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In this week's Business News: the Czech crown is continuing a remarkable slide; the Finance Ministry has confirmed that plans to sell off Ruzyňe Airport in Prague are being placed on ice; the leader of the main opposition party has accused the government of “doing nothing” to fight the economic woes that are facing the Czech Republic; Czech beer production fell in 2008, following record-breaking levels in 2007 and the country's chief gas provider says that renewed gas supplies from Russia via Ukraine are now fully meeting the needs of Czech

This weekend saw the opening of Christmas beer market, which offers samples of international and regional Czech specials and Christmas beers that were brewed specially for the holiday season. The event takes place at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the Centre of Prague and runs until December 22.

This week, the Czech Union of Friends of Beer (Sdružení přátel piva) announced its awards for the best beers, best breweries and the best brewmaster in the country. The title Brewmaster of the Year went to Josef Tolar, the brewing and technical director of Budějovický Budvar. In addition to that, Budvar also received an award for the best dark beer of the year. Earlier today, I spoke to Budvar’s Josef Tolar and asked him what it is that makes their beer so special:

A small Czech village has got its own little Stonehenge. The best of both: a Czech brewery produces grape beer. The Ajeto glassworks in Lindava has been asked to help produce what looks set to become the biggest carillon in the world. And, Catherine Zeta Jones comes to Prague for a shampoo ad. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

One in every four beers served in this country is a Gambrinus, made by brewer Plzeňský Prazdroj. But, in a bid to dominate the market yet further, the brewery has just unveiled a slightly stronger, 11-degree version of its bestseller, titled Gambrinus 11 Excelent. The foreign-owned brewer says it is reacting to a shift away from the 10-degree beers which have for so long been so popular in this country. I spoke to Gambrinus brand manager Jiří Rakosník to find out more. My first question was, why the upgrade?

The famous Czech brewer Plzeňský Prazdroj has launched an 11-degree version of its brand Gambrinus. A 10-degree version of Gambrinus is the Czech Republic’s best selling beer. The brewers, who make Pilsner Urquell, say they are bringing out Gambrinus Excelent to meet a growing demand for slightly stronger 11-degree lager. The new brew will cost one crown more than ordinary Gambrinus.

Do you feel like having a beer but are you too lazy to go to a pub or a supermarket? If you live in the Czech Republic all you have to do is go on-line and order beer through a specialised e-shop. Czech breweries and internet operators have recently started to explore the ways of electronic sales of beer. One of the new e-shops is the Brno-based pivodomu.cz. Ruth Fraňková spoke to one of its managers Jan Nývlt and asked him how they got the idea to launch this kind of service.

More Czechs are buying beer in cans, according to figures released by the group Beverage Can Makers Europe on Thursday. In the first half of this year the percentage of beer sold in cans doubled from 1.7 to 3.5. Forty-eight percent of all beer sold was on draught, with 46 percent sold in bottles. Beverage Can Makers Europe said they were optimistic there would be a significant increase in the amount of beer sold in cans, pointing out that the Czech Republic is some way behind most other countries in this respect. In neighbouring Slovakia, for instance, the percentage of beer sold in cans is four times as high as here.

The Czech investment and construction company Ross Holding has announced plans to build and operate a new brewery in Chotěboř near Havlíčkův Brod, with a yearly output of 10 to 25 thousand hectolitres. The new facility will be the first brewery built from scratch since the establishment of Radegast in the 1970s. If everything goes according to plan, production of the new Czech beer brand should start next summer.

In this week's Business News - The Czech Republic has seen a decline in mortgage loans by a fifth according to top banks operating in the country; new data from the Czech Agriculture Ministry along with the Hopsteiner Company indicates that the Czech Republic was the 16th largest beer producer in the world in 2007...