And on to Brno

Until October all I had seen of the Czech Republic was Prague and Prague airport. That changed in October, as I took a trip to Brno. Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. It is placed in South Moravia, 250 kilometres away from Prague and has around 380,000 inhabitants.To get to Brno, I chose to take the train. I am very fond of train rides, and I have posted about my train ride through Norway earlier this year. There are several possibilities on how to get to Brno by train from Prague, but I decided to take the train from the main railway station, Hlavni nadrazi.

As I entered the railway station at half past eleven, I went to the ticket office and bought myself a return ticket to Brno. At below 600 CZK, I felt that was a good price. The next train was to leave within the next half hour, so I went to the platform and located my train.

The train started rolling, and I was alone in my cabin for most of the 3 and a half hour ride. The first major city the train stopped at, was Pardubice. I immediately started thinking of the local brewery's famous Pardubicky porter, which I unfortunately have not tasted so far. It is supposed to be a very good beer in the Baltic porter style.

As the train travelled through Bohemia and Moravia towards Brno, I spent a lot of time looking at the scenary. I felt it was interesting with woods, plains, hamlets, villages and new railway stations. Actually, it is one of the longer train rides I have had, where I did not get bored by the landscape.

It was a warm day, and the water bottle I had bought in Prague was empty very early. As the train rolled into Letovice, I was very thirsty. The local restaurant at the station gave me more thirst, as it had a Cerna Hora sign. At that moment I was tempted to leave the train for a pint of excellent Moravian lager beer.

Twenty minutes late, the train arrived in Brno. I left the car and went through the railway station.

Outside the station I found a map, and from there I went through Masarykova street towards Namesti Svobody, Brno's main square. It was not very far to walk, and suddenly the square appeared for me.

It was large and beautiful. The trams running through the square now and then only made the square more fascinating. The same did the statue.

I was both thirsty and hungry after the train ride, so I went down a side street to find a place to have some food and drink. A Starobrno sign showed where I could find the eatery Bufet Vesmir, and inside I went to try the city's own beer.

A bufet is like a canteen, but there are no chairs. You eat and drink standing, and the prices are normally very low. I did not see a menu, and the person serving the food only spoke Czech. My Czech is limited, but I managed to buy some sausage with horseradish and mustard. And to drink: A Starobrno lezak.

I have been drinking Starobrno before, but only from bottles. It is not my favorite, and I feel it is more or less a standard pale lager. The Starobrno did its job as a thirst quencher, but I felt that I would prefer other beers than this if there is a choice. After having days in Prague drinking lager beers like Kout na Sumave, Svijany, tankova Pilsner Urquell and Budvar, Starobrno was a letdown.

After the food it was time to find Namesti Svobody again. I had seen a Černa Hora place with outdoor tables, and decided to sit down there.

Černohorský sklep is first of all a cosy cellar restaurant, but in the nice weather it was much better to sit outside enjoying the sun.

The restaurant had six different Černa Hora beers from tap, and I decided to try an old favourite, Moravský Sklepní Nefiltrované.

Sklepni is an unfiltered and unpasteurized pale lager beer. It was served with a medium sized head and very little carbonation. The nose is flowery, and in the mouth there are citrus notes. There are also hops present, and in all it gives a nice, bitter finish. This is a really good lager beer, and it felt so much better than the Starobrno beer.

I had an appointment later that day, but as I had nearly an hour to spend before it, I went walking around Brno. I ended up outside the Zelená Kočka restaurant.

I saw that they offered beer from the Dalešice brewery, and that gave me a good reason to enter the restaurant.

Zelená Kočka was a really nice place to sit down. As I had only time for one beer, I asked for the Dalešice kvasnicove.

I do not know it was the best beer on offer, but what I was served was a beer I really liked. It was cloudy with a large head and some carbonation. In the nose there was malt and yeast, and the maltiness gave an extra punch in the mouth. Then there was a really nice aftertaste of strawberry. I would really like to have another half litre of the Dalešice beer, but there was no time. So instead I walked once again into the city of Brno.

The cellar on the hill

Usually Czech pubs sell only beers from one brewery or brewery group. For instance it is usual to find beers like Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Kozel in a taproom, as these belong to the same brewery owners.

These days this is changing, and more and more bars and restaurants are offering a more varied beer menu. One such place is U Bejvalejch Vyndanejch. The bar can be found in Zizkov on the hill over Seifertova street - not far from taprooms like Kralovstvi or U Sadu. This is a little cellar pub that specializes in beers from Svijany.

When I visited last month, they had Svijany Maz, Svijany Knize and Svijany Knezna from tap. Knize is a 13° golden lager, while Knezna is a 13° dark lager. Maz is a weaker beer, as it is a 11° pale lager. They also sell Pilsner Urquell and Gambrinus.

Svijany Knize is served in this bar with a medium sized head and some fizzyness. In the nose the hops make a distinct presence, and they are also there in the mouth. Knize is a bitter beer, and I would have preferred it more balanced. There is also an alcohol punch in the aftertaste. In all, it is a nice beer, but it is not as good as other Svijany beers. I prefer Svijany Rytir, Svijany's kvasnicove and Svijany Maz to this beer.

U Bejvalejch Vyndanejch has not been very well visited when I have been there. The beers have been fine, and I also have eaten a portion of utopence there. I like the pickled sausages, and they were very good. But all was not good. There was more or less no atmosphere in U Bejvalejch Vyndanejch on my visits. Few guests make a boring taproom, and I felt that this was not a place to stay. But perhaps I was there at the wrong time?

Prague odds and ends

After several visits to Prague, there have been some places I have visited that never were worth making a blog post about. And of course there are pubs and bars that I could write about where I did not take any photos or never made tasting notes. Here is a misch-masch of photos and notes about some bars and restaurants I have been to in the Czech capital.

Budvarka is a very nice restaurant with a beer menu based on brews from the Budweiser Budvar brewery. You can find it in Dejvice not far from the Dejvicka metro. I liked visiting Budvarka. The waiters were efficient, and they were quick to serve the beers.

On tap you can find the whole range of Budvar beers. I only tried two of them while visiting Budvarka, and those two were new to me at the time.

First out was the Budvar kvasnicove, which I have written about in another post. On the menu they call this beer Budweiser Budvar kroužkovaný ležák.

I also tried Budvar's dark lager, and that was a very pleasant beer that I really want to taste again.

Not far from Budvarka you can find the Chinese restaurant Chang Jiang. Just like most Chinese restaurants in Prague, Chang Jiang serves a varied and inexpensive lunch menu.

I was there a Saturday and ended having one of their duck courses. It was quite good.

At Chang Jiang they serve Krusovice beer. It is not my favourite beer in the Czech Republic, but it is still a very decent pale lager.

Klasterny Senk is a fantastic restaurant in the Brevnov area of Prague. It is found in the Brevnov monastery and can offer great food and excellent beer, which of course is Klaster. (Klaster means monastery in Czech.) The menu is based on traditional Czech courses, but there are also other possibilities.

I had a nice duck meal at Klasterny Senk, and they were washed down with some half litres of Klaster. This is a place to be recommended!

U Vlka is absolutely not the bar where you bring your date. This 24 hour herna bar in Zizkov consists of gambling machines, some wooden tables, a jukebox and a medium sized bar. The place looks tired, and so do the visitors. According to the provokator.org website this is the place where people thrown out of other bars in the neighbourhood end up. But there is good and cheap beer here. U Vlka sells well tapped Bernard pale lager beer priced below 20 CZK for a half litre. So perhaps this is a place to visit in the early afternoon for a quick pint while waiting for one of the favourite restaurants or bars around the Seifertova street to open.

Corleone is one of my favourite Italian restaurants in Prague. It is situated next to the Andel metro station and has a nice and varied menu. Myself, I prefer their pizzas, which are very filling. The beer is Staropramen, which goes down surprisingly well although their lagers are not among my favourites.

Near the Charles bridge on the Mala Strana side you can find the Beer Shop (or Galerie Piva in Czech). It has a varied offer of beers. First of all there are many Czech brands, but you can also find some foreign offers. The shop also offers glassware, and I have bought some of my original Czech beer glasses at this shop.

The better Pilsner Urquell

To find the best Pilsner Urquell in Prague, you need to find a tankova restaurant or pivnice. Served as a tankova beer, Pilsner Urquell is both unpasteurized and fresher compared to the ordinary version.

Pilsner Urquell tankova tanks - full of golden delight!

The Anděl area is full of taproom and restaurants. Among them are some tankova restaurants serving Pilsner Urquell. I have walked past Zlatý klas several times, but I had never entered the cellar restaurant until the day I was planning to see a football game on TV. As I passed Zlatý klas, I saw the right channel was on the restaurant's screens, and inside I went. The game was rather boring, but Zlatý klas had great tankova Pilsner Urquell, so I enjoyed the beer instead.

Later I went back to have dinner. Zlatý klas is one of the restaurants in Prague that also cater to non-smokers, so I went into the non-smoking area and ordered food and a Pilsner Urquell. The tankova Pilsner Urquell is a fantastic beer. It is delicious and a must to try for all visitors to the Czech Republic.

I have tried two courses at Zlatý klas. The duck with dumplings was filling, and it is an understatement to say the same about the pork knee served on a skewer with horseradish, pickled cucumber and mustard. The koleno was very big, and it was not possible to eat all of it.

Zlatý klas has a varied menu, and the prices are in the mid-range being Prague. 195 CZK for a large pork knee is fair, and the same could be said for paying the same price for duck and dumplings.

Thunder, but no cops

On the streets of the Prague borough of Vinohrady you can find many taprooms and restaurants. One of the more interesting ones is Hrom do Police, because this hospoda sells beers from the Policka brewery. Bars and restaurants offering beers from Policka (or Meštanský pivovar v Policce, which is the full name) are rare in Prague.

Hrom do Police is a nice cellar restaurant. The name means thunder on the shelves in Czech, but it can also be translated as an idiom meaning an elephant in a glassware shop. Of course, the name is also a wordplay on the brewery name, Policka.

On my visits earlier this month Hrom do Police offered five golden lager beers and one dark lager. Their strongest lager is a 12° beer called Zavis. There is also a 11° beer called Otakar, and both beers are also available as yeast beers, kvasnicove.

I only had kvasnicove beers at the hospoda, and my favourite of them was Otakar. It is served with a large head. There is a lot of carbonation, and I can feel yeast and hints of strawberry in the nose. The beer is fullbodied. It tastes a little bit sweet, and the strawberry notes are more distinct in the mouth. It is a really good beer, and I went back to try it several times. Actually, it was so good that I did not try the ordinary lager version of it from tap.

The Zavis 12° kvasnicove was also a nice beer, and I have covered it in another post. To sum up: It is an enjoyable beer with hops and yeast notes. In the aftertaste there is much melon. A very drinkable brew, but the Otakar 11° kvasnicove is the better beer according to my palate.

It is also possible to buy bottles of Policka beers to take home from Hrom do Police. Unfortunately, the kvasnicove beers are not available in bottles, but I bought both Zavis and Otakar to try at my hotel. I have lost my tasting notes, but I remember that both beers were very good.

I will return to Hrom do Police. I liked the hospoda, but I was also very fond of the Policka beers. The next time around I will try their 10° pale lager and also do a comparison of the different versions of Otakar and Zavis. Perhaps the ordinary lagers are better than the kvasnicove from tap?

Christmas in October

As Christmas is getting closer, I will taste some of the Norwegian Christmas beers, juleøl. First out is a tasting of three Christmas beers with less than 4.7% alcohol, which are beers that can be sold in Norwegian supermarkets.

Ringnes is the largest brewery in Norway, and their Ringnes Juleøl is brewed at 4.5% alcohol. Poured into the glass, the beer is coppercoloured and has a medium sized head that dissolves rather quickly. There is little carbonation, and in the nose I can feel some burntness and hints of caramel. In the mouth there is some sweetness, hints of malts, a semibitter finish and a watery feeling. This is a nice beer that easily could be sold in Norway as a Bayer, a beer brewed in the Bavarian style. I would anyway have preferred it to be a more filling beer. By the way: Ringnes Juleøl is also available in 0.33 litre bottles.

Grans is one of Norway's traditional breweries, and it was founded in 1899. The Sandefjord brewery has a distribution deal with the largest supermarket chain, Rema 1000, and thus their beers are available all over the country. Grans' beers are among the cheaper ones in Norway, and there are some of them that I do not like.

Grans Bare Jul is at the stronger mark for its style at 4.7% alcohol. It is much paler than the Ringnes beer in colour, and it could be mistaken for a golden lager at the first glance. The head is more compact, but it disappears nearly as fast as the Ringnes Juleøl. There is very little carbonation, and the same can be said about the nose. I can feel more or less nothing. In the mouth I feel this is a boring beer. It is dominated by a metallic aftertaste, which could be the can's fault. Actually there is nothing that can keep up with the comments on the can that promises a beer full of taste. If so, it was not commenting on the beer in my can!

Hansa Juleøl is one of several Christmas offerings from the Hansa brewery this year. It is an amber beer with little carbonation and a little head. The nose has some caramel, but it is less exciting than the Ringnes Juleøl. Just like Ringnes there is a watery feeling, but there is also some maltyness and toffee. A metallic presence is also found here, but it is not as dominating as in the Grans Bare Jul. This is an OK effort from Hansa, but I prefer for instance the Hansa Bayer to this beer. Like Ringnes Juleøl, Hansa Juleøl is also available in 0.33 litre bottles.

The best of these three Christmas beers is Ringnes Juleøl. It will fall through compared to the stronger beers that will debut at Vinmonopolet next week, but so far it will probably be one of the better offers in the Norwegian supermarkets. But of course: There are more Christmas beers available in Norway than these ones. And here at Beer Sagas we will take the challenge and try more of them.

Christmas time is here again

Sort of. Here in Norway the supermarkets have already started selling juleøl, Christmas beers. The Norwegian Christmas beers are dark or amber brews, and they are sold in various strengths. In ordinary shops, you can only find beers with an alcohol content below 4.7%. The stronger beers are available at Vinmonopolet, the stately monopoly for wines and liquor. You can also find them in various bars from November to January, and now and then even from tap.


Ringnes brewery is the largest in Norway, and this year they will in addition to their own juleøl also sell Tuborg and Carlsberg Christmas beers brewed on licence. The Tuborg can has a new design this year, by the way.

Hansa-Borg is the second largest brewery group in Norway, and they will at least have two Christmas beers available in supermarkets. On the picture you can see Hansa Juleøl and Hansa Julebrygg. The second one is supposed to have had a very long period of lagering.

Next week Vinmonopolet will start selling Christmas beers. I have not seen this year's list of beers so far, but I have heard that there will at least be juleøl from Nøgne Ø and Haandbryggeriet together with some Danish offerings and the usual Christmas beers from the Norwegian macro breweries.