So we headed over to the Czech Republics second city of Pilzen. Home of one of my favorite beers, 'Pilsner Urquell'. We took a train which dated from the era of Lenin I think, but we passed through some beautiful countryside of rolling hills. There was a tour in English which we made it in time for and it was very well done. Now, we have been to lots of breweries, but this might have been the best tour ever. There was a very informative guide who told us of all the history, and walked us around the factory catwalk showing us the bottling and canning process. A bus took us around to different parts of the factory and their was a little museum of relics, as well as a video presentation and just everything you could want in a brewery tour.
Now this place is unique for several reasons. It is home to the first Pilsner ever made. Beer before this was all of the thick stout variety (think traditional English beer). Also even though it is a couple of hundred years old, in the modern era we have only had access to this beer in the West for less than twenty years. All those years it spent behind the iron curtain only Eastern Europeans and Cubans got this, how sad. Well, now it is one of the largest breweries in the world and some of the best beer the world has ever produced is now available to everyone.
Towards the end we were led down into the cellars to taste some beer. Now there are over 9KM of underground tunnels and cellars, but after the advent of refregeration they don't need these cellars to keep the beer cold (they just use chillers on ground level). They still make some beer in the original wooden casks and keep them in the cellars just to taste test them with the modern production methods to make sure they are still on par. Now the beer we got to drink is not available anywhere else. It is unfiltered and unpasturized and simply delicious. I even got to pour my beer myself and was complimented on the fact that I poured it correctly (hey I have drank some beer and know what I am doing here people). Our guide loved this beer too and it was all she could do to not drink several pints since she had things to do later that day. Well, we are not under these constraints and so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the brewpub. Eating salty Czech cheese and pretzels and drinking Pilsner Urquell. This was a singular experience and completely enjoyable. Maybe Pilzen will be the new Prauge.
