Related articles

One of the Czech Republic’s best-selling beers has just revealed an unusual marketing stunt. Its producers “set up” a bogus microbrewery supplying purported craft lager – only to announce that the brew had been their Gambrinus all along. The reason: A bid to improve the reputation of a brew many regard as bland.

Twenty years ago no self-respecting beer drinker in the Czech Republic would be seen dead swigging beer from a can. There was a widespread perception that bottled beer is superior and beer in cans loses its quality, tasting flat and acquiring a metallic tang. That is fast changing and breweries are expanding their packaging capacities to meet growing demand for canned beer.

The makers of the Czech beer Gambrinus have admitted to selling it under a fake microbrewery brand in order to help improve its reputation. Producers Plzeňský pivovar set up the bogus Patron microbrewery in a village in West Bohemia and began supplying the purported craft lager to specialised pubs in Prague and Plzeň. Revealing the unusual marketing step, Plzeňský pivovar said it had been taken because Gambrinus had begun to receive a bad name despite its high quality.

The eighth annual Czech Beer Festival gets underway in Prague on Thursday. Over 150 Czech-produced draft beers will be served during the 17-day event, which this year takes place on a 4,000 square metre area at the city’s Letná Plain. The festival has a capacity of 4,000, organisers say.

Czechs boast a long and rich brewing tradition which they have often shared with the rest of the world. Czech-built breweries now exist in countries such as Georgia, Ukraine, South Africa and Vietnam. But one Czech firm has ventured to a country few would associate with a love of lager: North Korea. The Hradec Králové-based ZVU POTEZ last year built a micro-brewery in North Korea’s special economic zone of Rason, and now hopes the deal will lead to more opportunities in the deeply repressive country. I spoke to the firm’s commercial director Martin

The Czech Republic continues to have the highest beer consumption per head in the world. However, the domestic market has stagnated and only an increase in exports prevented Czech breweries from recording a fall in total production in 2014, according to figures just released by the Czech Brewing and Malting Association.

Three bottles with beer believed to be over a hundred years old were found during a reconstruction of a brewery in the village of Záhlinice in the south Moravian region of Kroměříž. The brewery was closed down in 1926 but experts say the bottles probably date back to between 1900 and 1910, judging by the use of a specific type of stopper. The Research Institute of Brewing and Malting will now open the bottles and analyse their content, hoping to make some new discoveries about the ingredients.

The craft beer market, which is a fairly recent phenomenon in the Czech Republic, is experiencing a major boom. The number of small breweries is coming close to 300 and last year their overall production rose by 30 percent.

An American’s perspective on how beer and pub culture signifies the collective spirit of Czech society. This foodie travels to the land where beer is cheaper than water, and investigates the culinary culture of a land far different than her own.

In Business News this week: Czech Export Bank renews euro loans for exports to Russia; Tatra Trucks sign memorandum for supply of parts to India; President set to become first owner of new-generation Škoda Superb; breweries Radegast and Krušovice win UK’s International Brewing Awards; and spirits producer Rudolf Jelínek to enlarge orchards in Chile.