Franconian Beer Message Board

OT: Plzen
Posted by jason on 2016-10-04 04:34:33

Report on Plzen for anyone interested.

On Friday I visited Pivovar Radous in Stalhavy, just south of Plzen. It's a quirky operation in some out buildings but with some seating. The Pilsner was superb, beautifully hopped with Saaz and with a solid malt heart. The stout was very bitter for me but not a bad attempt. I took away a 2 litre PET bottle of the Pilsner and enjoyed it last night - it kept very well. There is also a pub in Stary Plzenec (next stop back to Pilsen, with a bar where you can try the Radous beers).

On the Saturday I took the trolley bus out to Purkmistr. As I recalled the beer was very good (perhaps not as good as last time but that may well be me). On a lovely warm Autumn day it was a shame that the only outside seating was in the courtyard which was in the process of being half dug up by a large and loud JCB. Still, music drowned that out. I then visited the Pilsner fest in the Pilsner Urquell brewery. As one would expect this is a busy event with lots of beer, much of it served into plastic containers for people to carry round. There were some glass outlets however and the beer was pretty good. I took a tour down to the cellars and enjoyed quite a lot of their 'authentic' wooden barrel dispensed PU. It was excellent but I couldn't help notice a gas cyliner to the side of the barrel which fed into the top of the vat - I'm not sure what this means but it wouldn't surprise me if it was more dumbing down of the old method of production by SAB Miller.

On the Sunday I visited Modra Hvezda in Dobrany, which for me is one of the best breweries in the country (in my experience). The hotel looks very nice too and definately could be a pleasant overnight stay if passing through the area. All their beers were very good.

As my last beer of the short trip I returned to the Beer Gallery, a newish bar opened round the corner from U Parkanu. I had been in the night before and found the U Lenocha 12 to be excellent. I had a few more before my train and it was still excellent.

Conclusions: Czech beers remain the finest in the world. Bamberg/Franken remains the finest place in the world to drink great beer in.    
 
Followups:
   OT: Plzen by Barry on  2016-10-04 07:32:59
   OT: Plzen by pivnizub on  2016-10-05 05:06:56
     OT: Plzen by Jason on  2016-10-06 03:29:04