Beer Street, Prague

From U Slovanské Lípy on Tachovské náměstí to Hotel Victor on Husitská street you only need to walk about 200 metres. For a visitor to Prague, this is an area worth checking out. Three great pubs with exciting beers can be found in this area. Bus number 133 from the Staroměstská bus stop (near Prague's Old Town Square) takes you easily to the Tachovské náměstí bus stop. On the way it is easy to stop at Florenc for a visit to the nearby Pivovarský klub.

U Slovanské Lípy is a no frills Czech beerhall with excellent beers from the Kout na Šumavě brewery. Here you can drink the 12° golden lager that was named the best of its kind in the Czech Republic last year. Also available right now are the 10° golden lager with a tastiness that should make a lot of other lager brewers envious and a 14° dark lager that is nothing but fabulous. An 18° porter is not to be forgotten. This tasty dark beer is just pure beer nectar.

Further down the road in Husitská street you can find Merenda. Merenda is one of the pubs specialising in rotating taps. Therefore you ought to check out the pub's web page before a visit to be sure of what to expect.

Normally you will find eight different draught beers. Four will be available in the cellar bar and the last four on the ground floor, where you can also find food.

This time at I tried the golden lager from Chotěboř brewery. It was served in a beer glass from the Klášter brewery, by the way. In the glass this was a beer with nearly no carbonation and a large, solid head. In the nose I felt malts, while the beer itself did not taste that much. There was more malt and some yeast before a nice, bitter and hoppy finish. I liked it, and it would be a fine thirst quencher in Summer.

Next to Merenda another recommended beer site is situated. Hotel Victor has a restaurant that sells beers from Pivovarský Dvůr Chýně. The Chýně brewery is outside Prague, and Hotel Victor is one of the few places outside the farm brewery where you can buy these beers.

I have tried some of them earlier, but at this visit I went for the amber coloured beer, polotmavé. The Chýně polotmavé had a small head and no carbonation. I liked it a lot with a nice caramel taste and some yeast. It was nothing but lovely, and it comes from a line-up of fine craft beers.

If you have one day in Prague, my recommendation is to find a hotel near Tachovské náměstí and spend the evening in these three beer temples. It will be a short beer crawl, but the beer selection will make it more than worthwhile.

Czech farm beers

Right outside Prague, you can find Pivovarský Dvůr Chýně. This is a combined restaurant and brewpub with beers that have been praised in beer blogs and newspaper stories. So far I have not taken the bus to the village of Chýně, but it has been on my to do-list for a long time.

Instead I have visited Pivovarský Dvůr Chýně's restaurant in Prague. You can find it in Victor Hotel in Husitska street. The location is unique for beer lovers, as the restaurant is next to Merenda and less than two hundred metres from the reopened U Slovanské Lípy. Three great pubs with excellent and not easily found beers on the same street!

Pivovarský Dvůr Chýně's restaurant has a nice and rustic interior. The main room looks great with excellent wall decorations. My favourite was the brewery wall painting. As I sat down, a smiling female waiter was there at once. I was not hungry, so I ordered a half litre of the pale lager.

It arrived very quickly, and the beer was cloudy with a large head and nearly no carbonation. The beer had a nice aroma with scents of fruit and yeast. In the mouth the fruit lead on to a nice finish without feeling too sweet. This was a very enjoyable beer!

I also tried Chýně's half dark beer, polotmave. This was another enjoyable beer with lovely caramel notes. Lovely!

Pivovarský Dvůr Chýně will be revisited on my next trip to Prague, but I will also check out the proper brew pub outside the Czech capital. The beers are worth it!