From the “Stories that Got Away” file: the great Prague pub U Medvídků is known for a couple of things. One is the never-ending supply of Budweiser Budvar rolling out in the cavernous beer hall downstairs. And for the past few years, the place has been hailed for its top-shelf — albeit tiny — brewpub upstairs, which makes limited amounts of a couple of great beers: the outstanding Oldgott lager and the extra-strong X-33 beer, a bottom-fermented beer that resembles a barley wine, both in its level of alcohol (12.6%) and its syrupy texture.

Both of those beers, however, are amber. If you wanted a pale lager — the country’s most popular style — or if you felt like a dark beer at U Medvídků, you could only have Budweiser Budvar. But that’s changed.

Since earlier this year, the upstairs microbrewery at U Medvídků has served its own pale lager. Called 1466, it’s certainly not meant to compete with the Budvar 10° and 12° beers the pub serves in its beer hall: this is a pale lager brewed at 14.66° Plato, putting it up in the “speciál” territory, roughly analogous to a Bock.

The flavors here, however, are not Bocklike. There’s malt but no plumminess. There’s an unexpectedly aromatic hop presence from the use of whole Saaz hop cones. And there’s not even a touch of alcoholic heat. For a beer brewed at 14.66°, the strength should probably end up just under 6%, but you’d be hard pressed to notice it in this case. What you get instead is a nicely full malt body with a very hoppy backbite, like a strong Pilsner, only more so.

(In appearance, it looks much like a Hefeweizen. It’s that cloudy and pale in color.)

At 48 Kč for a half-liter, the 1466 pale lager is among the most expensive brewpub beers in Prague, but at least the portion is the full amount for grown-ups.

That’s not the only news at U Medvídků. According to pub owner Jan Göttel, U Medvídků is thinking of expanding its production in the fall, which might allow them to sell more brews out of the house. That might mean you’ll see bottles of X-33 in more specialty beer shops. It could even mean that you’ll see Oldgott and 1466 on draft elsewhere in Prague.

And who knows? They might even end up brewing a dark lager someday.

This summer I helped a TV crew from the Discovery Channel film brewers and breweries around the Czech Republic. Along the way, we saw some interesting things at U Medvídků, Chodovar and Pilsner Urquell. And of course we got to try some excellent lagers.

Above is a shot of Pilsner Urquell’s senior trade brewmaster Václav Berka getting ready to talk on camera in front of the kettles. I’m not sure if that or anything else from the Czech Republic filming will make it into the final cut of the show, but I do know that the program is supposed to include Charlie Bamforth and Sam Calagione, and it has been given a title and theme that it didn’t have when we were working on it.

More importantly, it’s airing tonight, December 18, at 8 p.m. on the Discovery Channel, with further broadcasts at midnight tonight and January 2 at 6 p.m.

In addition to the Czech brewmasters, I also did an interview, and at this point I have no idea if I said anything coherent. I do remember it was a very warm 37° C and I had to stand in direct sunlight with a reflector directing even more light into my eyes as I was asked questions that were occasionally very far off base. Every once in a while I would ask for a break so I could drink some cold water — yes, water — and wipe the sweat from my brow.

I’ve promised Alan at A Good Beer Blog a post on what it was like to film the show, so I won’t write too much here; if you’re interested, look for it over there once I get a chance to clear my head. And try to check it out if you have access to the Discovery Channel. As we filmed, we had no idea what the exact theme was or even what the series and the program would be called. It’s now been packaged as part of the Discovery Channel’s How Stuff Works, and the description of the show is a bit different than what at least I thought we were working on: “We talk to the experts, brew masters and beer connoisseurs about how they’re innovating new ways to make beer.”

That definitely sounds like Sam Calagione and Dogfish Head. For better or for worse, it doesn’t sound too much like Pilsner Urquell, U Medvídků or Chodovar.

If you missed the Prague Christmas Beer Markets, you missed out on more than just outstanding brews — you also didn’t hear the news. For starters, there was the announcement of the forthcoming brewery at the eastern edge of Ústecký kraj, north of Prague and very near the German and Polish borders. Set to take off in early 2008, Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf will brew classic Czech lagers as well as several top-fermenting beers, including an English pale ale, an IPA and a Rauchweizen.

This marks the arrival of more than just another outstanding Czech microbrewery (and no, it’s not a brewpub — these beers should actually be distributed well beyond where they’re made, at least in kegs). Continuing the ever-greater variety in Czech brewing, Kocour is in the possession of several oak casks from Hungary and is planning to age some of its beers in wood, reminiscent of U Medvídků’s excellent oak-aged lagers and the popular oaked ales from Innis & Gunn.

The market also featured a début from the new Pivovar Hradec Králové: the outstanding Patriot kvasnicový ležák (4.6%), a picture-perfect yeast beer — light gold with extremely mild carbonation and a creamy, smooth mouthfeel and notes of vanilla and grassy hops in the finish. For the time being, Patriot appears to be brewed at Pivovar Žamberk, though in the near future it should (hopefully?) move back to its hometown in a new location. The town’s former brewery, long closed, has been recently reconstructed, reappearing as a set of modern flats and offices.

Ironically, that old brewery building is also the new site for Hradec Králové’s Pivovar Rambousek, the maker of a heart-stopping, half-dark, chestnut-honey lager that defies description in anything but the language of angels. In case you missed the earlier news, consider yourself ahead of the curve on this one: Rambousek’s web page says they look forward to welcoming guests in 2008.