[ Beer Culture ]

On Monday, Pivovarský dům in Prague hosted a tasting of six beers from Pivovar Kocour, the Czech Republic’s newest brewery, with draft versions of Kocour’s 12° pale lager, English pale ale, Scottish ale, American IPA, V3 Rauchbier, and Stout. Like most of the attendees that night, I was impressed enough by these beers to consider the event a success.

However, since then I’ve had some time to think about Kocour’s success a little more. What strikes me now is much more than Kocour’s beer: in fact, in terms of planning, marketing and promotion, Kocour seems to be doing everything right. This comes in stark contrast to many small Czech brewers, who often seem to be doing just about everything wrong.

Some thoughts on what Kocour is getting right:

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There’s more great news for Czech beer lovers: In case you missed Purkmistr’s beer festival in Plzeň last weekend, you’ve got another chance to sample the impressive new lineup from Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf. On Monday, September 29, at 5:30 p.m., the public is invited to a tasting of six of Kocour’s beers at Pivovarský dům in Prague.

In terms of innovation, Pivovar Primátor has been a local favorite for some time now, but the variety from Kocour goes well beyond Primátor or anyone else in the Czech lands. Since the brewery went official earlier this year, they’ve knocked out a pair of great stouts, a smoked wheat and a very hoppy saison that compares favorably to those from classic Belgian producers, all of which are rather uncommon styles in these parts. Moreover, Kocour’s Lužický ležák was said to be a favorite for many at the Ratebeer European Summer Gathering 2008.

The tasting, presented by beer impresario Jan Šuráň, will include the following:

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There’s not enough cross-border information exchange in these parts; among other elements, that’s a big part of this weblog’s raison d’être. In other words, people in the Czech Republic know about Czech beer, Germans know about German beer, Poles know about Polish beer, and yet no one really knows what’s going on on the other side of the nearest frontier. And yet we share the same Central European brewing traditions, which transcend languages, boundaries and nations.

In just that regard, there are some interesting new developments coming down the pipe and out the tap. Above is a quick snap of the V3 Smoked Malt Special, brewed by Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf in conjunction with Slovakia’s Kaltenecker and Hungary’s Serforrás in Miskolc, said by the venerable chew.hu to brew the best beer in Hungary. These represent three of the four Visegrad Countries, hence the idea of a “Visegrad beer triangle,” or V3, mentioned by Honza Kočka in the comments here a while back.

I’ll have more on the V3 a bit later, but for now it’s important to note that it’s a malty, sweet and just slightly smoky lager brewed at 14.5°, more like Brauerei Spezial’s version of a smoked Märzen than one from Schlenkerla, with a honey-hay nose and smoky-sour finish. Most importantly, I wanted to point out that it’s available at Pivovarský klub right this minute.

Go get it.

A quick post before heading out to Pilsner Urquell, whose distinctive water tower is pictured on every bottle of that brew, as well as in the snapshot above. (Not in the frame off to the left is the gigantic Pilsner Urquell chess set, whose toddler-size pawns look like Pilsner Urquell bottles.) I’ll be working with a crew shooting a Discovery Channel television special on beer, which, back home, will include brewing stars like Sam Calagione from the offensively good Dogfish Head and Professor Charlie Bamforth from my old alma mater, the University of California, Davis.

But that’s not why I’m writing. I’m writing to say that no matter what you do, you have to go to Pivovarský klub next week to taste the new saison beer from up-and-comer Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf, a brewery so new it doesn’t even have a website yet.

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The tradition of Czech brewing may go back more than a thousand years, but it’s also clearly moving forward. Beer lovers here have been thrilled by recent developments like the appearance of Pivovar Bašta and other new brewpubs, cutting-edge new regional breweries like Pivovar Kocour Varnsdorf, and the reappearance of older styles such as Klostermann amber lager — all of which have arrived since the publication of Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic last May.

To that end, I’m doing another seminar, this time one titled “New Brews: Recent Developments in the Czech Brewing Scene,” which will take place Thursday, 3 July, 2008, in the wine cellar of Essensia restaurant (inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel). The combined dinner, talk and beer tasting will last about three hours.

In addition to a slew of new lagers and ales, many of which have never been seen in Prague, Essensia will serve its delicious Czech and Asian culinary specialties. Think of it as a luxurious meal in a five-star restaurant — only one which is accompanied by some truly great beers and a spirited discussion on the history, news, background and future of Czech brewing.

And then there is the beer list to consider.

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Continuing with the report from Bamberg, and now on to Rauchbier, the local specialty made with smoked malt. Above is a post-first-sip shot of Spezial’s Rauchbier, shown in the taproom on Obere Königsstraße. In Bamberg itself, there are two main producers: the oh-so-famous Schlenkerla, aka home of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, and Brauerei Spezial. (While a few other producers in the larger region also make Rauchbier, I’ll focus on Bamberg for now.) Before I compare the two, I’d like to talk about something else for a second: wine.

Hang on — there’s no need to choke on your Double IPA, bro. This is still Beer Culture, and of course beer and wine have much in common, not the least of which is the fact that they both make life worth living. And just as extreme beers — with more alcohol, more hops, and of course higher prices — have taken off in the past few years, winemakers have gone through their own forms of extremism, producing wines with more alcohol, more oak, more fruit, more malolactic buttery flavors and mouthfeel, and of course ever-higher prices. And not everyone has been happy with the changes.

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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). (more…)