The Czech Republic is a most interesting place to visit. Besides being the birthplace of the original pilsner - Pilsner Urquell- in 1842 and home to the world’s finest Saaz hops, it contains some of the most beautiful castles and churches in Europe. The country was one of the few European areas that wasn’t extensively bombed during WWII, and buildings from as far back as 1400 AD are still standing. Dating from the Romanesque era and including the Middle Ages and the Renasissance period, all architectural styles are represented, co-existing in harmony.

Prague is also the home of two of the oldest operating breweries - U Fleku Brewery (founded in1499) and U Medvidku Brewery (1466). We spent a week in Prague with trips to Plzen in the southwest and tours through the original underground cellars with wooden tanks at Pilsener Urquell brewery. Another trip to the south included a visit to the renaissance city, castle and brewery at Cesky Krumlov and the Budweiser Budvar Brewery at Ceske Budejovice. The original Budweiser (not the USA lager) is still cellared for a full three months and the brewery is owned by the state. We were most fortunate to have as our tour guides personal brewing friends of Miroslav Prazak of Joe White Maltings -Tamworth, from which we purchase all our malted barley for James Squire. I thoroughly enjoyed getting reacquainted with some of the finest richly hopped pilsners in the world. These are the same ones of course that James Squire Pilsener beat to receive our Gold Medal in the World Beer Cup in 2008 in the Bohemian-style pilsner category.

After taking the five hour train ride from Prague to Munich, the best of the Bavarian hospitality was to be enjoyed along with the inspections of the extensive brewing equipment innovations at Drinktec Exhibition. The opening parade of Oktoberfest and the first day festivities at Hofbrauhaus tent were highlights. The first lagers in the world were brewed by two brewers in Germany who had isolated a lager-style yeast from a Bavarian monastery in 1840 and took that same yeast to Plzen in 1842.

Following a direct flight from Frankfurt to Denver, Colorado, I began the four days of beer judging activities (3362 beers in 78 categories from 495 breweries) at the Great American Beer Festival. Over the three evening sessions, over 40,000 people enjoyed the 2400 beers available for tasting. I have found that this is the best week of the year for innovative thinking and explorations of the latest in flavoursome brews. Using knowledge gained here, I can discuss with our skilled team of mad brewers at Malt Shovel our visions for new ales.

Cheers,
Chuck Hahn
Brewmaster