At one time, it was said that America conquered the world with Coca Cola and maybe the same is happening with beer?
For several years now, Britain has seen an increase in the number of breweries producing American beer styles, closely followed by Scandinavia and Italy. Gradually Spain too has followed suit. Take Malaga, in southern Spain. The city could boast a few fairly decent bars with some decent beer but in the last three years the number has increased substantially, including some brewpubs. Take the latest venture by Heineken who, in conjunction with the local San Miguel operation, have opened a massive modern brewpub called La Fabrica. Savis Craft Brewery also has a tap room in the city. Both breweries’ beers are heavily influenced by the America style with IPAs, APAs and Pales dominating the beer list. This is also true of most of the beers stocked by Malaga’s beer bars including the ‘craft’ Spanish beers available.
But not all countries are following this ‘party line’. A recent event at the Czech Embassy showed a country that, while embracing imported hops, was proud of its traditional brewing heritage that comes from being the birth place of Pilsner and pale lager. Their aim is to promote Czech beer to British beer drinkers.
Just as the French feel about their wine, the Czech Embassy representatives were equally knowledgeable of their beer, “The nineteenth century was our golden age but unfortunately there are now many beers that do not reflect the traditional style. We look for a good robust balance of malt and hops. Decoction mashing* and slow, cold maturation for eight to ten weeks is what makes a Bohemian beer unique.”
This traditional approach has been adopted by a growing number of new Czech brewers. Like most parts of the world, the country has seen the emergence of small brewers, which now number around 400. Many are committed to quality and are using triple decoction and some are using open fermenters, creating a new generation of Bohemian lager. To support them, the Czech Beer Alliance has been formed. Traditional does not however mean standing still; every year, the Czech Republic launches two or three new varieties of hop.
As always, getting to market can be a challenge but Budvar are offering six or seven taps for local breweries in their outlets and the Czech Tourism organisation has begun promoting beer holidays from cycle tours to beer festivals. If only the UK authorities showed as much support for our British brewing heritage!
If you are interested in finding out more about the holidays, visit www.czechtourism.com.
Christine Cryne
*A method to conduct multi-mashing by removing some malt, boiling it and returning to the mash tun.