I had the rare opportunity to travel around Central Europe a few weeks ago and while it was a vacation trip, I did have the chance to sample some of the local lagers and thought I might share my thoughts with you. I’m not a travel blogger, but I did enjoy the wonderful lagers we sampled in the region.
Czech Republic
We started our trip in Prague, in an area well known as the home of Czech lagers as well as region where many popular Czech hops like Saaz are grown. We also traveled through the regions of Pilzen and near České Budějovice where Budvar is brewed. Prague features a Pilsner Urquell museum, and the beer was widely available in local restaurants though I opted for a few smaller local lagers instead.
The local pilsners I sampled were all excellent with an extremely clean finish, nice bright noble hop notes and gave homage to their Bavarian brewing roots. We also went to a local brewery in the old city for a beer tasting where we sampled a variety of craft beers. These included a hazy IPA, sour fruit beer, and an IPA based on Idaho-7 hops as well as some local pilsners. Some were excellent, and though a few craft beers had minor flaws it was still a great experience. I was extremely pleased to see not only was there an active Craft Beer movement in the country, but the local brewers were quite passionate about it.
We drove South to Český Krumlov, a cobblestone town and Castle in the southern Czech Republic. There I enjoyed an excellent semi-sweet spiced mead at a local restaurant. Ordering mead is always a somewhat risky endeavor as you never know what you might get, but this one was outstanding.
Slovakia and Vienna
We unfortunately hit Vienna in the middle of one of the worst rainstorms in 50 years, so I was not able to venture out as much as I wished. Vienna had a mix of Czech lagers and German beers, but of course I had to order a local Vienna lager. I was somewhat surprised as it was lighter in color than I expected, but it was definitely brewed in the Bavarian style with a very clean finish, fresh noble hop note and high drinkability.
We made a mid-day stop in Bratsaslavia, Slovakia which has another charming cobblestone old town and castle on the Danube river. The local beer on tap here was Urpiner which is a European Pale Lager brewed in Slovakia. This beer had a bit more complexity to it, with some body, light sweetness and a different hop character than the Czech beers. I could not precisely place the hops, but the richer flavor went well with the pork dish I had for lunch.
Hungary and Poland
We had only a short time in Budapest, and again the weather worked against us. When I ordered a draft beer at a local restaurant they brought me a Svijany, which is actually a Czech beer. It was light, fresh and had a beautiful hop note like all of the previous Czech lagers I enjoyed. The logos I saw posted reflected that Czech beers were popular here, though some local brands like Draher and Borsod were also present. I hope to get back again someday to explore Hungary more fully in better weather.
Next we spent a few nights in Krakow, Poland, which was the Capitol of Poland for many hundreds of years before it moved to Warsaw. Krakow has a huge old town and square as well as castle and cathedral that was left largely undamaged after WWII. The beer here reflected much of the same European/Czech lager styles we saw in the Czech republic. The beers are refreshing, clean and very drinkable with that nice Saaz noble hops note.
We finished in Warsaw, a city that was almost completely destroyed by Hitler after the Warsaw uprising, but painstakingly reconstructed by Poles after the war. The old town was meticulously rebuilt, including the Palace, two old town squares, churches and royal mile. Having sampled quite a few lagers, I went for a wheat beer on the square. I believe it was a Książęce Złote Pszeniczne based on the glass used. It was served with yeast, and had many of the notes of a Bavarian Weizen, though the banana/clove flavor was slightly more muted than the Bavarian variant and had a slightly darker color. It was very drinkable though.
Overall Impressions
Let me first start by saying, I was incredibly impressed with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Vienna (Austria), Poland and Hungary. While some Americans think of these in terms of the Cold War, the fact is that the Iron Curtain only lasted a little over 40 years, which is a blip in time compared to the vibrant local cultures developed over many hundreds and thousands of years. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, which at times covered much of this region, lasted over 800 years and built many of these impressive cities. The people were incredibly friendly, the food was outstanding and not surprisingly the beer was also fantastic. Prices were quite reasonable considering the strength of the dollar compared to local currencies.
As I mentioned this was not really a beer trip, so I did not make a concerted effort to sample a large number of beers, instead ordering whatever was local or on tap. The super clean, super fresh Czech lager styles seemed the dominant beer style in most of these countries, though they also served many Vienna lagers, German lager and wheat styles. In the larger cities, there was a vibrant craft brewing culture growing as well with many offering IPAs, Hazy IPAs, Porters, sours and fruit beers.
I would recommend any of these cities if you are a beer (or food) fan as there is plenty to see, sample and enjoy!
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