Lovely Eliška

I have not been there so often during my last visits to Prague, but one late evening I was walking Vinohradska street I found out it was time to revisit Hrom Do Police. The nice cellar restaurant on Moravska street offers draught beers from the Polička brewery, and they are all of high quality.

The fun thing about Hrom Do Police is that some of the beers are available in both filtered and unfiltered versions. That is great for somebody wanting to taste how different one beer can be. Myself, I decided to go for a seasonal beer. The wonderful Eliška was on tap, and I ordered a half litre of it.

This batch of Eliška was darker than cola but still not black. It had a large head, and there was barely any cabonation. In the nose I felt coffee, and the coffee lead on in the mouth with some nuts and a touch of bitterness. This was a delicious beer.

I had time for another beer as well, and decided to go for the 12° golden lager Zavis in the unfiltered version. I have had this beer before, and has been really fond of it. It did not let me down this time either. Zavis kvasnicove was a golden lager without carbonation, but with a medium sized head. In the nose I felt yeast and malts. There was strawberry, some sweetness and and malts in the mouth. It was just another lovely beer from the Polička brewery.

There are so many interesting pubs and bars in Prague these days, but what I really like about Hrom Do Police is that they specialize in beers from one brewery. It is for me more interesting to drink myself through the whole beer line from one brewery than to try to taste many beers from many breweries during one session.

Glimpses of Prague

There are so many bars and pubs to visit in Prague, and some of them are worth taking a look at. In this post I will share a couple of places I recommend.

Not far from the Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station you can find Hrom do Police. This cellar restaurant is special as it sells beer from the Policka brewery. Right now the dark Eliška beer is available. This is a wonderful seasonal beer that it is worth checking out.

I usually spend some time at U Sadu while in Prague. This excellent hospoda offers several good draught beers. Tanková Pilsner Urquell is a treat that usually can be found here. This is an unpasteurized version of the excellent golden lager from Plzen. At my last visit U Sadu offered the unfiltered version that is even better. That beer was only available as a Pilsner Urquell marketing campaign for a short period of time.

Also in Žižkov, at Tachovské náměstí, you will find U Slovanské Lípy. This great hospoda sells the magnificent beers from the Kout na Šumavě brewery.

These beers are not available in bottles, so my tip is to bring along a water bottle so they can fill it up for you with draught beer. The 10° and 12° lagers are worth drinking in your hotel room as well. Or any Kout na Šumavě beer, for that matter!

My friend Pivní Filosof released his great book on pub crawls in Prague earlier this year. If you go to Prague, it is a must! One of the pubs not mentioned in the book is called U Vodoucha. It opened after the book was published. The pub in Jagellonská street is in walking distance from U Slovanské Lípy. The beer philosopher brought me to the pub, and it was a treat. Here there was great beers and fine Czech food. I was lucky to find beers from the Berounský Medvěd brewery, and I fell in love with the fabulous 11° Zlatý Kůn beer. This golden lager had a fantastic taste of fresh hops, and I really blame myself for not visiting this pub again during my stay in Prague. I should have bought some PET bottles to take home from the pub.

A few minutes from U Vodoucha you will find Vinohradská street. There you can jump on tram number 11 going towards Spořilov. In Čestmírova street near the Náměstí Bratří Synků tram stop the fantastic Zlý Časy pub can be found. With 24 draught beers available, there is always an interesting beer to find.

Take the trip to Zlý Časy and enjoy some of the beers available. You will not regret it.

By the way: Since my visit to Prague this Spring, the herna bar at the Dejvická metro has been closed down. That is a pity, as I liked having a half litre of Rychtář golden lager on my way to or from Prague airport. The pub was a dive, but the beers were good.

Two pubs in Brno

It is evening, and it is time to take a walk through the city centre of Brno checking out some of the pubs there. Brno has loads of pubs, so it is difficult to choose where to go. Czech lagers are among the better ones in the world, and it is tempting to sit down where they sell Pilsner Urquell or Budweiser Budvar. But no. I want to have something else.

In the Beethovenova street I see a sign promoting the club and restaurant Freeland. It says that Freeland sells beer from the Dalešice brewery. I tried a kvasnicove from Dalešice two years ago and liked it a lot, so I decide to stop there.

Freeland is supposed to be a trendy place, and inside there is a group of teenagers dancing and having fun. I trek towards the bar to see which beers are available.

There are four taps at Freeland. In addition to a Dalešice pale lager, you can buy draught beers from the Starobrno and Svijany breweries. There is also draugted Kofola, a Czech cola. I choose the Dalešice beer.

Dalešice's 11° pale lager is served with a large head and hardly any carbonation. There are nearly no aromas from the beer, but in the mouth I feel strawberries and some malt. The beer feels a little bit watery as well. I like the beer, but the Dalešice kvasnicove was a better beer.

From Freeland I once again enter the streets of Brno. In Vachova street I find another interesting place. Strakonický Dudák offers beers from the Strakonice brewery. That is interesting, so I walk inside.

At the bar there are several taps, and in addition to the Strakonice beers Strakonický Dudák also sells beers from Chotěboř and Měšťanský pivovar v Poličce. I choose the Polička beer and enjoy the 12° pale lager Záviš. I have tried it from bottle earlier, and it is an enjoyable beer.

After my half litre of Záviš I leave Strakonický Dudák thinking that it is a great place. There are better pubs in Brno, but a visitor could do worse than visiting Strakonický Dudák.

Czech Christmas beer

I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas! And what better way to do it then telling you about my recent visit to the Hrom do Police pub in Prague. Hrom do Police is to be found in Vinohrady not far from the Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station. I have been at this pub several times last year enjoying the beers from the Polička brewery. It is especially the kvasnicove beers I have been fond of.

As usual I ordered one of the kvasnicove beers. The waiter told me that perhaps I should try another beer, Eliška. This is a Christmas beer produced by the Polička brewery. I followed his recommendation and ordered the seasonal beer.

That was a right choice. Eliška was a revelation. This black beer with a medium sized head and nearly no carbonation was excellent. I liked its notes of caramel and licorice. This was a wonderful beer for the holiday season.

If you are in Prague now, I can recommend a visit to Hrom do Police to try Eliška. It is a treat!

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?

The Session: Eastern beers

It is time again for another edition of The Session. This time it is hosted by Girl Likes Beer, and our topic is "Eastern beers". As I am in Prague right now, this is an excellent topic for me. Let's quote from the announcement: "I would like you to pick your favorite beer made east form your hometown but east enough that it is already in a different country. It can be from the closest country or from the furthest. Explain why do you like this beer. What is the coolest stereotype associated with the country the beer comes from (of course according to you)? And one more thing. If you do a video or picture of the beer (not obligatory of course) try to include the flag of the country."

The Czech Republic has been somewhat of a beer mecca for me the last few years. I have tried and appriciated several Czech beers, and time and time again I travel back to the country to try some more. The Czech Republic, of course, is lagerland. The original pilsner beer, Pilsner Urquell, hails from the Czech Republic, and many of the great lagers we know worldwide are attempts to try making a local version of the Pilsner Urquell.

In The Czech Republic lagers can be found in several variants, and the last few days I have been trying kvasnicove beers. These are lagers with yeast in them, so that the fermention continues. The beers taste different to the ordinary lager variants, and I feel they are interesting to try out.

The first one I tried was the Svijany kvasnicove. I had it at the U Prince Miroslava pub in the Smichov area of Prague. It was an enjoyable beer with little carbonation. The head was extremely thick, and you could almost chew it. Tastewise it was sweet with a very yeasty feeling. It was a nice beer, but at 6% alcohol it was strong without the alcohol presence hitting you.

At the hospoda Hrom do Police in Vinohrady they sell beers from the Policka brewery. The lagers are available both in a normal version and as a kvasnicove. I tried the 12° lager beer and was introduced to a cloudy beer with a big and lasting head. Tastewise it was an interesting beer with yeast notes and hops very pronounced. The aftertaste had a lot of melon in it, and I felt this was a more interesting beer than the Svijany kvasnicove.

The third kvasnicove I have tried so far is from Budvar. It was tried out at the Budvarka restaurant in the Dejvice area of Prague. This was a clear, golden lager with a big head that was nowhere as filling as the Svijany one. Tastewise it loses to both Policka and Svijany. Budvar's offer is an ordinary lager beer with nice bitterness, a great hoppy bite and some sweetness. In all, it is a nice beer, but it is not the best kvasnicove I have tried. But then again; I have only tried three of them!