As you may recall from Blog #10 this past shipment from the Microbrew Beer of the Month club was international in flavor. We already reviewed the French offering from Alsace which was very Belgian in style. Today we consider the other beer from the grouping, a Czech beer.
The brew comes to us from a small brewery in the Czech Republic, Havlickuv Brod, which is named after the town of the same name. Brewing in the Czech Republic goes back more than a thousand years. The town of Havlickuv Brod has had breweries at least as far back as the 13th century. This specific brewery dates back to the late 19th century. The beer featured this month actually had been brewed by another brewery, Hradec Kralove. That establishment went out of business however, but Havlickuv Brod was able to take over and preserve some of their offerings. The beer in question is a Pale Double Bock from the Lev Lion line of beers from the old Kralove brewery.
It will seem quite familiar to anyone who has drunk more ubiquitous Czech beers such as the famous Pilsener Urquell. The color is indeed a pale gold with plenty of head. The taste is on the light side with a touch of bitterness. There is a slight prickly sensation on the palate. The flavor has hints of a grassy or herbaceous quality. The sensations, aromas and taste seem very similar to just about every Czech beer I have ever tasted in my life.
So basically with all due apologies to those master brewers from one of the cradles of brewing, this is nothing special. It is pleasant enough but tastes to me like too many imported beers built to travel. I give it 6 mugs out of 10 because while nothing to write home about, as mentioned above, it is drinkable and pleasant. Just not good enough to go out of your way for, certainly not to travel all the way to the Czech Republic. I'd rather have a nice summer lager from a local brew.
And I nudged it up to a 6 due to the history of Czech brewing and my brother lives in the Czech Republic. Who said nepotism was dead?
The brew comes to us from a small brewery in the Czech Republic, Havlickuv Brod, which is named after the town of the same name. Brewing in the Czech Republic goes back more than a thousand years. The town of Havlickuv Brod has had breweries at least as far back as the 13th century. This specific brewery dates back to the late 19th century. The beer featured this month actually had been brewed by another brewery, Hradec Kralove. That establishment went out of business however, but Havlickuv Brod was able to take over and preserve some of their offerings. The beer in question is a Pale Double Bock from the Lev Lion line of beers from the old Kralove brewery.
It will seem quite familiar to anyone who has drunk more ubiquitous Czech beers such as the famous Pilsener Urquell. The color is indeed a pale gold with plenty of head. The taste is on the light side with a touch of bitterness. There is a slight prickly sensation on the palate. The flavor has hints of a grassy or herbaceous quality. The sensations, aromas and taste seem very similar to just about every Czech beer I have ever tasted in my life.
So basically with all due apologies to those master brewers from one of the cradles of brewing, this is nothing special. It is pleasant enough but tastes to me like too many imported beers built to travel. I give it 6 mugs out of 10 because while nothing to write home about, as mentioned above, it is drinkable and pleasant. Just not good enough to go out of your way for, certainly not to travel all the way to the Czech Republic. I'd rather have a nice summer lager from a local brew.
And I nudged it up to a 6 due to the history of Czech brewing and my brother lives in the Czech Republic. Who said nepotism was dead?
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