Czech Beer that Isn’t Budweiser

On our beer tour, we visited 3 separate Czech microbreweries around Prague. Our guide was Anna, and she was cute and lots of fun. And not one of the breweries we visited was Budweiser. Budweiser has been brewed in the city of České Budějovice (or Budweis) since 1895. Apparently the American company Budweiser is a completely different brew. There have been legal battles over the name Budweiser, and Anheuser-Busch can only use the brand in North America. The Czech company retains rights to the brand everywhere else.

When Our Tour Ended, We were Presented with Beer Diplomas

As part of our beer tour, we got a handy map of Prague with all the microbreweries and beer pubs labeled. We visited 2 breweries on the list and 1 that was opened only a few months ago; U Valśů, U Medvídků, and Pivovar. Along the way, we learned some fun facts about Czech beer, like the fact that Pilsners were invented in the Czech Republic, in the city of Plzen.

Following the tour, we decided to bop into the Old Town Hall for a moment. The Old Town Hall in Prague houses the Astronomical Clock. This clock has myriad information is actually a little confusing to decipher. It tells time 3 different ways, the position of the sun, the month, and the day of the year. The clock was built in 1410 and is the oldest working Astronomical Clock. For a small fee, you can climb to the top of the clock tower, and look down upon the square. Since the clock tower is open until 10pm, we decided to climb it before dinner.

The View from the Top

The Astronomical Clock at Night

After our climb, we finally got some dinner. At this point in the evening, after drinking 4 beers and having not eaten since lunch, we were a little tipsy. We chose a restaurant right at the base of the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square called El Toro Negro. We were able to eat outside, in a biergarten of sorts, and our meal was delicious. All it was missing was shots of tequila! I’m kidding about needing the shots, but not about the missing tequila. On that very day, the Czech government passed a law prohibiting the sale of hard liquor over 20%. We got to kick of prohibition abstinence style. Lest you immediately flash back to the 1920s speakeasy-bootleg era, this bill was passed for the public safety. Apparently, someone decided to sell alcohol laced with methanol, and people who were drinking the poisoned alcohol were dying. Here is a news video about the issue. Furthermore, the Czech Republic has stopped shipping liquor throughout the EU, at the EU’s request. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/09/18/pkg-sesay-czech-booze-ban.cnn?iref=allsearch Fortunately, we only had plans to drink beer, and were perfectly safe from the methanol poisoning.

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