Related articles

It’s something of a Czech tradition: fans of Czech beer Plzeňský Prazdroj (Pilsner Urquell) debating which pubs have the best Pilsner on tap. Now the debate may see a little “closure”. On Monday the famous brewer launched a flashy new guidebook ranking the best Pilsner-serving establishments. Interestingly, the book is based on rankings not by professional critics but by regular pub-goers.

A Czech scientist has contributed to a unique discovery –how migrating monarch butterflies use body clocks to find their way. The Prazdroj brewery has produced a “beer bible” for bar-tenders and a discarded statue of Lenin which formerly stood in a small town in Czechoslovakia has sparked a storm of controversy in France. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

In Business News this week: state-owned brewer Budvar will probably not be privatised during the term of the current government, says the minister of agriculture; top managers at ČEZ are set to take home phenomenal amounts under a share option incentive scheme; with a rise in the number of second-hand autos imported, some are suggesting the Czech Republic is Europe’s car graveyard; ČT24 will soon begin broadcasts from the Prague Stock Exchange; and the Czech makers of a hit computer game are bought out by a US firm.

In Business News this week: energy giant CEZ buys a 7% share in Hungary’s MOL and raises its profit estimate by 1.2 billion crowns; Czech Airlines agrees to sell its catering business; Skoda Auto wins Exporter of the Year award; Starbucks is coming to the Czech Republic in early 2008; and Czech beer output is set to finally cross the 20 million hectolitre mark.

In Mailbox this week: Radio Prague’s winter broadcast schedule leaflet; response to Magazine and a feature about Czech glass. Listeners quoted: Jonathan Murphy, George Derringer, Lola Hamrayeva, Helmut Matt.

The Czech government approved an updated convergence programme for euro adoption, but still no target date in sight; The Czech National Bank board raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.5 percent and Czechs are making more money - the average wage in the Czech Republic is up by 7.6% year-on-year.

Our guest in this week’s edition of One on One is Pislner Urquell’s CEO Mike Short (61). Mr Short, originally a nuclear engineer, joined the South African beer producer SAB Miller in 1990 after a career stretching from the aerospace division of Rolls-Royce to the submarine service of the Royal Navy. Before becoming the head of the top Czech beer producer in 2005, Mr Short was the head of a brewery in Hungary, another member of the SAB Miller group. Is the submarine service a good starting point for a career in the beer making industry? That was

Ratatouille is not only filling cinemas –it has started off a craze among Czech kids for pet rats! Wondering what the underworld looks like? The town of Jihlava organizes pre-Christmas tours of Hell. And, two adventurous Czechs travel far from their homeland to lay a sun-dial on the bed of the Red Sea. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

In Business News: with the Czech crown going below 18 to the US dollar, it is now exceedingly difficult for Czech firms to export to America; a new study finds the Czech tax system one of the most complicated and burdensome in the EU; Meinl European Land, owner of over 100 shopping centres in the Czech Republic, is expanding further; Heineken is reportedly hoping to acquire another slice of the Czech drinks market; and the country’s breweries are expecting a merry Christmas.

Dutch-based global beer giant, Heineken is seeking to acquire the Czech Republic's biggest locally owned brewery in private hands, Drinks Union, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Thursday, citing two independent sources. The paper said the deal was close to being signed. Drinks Union has refused to comment on the report. Heineken announced the acquisition of the local Krusovice brewery for an undisclosed sum in June, a move making it the third biggest brewery on the Czech market.