Day Five in Prague

A friend from Pilsen was coming into Prague to drink beer so we agreed to meet at Restaurace Sladovna, which acts as a tap room for Pivovar Cviknov

 

They had a 8º and I haven't see to many of these this trip so I ordered one.

It was definitely on the buttery side, just within my personal limit. Five standard beers on tap plus one special. I didn't ask about it as I had a feeling we wouldn't stay.

Ryan arrived and orders a small of the 10º and it was an undrinkable butter bomb. Now some people have a lower tolerance for diacetyl (and some can't taste it at all) so you should judge for yourselves. 

We hopped a tram to check out Žlutá Pumpa, a Mexican restaurant that reportedly had some interesting beers.

As we approached I saw a big Kamenice umbrella so I ordered the Kameice 10º. It was in good shape.

An interesting tidbit -- Kamenice uses different glasses for their 10º and 12º beers. The 12º comes in the traditional more squat mug.

Five beers on tap. The Rychtář 11º Grunt is not a bad beer for a more industrial brewery but the beer list wasn't as varied as I'd hoped. 

I ordered some tacos as a snack, In their fairness, they were available as the more traditional soft style but I went for the crunchy option. They were fairly decent, much better than I expected.

A couple doors from Žlutá Pumpa is Kaiser Franz Beer and Burger. Last time I was here they had a very tasty 8º but no such luck today.

I ordered the U Váčků 11⁰ and it was good but also a bit on the buttery side for me. A Czech friend once said complaining about butter in Czech beer was like complaining about hops in California beers. He has a point, I guess.

Ryan had to check into is room and his friend Marko (who lives in Prague) had joined us, so Marko and I headed to catch the tram to the next top.

On the way we passed a hole-in-the-wall pub called "Pink Floyd Cafe" with a chalk board listing two beers. Marko thought they were worth trying so we went it.

One was the Herold 11º -- I generally like the Herold beers but don't remember having the 11º. It was nice.

Marko had the other the Prdek from Na Perlíčku. It was really good -- Marko got the better deal (in fairness, we did share).

There was some sort of private  party about to start so we finished our beers and headed for the tram and soon were at Galerie Piva, a bottle shop with 5 taps to drink on site.

That Blitzgkrieeg is showing up everywhere.

If you've been paying attention, you know that I ordered the Sibeeria Patronus 10º.

Marko had the Estonian Watermelon Gose -- I had a taste and it actually wasn't too bad. I am a purist when it comes to Gose and most of the "craft" ones I've had are a nasty sour covered up with tons of sweet fruit syrup. But this tasted like the brewer knew Gose -- I'm not sure I could have identified watermelon as the fruit, it was so subtle.

A short walk away was our next stop, Lya Beer Cafe.  They opened about 3 years ago. When I visited then they were just getting started but had lots of promise.

They have five beers on tap.

Of course, I had the Chroust Jura. Very nice, it was. The outside sign had listed Oud Beersel Kreikenlambic and that one would have temped me.

Some Cantillion in the fridge. Remember that the Czech koruna is about 23 to the US dollar so these are decent prices.

We were behind schedule and decided to skip our next stop  and head to Valhalla Beer Club.

I had expected lots of Nordic style beers but basically it was a tap just you'd find at any "Craft" beer bar in town, except where it was brewed

I order the Vin Golden Ale and it was nice.

Ryan ordered the Amager IPA and it was much darker than I'd expect and was an undrinkable sour mess. Since I know Amager doesn't brew beers like that I assumed something got into the keg. Ryan sent it back and there removed it from the bill but there was more pushback than I liked. They also brought him the wrong replacement beer (he ordered the Golden Ale after tasting mine)

We had booked at table for 8pm at Hostomická Nalévárna, so I headed there while Ryan and Marko check out an Italian restaurant they had heard about.

I started off with the Fabián 10⁰ and there was a little butter in the finish but not at all objectionable and much less than the other "buttery" beers I'd had today.

I ordered some Utopenec to go with it. They had run out of bread and the tapper (Micheal) had called a regular who had reservation to bring some with them. 

After that, it as the 12º for the test of the night, with a shot of Becherovka as a final explanation point.