April 1st,
2015
Hello everyone!
Easter holidays. Spring. A time when flowers starts to bloom
and snow...continues to fall. No, that’s not an April fool. The first two days of
April in the Czech Republic saw a deluge of the white stuff crash from the sky.
Just the kind of weather that makes most people want to stay inside…
But not me! It’s the holidays, which means adventure time. A
desire to save for a bigger, more extreme trip in the summer has meant that I’m
staying put in Prague for the majority of our two-week break. However, there
was one day trip which I could easily justify. The Czech Republic’s spiritual
home of the amber nectar it is famed for across the globe. A pilgrimage to
Plzen.
The country’s fourth-largest city is often referred to in
negative terms; an industrial cesspit when compared to other, prettier towns in
the area such as Karlovy Vary. The weather, a swirl of bitter wind and driving
rain/snow, didn't help to dismiss this notion.
It is famous for two things, both of which are visible
around the Czech Republic. It is the home of the Škoda Engineering Works (you may
know their cars) and is also the original, undisputed source of Pilsner beer,
which is one of most commonly copied types of the product across the world.
Chances are you will have tried a pilsner beer at some
point, though not necessarily a Czech variety. It is a type of pale lager which
is the basis of many popular European beers, including Heineken, Beck’s and
Stella Artois. We were told that 70% of all beer manufactured is derived from
the ‘pilsner’ idea. The original recipe, created on October 5th,
1842, is for that of Pilsner Urquell, created in…Plzen!
The main reason to visit Plzen is thus to take a tour of the
famous brewery (known in Czech as Plzenský Prazdroj) on the edge of town. A
slight lack of planning and definite lack of signposts meant it was actually
harder to find than anticipated, to the point that we were too late to get on
the first English-spoken tour of the day. In hindsight, this was a good thing,
as it allowed us to see Plzen’s main square and large church; more importantly,
it allowed us to have lunch and line our stomachs. Oh, and try a Pilsner from
Plzen, of course.
The tour itself takes in the history of brewing in the area
(lots of people, lots of recipes, all combined together like a modern-day
BandAid to make one killer recipe) and the importance of Joseph Groll, the
brewery’s first leader who commissioned the first batch of Pilsner Urquell in
1842.
The tour is surprisingly impressive, fun yet informative at
the same time. Some of the numbers thrown at you as you walk through
machine-led packaging blocks are mind-boggling: 60,000 bottles per hour, the
potential to produce in excess of one million
litres of the amber nectar over a 24 hour period, and so on. We felt a bit
sorry for the one aspect of the packaging which wasn’t controlled solely by
machine, a man staring at thousands of recycled green bottles crawling along a
conveyor belt and removing any damaged beer holders. 9,999 green bottles,
sitting on a wall…
The tour wasn't just a case of walking around and being bombarded with facts; it included a short film (during which you are rotated 180˚ and don’t really notice), the chance to taste different buds of barley and studying microorganisms. These are combined with the water (Plzen’s water is ‘good quality’ apparently) and, over a five to six week period, ferment and mature to create the beer.
The final, most anticipated part of touring the brewery
takes place in the damp, chilly cellar, which is 32,000 km2 in area
and has numerous dark tunnels. Though it used to house 10,000 oak barrels, it
is now almost exclusively used to impress tourists. In the cellar is where you
get to try Pilsner Urquell’s most natural beer. Unfiltered and unpasteurised
(most beers tick neither of these boxes as they would go off very quickly):
delicious.
This was a whistle-stop tour to Plzen, specifically a
journey around its most famous export. I'm sure Plzen would seem nicer in
sunnier, warmer weather. However, if the result of this is to enjoy and savour
more Pilsner Urquell from its original source, I'm more than happy for it to
keep snowing. Na zdravi!
Love you all
Matt
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