Urquell, where they tasted possible special beers that brewery has not yet produced (including rye beer and a red ale). On Saturday, they had a blind tasting of the Czech Republic’s yeast beers at Klatovy’s renowned Modrý Abbé. In between they visited brewpubs in Plzeňský kraj, including this year’s new arrival Purkmistr, all the while gathering steam for the Grand Tasting on Sunday.

Previous commitments kept me from showing up for the first two days, but I did manage to make it to the Grand Tasting with a few unusual bottles from home, including three of Klostermann, one of Pivovarský klub’s Florenc 14:14, and one of Grado Plato’s Chocarrubica.

(Unfortunately, the flip-top Florenc 14:14 bottle had developed a strong brettanomyces character in the many months since it was bottled. A couple of tasters liked the acidity, but that’s certainly not how it was meant to taste.)

With what looked like more than 300 bottles, cans and mini-kegs, it would be impossible to overstate the range of the beers. I was especially impressed by the Mikkeller Barrel Aged X Imperial Stout 2007, of which only 40 signed bottles were produced, all of which were sold for charity, this being example number 30. Intensely black and vinous, it tasted like soy sauce, only if soy sauce were a beer, and if that soy sauce beer were utterly delicious.

Other faves: the ‘98 geuze from 3 Fonteinen. The twenty-six-year-old Felix Oud Bruin from 1982. The outstanding Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse. The Grain Barrell Stout from Gourmet Bryggeriet. The Rojiza Fuerte from Argentina’s Araucana. And many more.

The enthusiasm for beer was infectious — these are people who live and breathe beers and rating them. The general preference seemed to be for imperial stouts, strong porters and Belgian sour beers, but more than a few unusual Czech brews showed up, courtesy of attendees who had spent the previous days touring the country. I saw plastic bottles of Belgrád polotmavý from Hotel Belvedér in Železná Ruda, as well as the full line of bottles from Pivovar Novosad in Harrachov, neither of which I’ve ever seen in Prague.

One thing I didn’t see: local attendees, other than organizer Filip Miller, who put the event together. Perhaps Czech beer fans are content with their own beers, and don’t have too much interest in trying rare Flanders reds. Perhaps it’s a language issue.

In the end, the pictures speak for themselves. Here are a few snapshots of what must have been one of the world’s greatest private beer tastings — at least until next year.

Okay, I goofed. As part of the first post of Beer Culture, I promised a review of the Christmas beer at Prague’s Klášterní pivovar Strahov (Strahov Monastery Brewery). By the time I got up there last week, it was gone, completely sold out and no longer available. Promiňte! I’ve tried this beer several times over the past few years and it’s always seemed to last longer than this — and it’s always been worth the trip. But, due to the typical holiday rush, the 2007 version escaped me. Give me another eleven months and I’ll make it up to you.

As an alternative, here’s a tasting report on two other special beers from Strahov, both of which I tried recently from bottles.

Sv. Norbert Podzimní Tmavé / Autumn Dark 16° (pictured above). From the label: “An all-malt, bottom-fermented beer brewed from the fresh harvest of hops.” This is a clear, very dark amber brewed at 16°, or 1.065, and ending up with 6.3% ABV. It’s topped with a loose, sandy-colored head that doesn’t stick around for too long. The fruity, aromatic nose hints of raspberries and hashish. It has a lush mouthfeel and a full, bittersweet malt rush in the mouth, followed by a lasting, toasty finish. This beer has less coffee flavors than most Czech darks, and additional sips uncover rich licorice and cola notes. Outstanding.

Sv. Norbert Pšeničné / Weizen 13°. This wheat beer pours a cloudy deep gold with a thick, creamy white head. From the bottle, it appears less fizzy than the version on tap. The bouquet has a mysteriously spicy, almost animal scent. In the mouth it has a rich, honey-scented malt-wheat body and minimal citrus flavors which finish with a peppery clove note. Arguably the best wheat beer in the country. I believe it has benefited substantially from bottle-conditioning, and I would prefer this version to the one on draft.

It’s interesting to note that there is only one rating for the Autumn Dark at Ratebeer, and only four ratings exist for the wheat beer, though the brewery’s standard amber special is ranked as the second-best beer in the country (coming only after the unfiltered Pilsner Urquell served at the end of the brewery tour). When I went to Strahov, there was another less-common beer on tap, the Sv. Norbert Světlé 12°, a classic golden lager with a bitter hop finish that I enjoyed immensely.

There are only two caveats to visiting Strahov, both of which stem from the same root problem, that the clientele is largely composed of foreign tourists, often in large, noisy groups. First of all, this means that service can be indifferent at best and even quite unfriendly, in the case of at least one waiter in the brewpub restaurant. Second, as I mentioned in the guidebook, the price-portion ratio is also geared towards tourists, with a smallish .4-liter glass of draft beer costing 59 Kč (at current rates, $3.30 / £1.70 / €2.27), and a .5-liter bottle of Weizen, the only bottle they had available on my most recent visit, priced at 100 Kč.

By local standards, that’s very expensive beer. As I wrote earlier, a .5-liter glass (or půllitr, the standard serving) of great polotmavé pivo costs 25 Kč at Prague’s newest brewpub, Pivovar Bašta. A half-liter of good Budvar, Bernard or Svijany can also be as cheap as 25 Kč in the center of Prague, and much less in the outskirts. But the Strahov beers certainly offer something more than your average pint of lager, and only you can decide if the pivo is worth the price.