E-Malt.com News article: The Czech Republic: More and more small breweries entering the Czech market

A phenomenon brewing in the Czech beer industry, particularly around Prague, has upstart small breweries carving out their own niches in the local marketplace. Much like the microbrew craze that began expanding across the United States starting in the 1980s, new beers are making headway in a country long dominated by much larger brands, according to Prague Post.

In the past few years, Břevnovský Pivovar in Prague and Únětický Pivovar just outside the city have revamped old breweries left empty following the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, creating some of the best Czech lagers in the country. Other small and mid-size breweries are also making their mark.

Although tiny in comparison to the larger breweries like Pilsner Urquell and Staropramen, these startups are brewing at full capacity, just to keep up with the constantly increasing demand.

While the fuss around the new beers is more of a complement to than competition for the big brewers — there are already 90 styles of beer in a country that relishes its reputation as the top consumer of beer per capita in the world — it does breathe new life into the local beer scene, say bar owners and customers.

Despite being new to present-day imbibers, most of the breweries can date their history back hundreds of years, and everyone seems to agree that the main goal is to carry on the Czech history of brewing from the best quality ingredients employing traditional methods.

One of the best examples of a brewery trying to expand the taste buds of local beer drinkers is Břevnovský Pivovar. The newest brewery in Prague (at least for the time being) is located in the old stables of a Czech monastery.

It made 4,000 hectoliters last year, about the same capacity the historic brewery had by the time it closed in 1949. Its managers hope to raise production to 10,000 hl this year. Břevnovský Pivovar is currently brewing six different beers, including an IPA and a stout.

The Únětický Pivovar brewery located in a small town along the Vltava River some 7 kilometers outside of Prague was founded in 1710 and beer was brewed until 1949, when the brewery was nationalized.

Sixty-two years later, in the spring of 2011, however, investors managed to restore the brewery's production line. Today Únětice produces 10- and 12-degree beer and sometimes Únětický special, an unfermented brew.

Dan Kuntz, co-owner of Únětice, says just a few years ago his investor group had no idea what it was doing. The owners were driving around in a car to pubs and bringing regular customers back to the brewery to try their beer. Today Únětice can barely keep up with demand and vets potential customers closely. Given capacity concerns, the brewery is quite selective about the bars that are allowed to sell their beer.

Now more small beers are entering the marketplace. While most pubs in Prague serve the big brands, some local bar owners are taking notice of the new beers.

Tommy Poole, the proprietor of Bar No. 7 near the National Theater in Prague, said the popularity of microbreweries in recent years proves that the best beer culture in the world isn’t stale.

“Beer is part of everyday life in the Czech Republic, it's exciting to watch the growing number of delicious alternatives appearing on the market,” Poole said. “I think both Czechs and expats have started to embrace microbreweries as they offer a more personalized approach to beer which often results in an improved taste.”

Poole recently switched from a larger distributor to Únětický Pivovar because, he said, he received outstanding feedback from many beer drinkers and bar owners he spoke with while researching beer suppliers.

“I was impressed by how much they cared about their product and by their exceptional customer service. I thought they fit what we were trying to achieve at Bar No.7,” Poole said.

Microbreweries here are defined as having a capacity of 10,000 hl or less. Anything above that is a small industrial brewery. A large brewery is one that produces more than 200,000 hectolitres.

Most beer experts here agree that there is room for all.

“Broadly speaking, the big breweries make incredibly high-quality products: you can’t fault most of the internationally owned breweries in the Czech Republic for quality. But they need to appeal to the largest possible group of consumers — not too aromatic, not too bitter, not too strong, not too much character,” said Evan Rail, who has written several books on beer.

“As far as I can tell, what’s happening is that the domestic market isn’t growing: the Czech Republic has a relatively flat population level,” Rail said. “The little growth that is happening is in charismatic, flavorful beers. Those don't have to come from small breweries, but they often do.”

Another beer writer, Max Bahnson, said all breweries, big and small, use mostly local ingredients and there is room for all to co-exist peacefully.

“You have the gastro pub chains of the big brewers, you have the brewpubs, the multi-tap pubs, the old-school pubs where especially regional brands are having a stronger presence,” he said.

“Then you have the cafés and other independent, trendy places, and this is where smaller brewers have been quite successful,” he added.” They are taking over a market that the bigger brewers were never too interested in.”


20 November, 2013