Real Bohemian Lager

If you can't sample real Bohemian lager in the Czech Republic itself then surely the next best place must be the Embassy of the Czech Republic in London?

I was lucky to be invited by CzechTrade to attend a Real Bohemian Lager workshop at the embassy on 16 May 2019. The event was organised in conjunction with Euroboozer, a leading UK importer of fine speciality craft brewed beers.

My preparation for the event involved a look at Evan Rail's Good Beer Guide Prague & the Czech Republic (2007) which I had last used on my first and only trip to Prague in 2008.
The Czech Republic has the highest per capita consumption of beer in the world according to Wikipedia 143.3 litres (2016). In contrast, 25th placed UK beer consumption is 67.7 litres (2016).

Situated east of Notting Hill Gate and west of the embassy of the Russian Federation, the 1970 building of the Czech embassy was designed as a tribute to the avant-garde Brutalist style. A lot of concrete and glass was used in its construction! After a major remodelling, the Czech embassy reopened in November 2017.

On arrival it was nice to be welcomed by Eva Provot of CzechTrade and Mitch Adams of Euroboozer and find myself in the company of Britain's best beer writers and judges. A useful welcome pack included a map showing industrial and craft breweries (above) and a Beer Guide to Prague which can also be found online.

OnTheWorld map shows Bohemia in west of Czech Republic

Ushered into the cinema we were welcomed by Martin Macourek of CzechTrade. He introduced Czech master brewer Jan / Honza Kočka linked with Kocour brewery and now involved with the Nomád project, a 'flying brewery' that brews on the equipment of others. 

We were informed that there would soon be a new website for the Czech Beer Alliance of eight breweries including Cvikov. Two representatives from Cvikov brewery had flown to London to join us for the workshop. 

page from Pivovar Cvikov website showing tanks and brewing vessels

A video was screened showing scenes from Cvikov brewery that included the 22 horizontal lager / maturation tanks and a healthy young man carrying a sack of malted barley over his shoulders up a flight of stairs. It was surprising that a lift or hoist did not exist for this task?!

Martyn Railton, the 'Austrian Londoner' of Euroboozer, mentioned his lifelong interest in collecting beer glasses. Martyn also provided a useful modern history of Czech brewing. A key date was the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 after which Heineken moved in and breweries were consolidated. More recently business people have been buying up old disused brewery buildings and remaining equipment to set up new independent breweries. Many of the independent breweries have adopted the double or triple decoction mashing style which involves extra time and effort.

Katarina Hobbs, from Czech Tourism, admitted that Czech beer was her favourite drink. She mentioned that cycle and hiking trails to breweries have been developed and that there are beer festivals like the Brno festival (31/7/-3/8/2019) and the Sun in the Glass festival at Purkmistr brewery, Plzeň (Pilsen) which feature smaller breweries.

Czech master brewer Jan / Honza Kočka of Nomád brewing project was the final speaker. Jan said it was a visit to CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival in 2000 that opened his eyes to the wide realm of beer. After visiting the Great American Beer Festival later that year he was 'totally into beer'.
He mentioned that prior to 2000 it was difficult for microbreweries in the Czech Republic to succeed but afterwards the concept began to catch on.
Real Bohemian Lager is brewed with Czech malt and the Saaz hop producing a quaffable and thirst quenching pilsner in the 4%-5.2% ABV range. However, if dry hopping is involved it should not be called pilsner but rather lager or IPL.
Although many traditional and some new independent breweries use double or triple decoction, his Nomád brewing uses the simpler single decoction which is good enough for pilsner.
Jan recommended visiting the Czech Republic as it is a small country, with relatively short distances to travel around and visit breweries and historic towns.

He particularly recommended visiting the beer festivals that feature small breweries. The festival at Prague castle gardens 14-15 June 2019 includes over 60 breweries. The Sun in the Glass festival at the Purkmistr brewery on the outskirts of Pilsen 20-21 September 2019 includes 70 breweries.

The afternoon continued with a beer tasting led by Jan / Honza Kočka. Our tables were set with glasses and a sheet listing the beers to be tasted.

Without any previous experience of a serious beer tasting exercise I was lucky to be sitting at the back, near Jeff Evans, Chairman of the International Beer Challenge, who I could follow without any major breach of etiquette. Key points are not to fill your glass to the brim and not to drink all the beer in the glass.
Relevant details for each beer on the sheet were projected on a screen e.g. Cvikov 12° / Draught / Style: Premium pale lager / Malts: Pilsener / Hops: Saaz hops, Premiant / ABV 4.9% / IBU 32.

We started with shared bottles of Holba 11°, Bohemia Regent 12° (with CzechTrade Export Special label) and Kutna Hora 12° poured into straight glasses.
The draught beers served in stemmed glasses were Muflon 11°, Cvikov 12°, Albrecht 11°, Kanec 12°, Kanec 12° Vienna.

Large bottles with flip tops from Frýdlant brewery were for different styles. We enjoyed Albrecht Philipp 13° (American Pale Ale with Victoria Secret and Enigma hops) and Albrecht Katerina 12° (Czech Dark Premium Lager with Czech Light, Munich, Caramel, Chocolate and Black malts).
Finally we reverted to a draught Real Bohemian Lager - Cvikov 10° to finish the tasting on a lighter note.
A useful tip from Jan / Honza for roughly converting degrees Plato (or Balling) to ABV is to subtract 2 and then divide by 2 so that 12° becomes 5% ABV.

Jan / Honza could now relax with a lager! 
The lagers I was keen to taste again were Albrecht 11° and Cvikov 12°.

My thanks go to all involved with the workshop. I look forward to the next event and to visiting beer festivals, breweries and bars in the Czech Republic! 

Porto landing - Monday 25 February 2019

After a busy British Airways flight from London Gatwick to Porto there was time to explore the hotel's local area and dine on fish and visit a Cafe Macau for a glass of a port and a beer before bedtime.

The Flying Horse, Gatwick Airport

With an afternoon departure there was time for a beer at the Flying Horse in the departure lounge of Gatwick's South Terminal before heading to the gate.

After the 50p reduction for a CAMRA member's Wetherspoon voucher, a pint of Titanic Brewery White Star cost £3.85 and helped pass the spare time nicely.

The ceiling, floor and walls of the Flying Horse have been made over recently and it was also interesting to view the cellar housed behind windows with text describing the 'Making Beer' process.

At 18:00, after an uneventful flight, a coach transferred passengers from the aircraft stand to the terminal giving views of  parked planes and the evening sky above the Atlantic coast.

By checking the Metro do Porto website in advance I had made a plan to buy one Andante Azul ticket with 5 x Z2 (2 zone) fares for 6.60 euros total and a second Andante Azul ticket with 2 x z4 (4 zone - for airport to/from city centre) fares for 4.60 euros total. Each cost includes 60 cents for the rechargeable tickets that can only store one type of fare at any time.

Andante Azul (Blue) tickets - front and reverse

Uniformed staff in the ticket machine area can give assistance to tourists using them for the first time. Payment can be made by card or cash and receipts are also issued.

The Metro train would fill up after the photo I took on boarding at 18.20 having validated my journey by presenting the 4 zone ticket to a reader on the way to the platform. There was space under the seat for my carry-on cabin bag. Porto is in the same time zone as London and the light was now fading fast. The train headed inland and then turned south towards Porto.

I left the train at Trindade, revalidated my 4 zone ticket and found the platform for the orange D line train heading north west towards Hospital São João and travelled a further two stops to Marquês.

At 19.10, on the way to Hotel Grande Rio, I stopped to take a photo of the floodlit church of
Our lady of the Conception on Praça do Marquês de Pombal.

After checking in to the hotel, I walked downhill to Casa Paraiso 2 at 259 Rua do Paraiso and was reassured to spot a local police station at 82 Rua do Paraiso on the way! 

Casa Paraiso 2

At Casa Paraiso 2, I chose a bottle of (brewed in Porto) Cerveja Nortada lager (5% ABV) from the fridge and was shown to a table downstairs in a large room busy with other diners and a television showing a football programme.
I was able to make enough sense of the menu to order vegetable soup which was served with bread and a half portion of fish. 

When the fish course arrived it was several pieces of battered fish fillet served on a bed of thick potato crisps and with a separate bowl heaped with white rice. Even a half portion was too much food for me to finish so do not underestimate the amount of food you might receive here.

My bill, including beer and coffee, came to 12.85 euros before adding a tip for service. 

Leaving around 21.15, I went in search of a good local bar and stopped to get a photo of a bicycle shop - Intemporal Bikes at 226 Rua do Paraiso - that had some interesting items on display including Ossby Curve folding bikes and leather bags.

Cafe Macau

After 22.00, I entered Cafe Macau on the corner at the western end of Rua Santa Helena, the other end from Hotel Grande Rio.

For a local drink I ordered a glass of white port and after some searching a bottle was found. There was a football match on the TV to watch. 

Cafe Macau has a small selection of bottled beers from major domestic breweries in fridges that customers can take to the bar to be opened. The Sagres Bohemia Trigo (5.5% ABV) wheat beer had too much medicinal flavour for my taste but was worth trying.

The final score in the televised Primeira Liga football match, which had kicked off, at 21.15 was Lisbon's S.L. Benfica 4, Chaves 0. 
When I went to the counter to pay my bill it came to 3.50 euros for the two drinks. 
There was now only a 100 metres uphill walk on a quiet street to reach my hotel.

See links below for further daily blog posts with details of breweries and bars visited on the rest of my late February visit to Porto / Oporto:
Sunny Porto - Tuesday features Cervejaria do Carmo - Craft Beer House, A Fábrica da Picaria
Porto & Guimarães - Wednesday features Letraria Craft Beer Garden, A Fábrica da Picaria, Cafe Macau
Porto - Thursday features Cerveja Nortada, A Fábrica da Picaria, Catraio Craft Beer Shop

Rua Santa Helena

After this visit I would recommend an off-season visit to Porto / Oporto to anyone who doesn't mind walking around a city built on slopes! Public transport is efficient and good value and it is worth paying the premium for a ride on the classic trams. The streets are kept clean but there may be narrow pavements and speeding traffic to be wary of. People are helpful and there was little evidence of poverty or crime. Prices for food, coffee and alcoholic drinks are generally very reasonable. The language has a nice sound and it is worth learning some Portuguese words as English may not always be understood.

Sunny Porto - Tuesday 26 February, 2019

My first full day in Porto would involve art, trams, beer and football.

The view from my first floor room revealed a clear blue sky. Before leaving Hotel Grande Rio I remembered to apply sunscreen lotion and take sunglasses with me.

With no breakfast available at the hotel, it was only a short uphill walk to O Fumeiro for coffee and a croissant with a view towards Praça do Marquês de Pombal.

Casa da Music - view from 203 bus

The 203 bus journey downhill from Marquês to Serralves (Museu) left at 9.50am and passed the Casa da Musica which I would visit on Thursday night to see Still Life Trio.

Twenty stops from Marquês and a short walk later it was good to arrive at the Serralves Contemporary Art Museum inside Serralves Park at 10.25am. The low white museum building which has exhibition spaces on three levels opened in 1999.

I'll be your mirror (2018) - Joana Vasconcelos

This gave me the opportunity to look at the exhibitions, including Tacita Dean and Joana Vasconcelos - I'm your mirror featuring several large installations by the Portugeuse artist, while the museum was not busy.

Casa Serralves + 'Marilyn' high heeled shoes artwork by Joana Vasconcelos

From the shade into the sunshine and a walk around Serralves Park to the art deco style Casa Serralves for the exhibition 'Joan Miró and the Death of Painting'.
Returning to the museum building it was nice to walk through the library reading room and have a coffee in the Auditorium Bar, on the lower level, with views of the park.

Leaving at 13.45 it was sensible to keep to the shady side of the road for a 2km downhill walk to Calçada Ouro where I could sit on bench, and eat a sandwich with a view of ferries crossing the river Douro to Afurada and classic trams (route 1) on the way to and from Passeio Alegre (Foz).

There are plenty of cafes and small restaurants here but an even better spot was just across the Rua do Passeio Alegre where a snack bar kiosk had tables on the banks of the river Douro. A bottle of Super Bock (no glass provided) cost 1.10 euros and it was an authentic experience to drink it from the neck while also absorbing the loud chatter from a neighbouring table of elderly card players.

Later in spring and summer the plane trees on either side of the kiosk would provide adequate shade.

A pleasant walk east along the river bank took me under the arch of Ponte da Arrábida to the tram museum (Museu do Carro Eléctrico) founded in 1992 which includes the machinery hall of Massarelos thermoelectric power plant.

I caught the 18 tram at 16.33 paying 3.50 euros for a single ticket and enjoyed the ride up the hill to Carmo with the driver making frequent use of the horn to warn of our approach.

At Carmo you can change for route 22 to Batalha Guindais.

Cervejaria do Carmo - Craft Beer House

Carmo was the end of the line for me and conveniently only 100 metres from Cervejaria do Carmo - Craft Beer House at Praça Carlos Alberto which opens at 13.00 daily.
There is a shady outside seating area - strangely next to a shoe shop's window display.

Inside there is a blackboard behind the bar with a basic amount of information about the draught beers available. Portuguese and international beers are available on draught.

My 'half pint' of Session IPA (5.6% ABV) brewed locally by Lindinha Lucas was rather bitter for my taste and cost 2.80 euros.

Leaving at 17.10 I passed Praça Carlos Alberto, a square with a World War One monument by Henrique Moreira. On a future visit to the square I would like to visit the Saturday market Porto Belo held here on Saturdays, Cafe Luso and Banco de Materiais - the material bank - a museum of external decorative items like Azulejo wall tiles and vintage shop advertisements.

 A Fábrica da Picaria

Walking on, I arrived at A Fábrica da Picaria, 72 Rua da Picaria at 17.20 and spotted the blackboard sign outside 'Happy Month - Black IPA & Pilsner - 1 euro / 0.20cl'.

The first thing to notice inside is the sacks of malted barley under a shelf for leaflets by the entrance. 

A Fábrica - Black IPA

A Fábrica da Picaria was the first brewpub in Porto. The two beers brewed here change with the seasons and are served direct from the tank either via a font for convenience or from the tank itself. The other draught beers available are from the Super Bock Selecção 1927 range. 

I explained that Quinten Taylor had enjoyed a visit to A Fábrica in January 2018 and his report on Lisbon and Porto bars had been published in the Spring 2018 issue of West Berkshire CAMRA's Ullage magazine. Marta Gonçalves recognised the photo of Quinten on the right of the cover of Reading CAMRA's Mine's a Pint  and posed holding both magazines. I promised to return to A Fábrica later in the week - see Wednesday and Thursday blog posts for more details.

It was a mainly uphill walk of almost a mile to return to Hotel Grande Rio.  On the way I stopped to purchase a miniature bottle of red wine from a small shop and a large Pastel de nata / custard tart from a small cafe / pastelaria to provide some energy for the rest of the evening.

My 15 euro ticket for the FC Porto v Sporting de Braga semi-final of the Portuguese Cup had been purchased online and printed before the start of this trip. 
It was a mainly level 1.5 mile walk from the hotel to the Estádio do Dragão. I realised too late that, like the locals, I should have taken advantage of the street vendors a short distance away from the stadium for a quick snack of Bifana - hot pork sandwich.

The circular 50,000 capacity stadium, designed by Manuel Salgado, opened in 2003.

My seat was in a good central position, only a few rows back from the front, but I would later realise that the man in the next seat could shout very loudly! There were processions of flag carriers and the pitch sprinklers were turned on before the match started at 20.15.This must have been the first top level football match I have attended for about forty years!

Porto were winning 2-0 with goals from Alex Telles (penalty) and Soares when I left after 90 minutes to catch a direct bus back to Marquês. I had seen Brahimi come on as a late substitute but missed his goal in the 4th minute of extra time although I could tell that it was a goal by Porto from the noise level outside! 

I had to hang onto my seat because the bus driver must have been in a race to finish his shift and seemed to pay no attention to any speed limits on this journey. I was soon back at my hotel with a view of the top of the spire of the church of Our lady of the Conception, Praça do Marquês de Pombal, in the distance.

Today I had walked just over 22,000 steps.