A Krušovice experience

Back in Prague, I ended up at the Zličín metro station. Near the entrance the little Bar Zličín can be found. It is a small, smoky taproom that will never win any awards. But it has a friendly barman and loads of draught beer from the Krušovice brewery.

I started out with Krušovice's 10° pale lager. It is still a pretty average beer with nearly no aromas. In the mouth there was some malts and grass before a partly bitter finish with a touch of hops.

Then it was time for Krušovice 11° pale lager. This was a better and tastier beer. The taste profile was very alike the 10° beer, but this beer had a more bitter feeling.

Krušovice is not among the more interesting breweries in the Czech Republic, but the 11° pale lager is a decent beer. I would rather have other Czech beers, but if you want a beer at Zličín a visit to Bar Zličín for a half litre of Krušovice is a nice move. There are worse ways of spending waiting time before taking the metro into the city centre of Prague or the bus to Prague airport.

Krušovice troika

The Krušovice brewery is one of the largest in the Czech Republic. The Heineken owned brewery has several beers in its line-up, and they are easy to find in pubs and bars in and around Prague. The Krušovice beers have a reputation of being bland compared to other Czech beers, so it was time to take a closer look at some of them in this blog to see if the reputation is correct.

First out is Krušovice Mušketýr from can. Krušovice Mušketýr is a pale lager with some carbonation and nearly no head. I feel grains in the nose, and the beer feels sweet. In the mouth there is malt and grapes. The beer feels a little watery, and in all Krušovice Mušketýr is a boring beer.

While Krušovice Mušketýr has 4.5% alcohol, Krušovice Imperial has 5% alcohol. This is another pale lager, and in the glass there is some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose I feel malt, grass and some sweetness. The beer is watery. I have a malty taste before a partly hoppy, bitter finish. Krušovice Imperial is an average Czech lager, and I feel that Krušovice Mušketýr is the better of these two beers.

Krušovice Černe is a dark lager with 3.8% alcohol. This is a nearly black beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose coffee dominates, and the taste is a combination of more coffee, a touch of grass and some malts. The beer has a watery finish before a touch of cold coffee. Krušovice Černe is a nice and refreshing beer, and it is the best of these three beers.

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.