12th August 2013

I know it's been a while since my last update. But I've been away on holiday for a couple of weeks. But not to worry, I've come back feeling invigorated to start writing this blog more regularly again. Hopefully.

Žatec Xantho (Czech Republic)

Surprisingly, Prague is a difficult place to find beers from my book, with most places selling the usual Pilsner Urquell or Kozel. I expected to be bouncing from pub to pub quaffing gallons of good new beers. Unfortunately I only found this one during my trip, in a rather excellent pub, the Prague Beer Museum, which you can read about here www.praguebeermuseum.com. I say unfortunately, but I shouldn't really be too disappointed, for this is an excellent beer. The book mentions something about this beer helping women through menopause, but I'm not really interested in that...yet. It was a very nice bittersweet dark Czech beer, which was great to drink in the beer garden, even in the melt-your-face temperature of Prague in August.

Zlatý Bažant 12% (Slovakia)

Since the Czechs invented lager/pilsner in the 17th century, they have gone on to become one of the world's brewing powerhouses. The same cannot be said of their former countrymen. I guess being a Slovakian brewer is a bit like being Janet Jackson, you may do some pretty good stuff, but you'll always be overshadowed by your sibling. There are only two Slovakian beers in the book, and I couldn't find the other, even in Bratislava, so I'm beginning to worry that it doesn't exist any more. This was my first Slovakian beer, taken from the minibar in our hotel room and replaced with a bottle I bought from the supermarket for a fraction of the cost. Prudent. It's actually quite a good beer, nothing extravagent, but very drinkable. And don't worry, the 12% is not the abv, I actually don't know what it means.