Beer World Tour - Prague & Vienna
Recently I had the opportunity to go on an educational to Europe (stay tuned if you are interested in road safety, business development and sales in future hubs). Each night my colleagues and I would head out to the local bars and restaurants to try the local tipples (drinks!).
My beer adventure throughout Prague and Vienna starts here! In future hubs I'll also write about the beer I tried in Holland and the UK, but now for the first installment...the beer of Prague & Vienna!
Prague Beers
Apparently the Czech Republic has over 280 beer labels for one to try. Unfortunately I only had 3 days to try as much as possible.
The main two beers are Budvar & Pilsner Urquell. The Urquell sales team seem to have been more effective that the Budvar team as Urquell signs are everywhere across the city. You can even go the the Urquell experience near the Charles Bridge on the way to the Castle. The great thing about the shop is if you buy a glass or a mug you get to have free beer!
One tip for travellers is to get a bit off the beaten track to enjoy very cheap beer. In the main tourist areas a 500ml glass of Budvar will cost Kr90 ($5) each, whereas the same beer (and sometimes even better) will cost Kr39 ($2) each for the same amount. Worth scouting the back streets to find real pubs that locals frequent rather than the tourist traps.
One thing that I truly love is that everytime a beer is served it is served in a glass that has the label or brand of the brewer on it. This rarely happens in Australia and it is a nice touch.
So without further ado, here's my beer journey!
Austrian Beers
The next stop was a quick overnight stay in Vienna. After concluding the meetings for the day we ventured out into the city to find a Vienna Schnitzel...which was huge & delicious. Once finished we ended the day with a walk through the city centre and then as thirst hit us we found a local bar to spend a very warm evening drinking and chatting.
Vienna that day was 35 degree celcius and they went to 38 degrees the next day...perfect for trying local beers. Once again the beer was served in 500ml glasses and costr around USD$6 for a glass (4 euros).
That's All!
That's the end of part one - the beers of Prague and Vienna that I tried over a few days in late June 2012.
I hope you enjoyed the summaries and maybe it has inspired you to find a few of these to try at you local bottleshop...or even better to jump on a plane to enjoy these beers (and many others) in these beautiful cities.
Cheers Michael
