Researching for my book meant going around town visiting a lot of places. Besides finding that most of them have good service, the experience left me with a couple of things that gave me food for thought.
1) I was surprised by how many times I was asked how I liked the beer I was drinking. Save for one excepction, it always happened at places that had recently changed suppliers or added an alternative beer to their offer. Often my answer (that I was liking it) made the server glad and in some cases, it even generated a conversation about beer. Something that I don't remember ever happening before.
2) I really like unfiltered beers (as long as they are fresh) and it's even better to see that more industrial breweries are now offering some of their products in both versions. However, I've started to "rediscover" the joy of drinking filtered světle výčepní or ležáky. Sometimes their clean texture, drinkability and crispness is what does the job. And since I'm on topic, I'd like to congratulate those few hospody that offer the same beer in both versions. They prove better than anyone that all that stuff that unfiltered beers are better or "more craft" than filtered ones is utter bollocks. There are even beers that I prefer unfiltered!
3) I'm a fan of the multi tap, "ctvrtá pípa" pubs (as long as they know how to take care of the beers). I think it's great to have the possibility to choose a beer based on how I feel at a given moment, to radically change the sensory experience from one glass to another and to be surprised by something new almost every time. However, there are days that I feel like drinking without thinking and so I like going to pubs where I can simply order "pivo", or at most a Balling graduation or a colour, without any further questions and knowing exactly what I'll be getting, just as it has always been here. And it is also wonderful that in our beer culture, which is slowly getting richer, both models can coexist without many people thinking that one is better than the other. Which, like the filtered/unfiltered think, it is also bollocks.
It's great to live here!
Na Zdraví!
Reserve yourPrague hotel and win a walking tour.
1) I was surprised by how many times I was asked how I liked the beer I was drinking. Save for one excepction, it always happened at places that had recently changed suppliers or added an alternative beer to their offer. Often my answer (that I was liking it) made the server glad and in some cases, it even generated a conversation about beer. Something that I don't remember ever happening before.
2) I really like unfiltered beers (as long as they are fresh) and it's even better to see that more industrial breweries are now offering some of their products in both versions. However, I've started to "rediscover" the joy of drinking filtered světle výčepní or ležáky. Sometimes their clean texture, drinkability and crispness is what does the job. And since I'm on topic, I'd like to congratulate those few hospody that offer the same beer in both versions. They prove better than anyone that all that stuff that unfiltered beers are better or "more craft" than filtered ones is utter bollocks. There are even beers that I prefer unfiltered!
3) I'm a fan of the multi tap, "ctvrtá pípa" pubs (as long as they know how to take care of the beers). I think it's great to have the possibility to choose a beer based on how I feel at a given moment, to radically change the sensory experience from one glass to another and to be surprised by something new almost every time. However, there are days that I feel like drinking without thinking and so I like going to pubs where I can simply order "pivo", or at most a Balling graduation or a colour, without any further questions and knowing exactly what I'll be getting, just as it has always been here. And it is also wonderful that in our beer culture, which is slowly getting richer, both models can coexist without many people thinking that one is better than the other. Which, like the filtered/unfiltered think, it is also bollocks.
It's great to live here!
Na Zdraví!
Reserve yourPrague hotel and win a walking tour.
Keep up the good writing!
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