PragueBuzz!

A little while ago I caught some news reports on the local Czech news saying that the over priced wine that is being sold here from other countries is more like cooking wine for them, and it would be best to stick to Czech wines as you would get far better quality and value than the imported variety.

Sure quality wine from other countries would cost a fortune for the average Czech person, yet I felt that there was some bias to this report and I decided to go on my own, to explore the cornucopia of wines, take a tour of the globe, why not, since it is so nicely laid out in my local Hypernova. Every time I walk down this path of tranquility I am constantly amazed, and this is nothing compared to the next isle over which is just beer, and that…well, that’s just another story. Nearly twenty countries are represented, thousands and thousands of bottles and I knew that this trip around the world would be well worth the effort. I might just have to go around twice.

With a quick google of ‘alcohol’ and ’safe’ I come across the Patient UK website and they say that it is quite healthy for me to consume a half a bottle of wine a day, and so I say cheers to that and where is the bottle. I am way under my quota and I have to keep healthy. The website along with many other things also mention the older you are the more you can drink, now that is something I can relate too. Wine has become a mood thing for me, red wine is little different than white, white makes me dance, and red wine lets me truly see how gorgeous and how sweet my wife really is. You see, with married life being new to me I recently realized how drinking and sports have suddenly increased, something I never really paid much attention to. And so for this I have to thank Hathor - the Greek goddess of wine and intoxication for easing me into married life and with that I raise a toast.

Having forayed into this jungle of wines I have decided that I’m not going to become a wine connoisseur and I don’t want to pretend to be one. I just want to find a drinkable wine, it’s all I can ever hope for when I open a bottle and take the first sip. I hate experiencing this ‘let down’ feeling, making me want to throw the bottle against the wall. To me this is what bad wind is good for, Art Nouveau, to be thrown against the wall and watch it explode into all sorts of shards so I can take a moment to admire delineations on the wall, a fate that should belong to all bad wines.
Now sometimes I just can’t do that and I have to force it down, because I am aiming for a better Nálada, and of course an easier understanding of the feminine consciousness. Oh wine …where would I be without you, probably uptight and alone in some room trying to understand the difference between algorithms and the intricate patterns of a leaf. Thank goodness for wine that I’m not doing that.
I am willing to wager that 3/4 of the population is attributed to the spirit, and so that I make a toast as well, the drink of the gods, yet one must be careful not to venture into the excess as alcoholism, a scary word for some, has not only sparked the mood to create many a life, but as well destroyed a few and in that essence of delving into the understanding of the two, creation and destruction. I raise another toast.
Now back to my wine tour. All the majors were represented; France, California, Australia, Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, South Africa, Chile and a few more. I started with the ones that hover around 70 crowns ($3.50) and so far I would admit that the Chilean wine is the most drinkable, and the Italian wine is not bad as well. As for the Czech wine, their representation was an isle and a half and the rest of the world just one side. When I first move to the CR I did what any foreigner would do, risk all for adventure and explore the country the are in by eating the food and delving in the local alcohol, (Slivovic) and I found that the Czech wine had so much flavour, such quality, that sometimes they were hard to swallow and so instead of working at trying to acquire a taste for the wine. I went back to the tried and trusted. The preferred watered down crap of the cheap foreign wines. I will eventually delve into the fascinating selection the Czech wines once I thoroughly explored the rest of the World. It just means I will have to refine the palette, work out the taste buds in order to appreciate the vast and fine selection of the Czech wines. Now where is that amazing Czech cream cheese that works so well with my wine?

Richard Havlik

Technorati Tags: Czech, Czech Republic, Prague, PragueBuzz, Wine, Living, Lifestyle

On my first sip, I take a moment to admire the nice label, as well how the decent size beer fits nicely in the hand. I like these half litre sizes, it kind of tucks in the North American variety for the night and stands out just that much more. On the second sip I have to say I like Zlatopramen. It goes well with my lunch of European wieners, rye bread and amazing mustard, that the Czech’s seem to be quite good at as well. I wanted to keep drinking this beer, the flavour gave me sort of a twisting sensation, and I’m not sure whether it was the taste or there was finally some alcohol in my system, regardless it makes me want to drink more and when a beer does that it has to be good. The colour has brilliant gold appearance with a pleasant bitterness that just lingers on the tongue. I will have to add it to one my finalists in the search for a great beer.

The beer originates in 1642 and it doesn’t seem like bad year to get things going as I contemplate this luxurious beer. ‘Zlato’ means Gold, and it does have a sort of Golden taste, if there is such a thing, and it did inspire me to have another drink. “Pramen” the other half of the name means the source or spring of water. It would be fair to guess I may have found the source of Golden flavour, but I will have to get back to you on that because It is way to early to have ended my search and the sad thing is that I only bought one.

Richard Havlik

Technorati Tags: PragueBuzz, Beer, Czech, Zlatopramen

“Anheuser-Busch cannot sell beer under the brand name Budweiser in Portugal, the highest chamber of Europe’s human rights court ruled, in the latest round of a global legal battle between the U.S.
beer giant and Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar.”

and the battle continue…

[via realbeer]

Technorati Tags: PragueBuzz, Beer, Budvar, Budweiser

I have about seven pubs to choose from, all relatively close to where I live, why I go to the farthest one beats me. Could be a number of reasons, but mostly likely the place is just little more open, less smoky and the bar maids just that much sweeter, also it’s right next to the grocery store. I always enjoy popping in for a beer or two, just before I buy my loaf of rye bread, which is pretty good at that, but that is another story and this one is about beer.

In my new watering hole, located in Zabreh, Ostrava in the Czech Republic they have two beers here on tap. One is Radegast, a light beer coming in at twelve - degrees, A little stronger than the ten - degrees. And the other is Kozel a darker beer. It is always good to know when you want, a desítka (10-degrees) or a dvanáctka (12-degree beer), it all depends if you are there for a good session of beer tasting. And it is something that many do here, as the Czechs are breaking records in that department. Are the Czech’s proud of this new knowledge of beer consumption? The ones I have met are not really sure what to make of it, but in any regards there is always toast to it whenever it comes up.

I have to say that I prefer draft beer over the bottled variety, especially if the taps are clean and the beer is fresh. The carbonation is a true delight to behold. I love how it tingles off the tongue and starts to play to the sensation of senses, as I tune into the beer before me and contemplate it deliciousness. It’s the addiction to carbonation that has a hold of me, but really it is the taste I truly strive for, that marvelous flavour that helps me put one foot in front of the other, wakes me up in the morning and helps me see a brighter future. Ah, what would I do with out beer, living has to be about experiencing all the possibilities of beer, I could go on and on, but this is just a few words about one beer, and a good one off the tap at that….ah…nothing like taking in the beauty of that golden colour and reveling in the moment, as it plays to the strings of the heart. It’s like dancing under the moon on clear night sky, it’s all there, in that moment of joy. It’s an epiphany I have in the perfection of carbonation and taste coming together. I hover in that moment, in anticipation of that very first sip of the nectar like beverage, admiring it’s golden hue and respecting its aura like a I would a Czech beauty walking by, all ending with that a pay off that is well worth the indulgence.

Note the score card on the right in the beer I am about to enjoy is there to keep track of the beer I consume. Every time a beer is placed, one mark on the slip of paper. Something all beer parlors could adopt. A great bartender never lets you have an empty glass, always putting a full one down before you have a chance to look around and wonder when the next beer will come.

Now Radegast seems to be the big beer here in Northern Moravia, and it truly deserves to have a great following. It is nice light beer, with just a slight aftertaste. The kind of beer that you can take a huge swallow and let the sweetness flow down the throat without being troubled with too much after taste. It is a sweet beer, with just a hint of bitterness, that easy to get use to. It is my beer of choice after Budvar, if they happen to have it on tap. Yet it is hard to be fair, when there is so much good beer here. I have only just started and each day opens a new book, and a new bottle. My newly discovered mission will take me from countryside to countryside and I will have to be careful in my praise. Since I’m new here in the Czech Republic, the adventure has only started and rumour has it that there could be over three to four hundred beers to explore. Someone pinch me quick, and here comes another beer, and you know…..I didn’t even ask.

By Richard Havlik

Technorati Tags: Beer, Czech Republic, PragueBuzz, Radegast