Marble Arch - Manchester

Time for a look at somewhere nearer home.

The Marble Arch was built at the end of the 19th Century and is now a Grade II listed building, mainly because of the glazed ceiling and the ceramic walls that can still be seen through beer sodden eyes. Anyway, enough of the boring shit.
There is a brewery at the back of the pub which brews some fantasic organic ale, namely Manchester Bitter which has been known to get John H shitfaced and the best ginger beer you'll ever taste. Probably - The Ginger Marble. Another of their favourites is Lagonda IPA and there are lalways a few beers from local breweries. Food is good but quite expensive but the main reason is to go for the beer. Unless you're a Laurel and Hardy fan. Then you can go to the Sons of the Desert film show every 3rd Wednesday of the month, courtesy of Norm.

U Fleku - Prague

This pub was founded in 1499 and the brew found there will not be found anywhere else. However I think what you have to remember is that U Fleku's legendary dark lager os simply that. A lager. The original recipe was changed over 100 years ago but the one they sell is still an excellent brew. The dark chocolaty brew almost makes it worthwhile to brave the hordes of Russians, brash Americans and false "oompah" band in the pub. Not to mention the money grabbing waiters who are permanently trying to force feed you with expensive Becherovka schnapps. Believe me though the Flekovske pivo is probably the greatest black lager style drink in the world.

Unmissable.

Pivovarsky Klub

Right. I may be a bit harsh here. But. When I've visited Prague in the past I've always visited the Pivovarsky Dum and loved the experience, although John H got the shits through eating green curry on the last visit. This time we decided to try to Klub, the sister of Dum after reading loads of good write ups. We were promised 50 brews from Belgium and Germany and the Pivovarský klub already offers great stuff: Samichlaus, the world's strongest lager, a once-discontinued Swiss legend of 14 percent alcohol now made in Austria. Dark-beer fans can find Ireland's Beamish, fruit beer fans can taste Belgium's Floris, and microbrew hunters can pick up U Medvídků's Oldgott Barrique and X30, the strongest Czech lager, weighing in at 11.8 percent alcohol.
Not only is Pivovarský klub a bar and "beer boutique" with refrigerated bottles available for take-out upstairs, but would-be brewers can even make their own lagers on site. The menu apparently includes a roasted pork koleno (knuckle) — the best-seller at Pivovarský dům — the new place also offers grilled pork, chicken and turkey steaks, all served in spacious rooms with a feel somewhere between a typical Czech pub and a high-end cocktail bar. The downstairs dining room includes a second set of taps, some surprisingly modern recessed lighting, light-wood banquettes and exposed brick arches, as well as what looks like display cases for the bottled beers. In fact, the framed beers along the walls hide reach-in refrigerators with those same bottles inside, making selection a snap — I want this one.

Unfortunately we didn't see any of this. I went for a dump, the rest had a piss and none of us had a drink because they couldn't find room for us. Wank. As it is so far away from anywhere else we wanted to be and was in a shit-hole area (Karlin in Prague 8) I doubt that I'll be back.

Kutna Hora - Czech Republic

The principal reason for visiting Kutna Hora was to see the Bone Ossuary in Sedlec but six of the party just couldn't be arsed getting their heads into gear so it was left to Norm, myself and an under the weather Chappie to venture onto the great unknown.

Another worthwhile day out because we found a beer we hadn't sampled before.

The train only took about 50 minutes although we had to change trains at Kolin. Kutna Hora is a UNESCO listed town featuring medieval streets, a museum of mining, the bone church at Sedlec, a gothic cathedral and most importantly of all, a brewery.

We couldnt; actually find the brewery although we visited the brewery tap "Dacicky". This was named after a local hero Mikulas Dacicky z Heslova who apparently loved masturbating (I've no idea why he was a local hero). This was an excellent little boozer with an extensive food menu. Norm had the Goulash and voted it the best of the trip. Yet again I settled for the meat platter. Mmmm.

Anyway back to the beer. We had the Dacicke svetle a 4.1% deep golden brew that was superb and also had the Dacicke tmave which was a deep amber malty brew. Fabulous. After the beer and food, we took a taxi to the wierd Ossuary church. Well worth a visit but we were a bit concenred about the scores of Hells Angels who seemed to be their worshipping the bones rather than realising they were visiting a church. The same could be said for the proprietors who asked all to respect the dead yet allowed thousands of visitors a year to take photographs of them.

All in all a great day trip from Prague. Go for it.

Pivovarsky Dvur -Chyne - Czech Republic

The Pivovarsky Dvur can be found 13 km to the south west from Prague. The easiest way to get there from Prague is to get the tram to Zlicin and then get a number 347 bus to the brewery. A three day transport pass cost about a tenner and this trip is covered by it.

The brewery is excellent and the beer was easily the best we tasted in the five days in the Czech Republic. They had four different ales on the day we were there so naturally we had to try them all.

The building is a reasonably large beer hall type restaurant although not in the same league as Munich for size. The beers we tried were a 10% light draught beer, a 12% half-dark lager type beer and a 14% special dark lager. The other beer was a guest from Vienna and Norm, Derek, John H and myself think we tried it in 2005 on our Slovakia trip.

The restaurant offered the normal Czech fare, pigs knees, knuckles, bollocks etc as weel as the meat and cheese platter that I took a fancy to this year.

If you're in Prague, get a ticket to Chyne, you won't regret it.

U Medvidku - Budvar Bar - Prague

We last visited this place in 2004 when it was just a bar that sold different types of Budvar and nothing else. Well it's all changed. Since then brewery, hotel and restaurant have been added to the building and very good it is too.

Not only does the U Medvidku (At the Little Bears) have a spacious beer hall to serve Budvar only (although 5 different types) it also has a brand new brewery, surprisingly next to the toilets, serving a couple of excellent new beers "Oldgott" which is a semi -dark lager and is pretty good with a thick head and a bitter sweet finish. It was a tad expensive at 48 koruna for 40cl. The price of the Bud was around 31 (just over £1). The other was called "x beer" and is allegedly the strongest beer in the world. We didn't have one of those because Towey was moaning about spending too much time in there so we left. We managed three visits and if I'm in Prague again I'll be back.

There is also a brew shop where you can buy ale and t shirts etc but I didn't bother.

Three of us sampled a meal in the restaurant next door, all of us having venison meatballs and roast potatoes. Very good value at 95 korunas. Well worth a visit and it's easy to find as it's about 50 yards from Tesco's at 7 Na Perstyne.

The search...

What to start with?

Varieties of beer

Here are a few varieties of beer among the wide range of beers that we supped over the past few beer travels
Alt: Alt beers are top fermented, dark beers from Germany. It is a malt, smooth beer with a tangy character. Alt beer is copper or amber to dark brown in color. One of Dereks' favourites -last drunk in Cologone I think.
Blanche: a Belgian wheat beer, often enriched with flavoring. It is unfiltered and is characterized by its cloudy consistency and its light, acidic taste. Another of Derek's favourites - drunk when he is particularly thirsty.
Gueuze: a Belgian Beer that is produced by mixing old and new lambic beers and is filled in Champagne bottles. I've yet to try this, but I bet it's one of Derek's favourites.
Lambic: a Belgian beer made of barley, wheat and perennial hops by quick fermentation.
Kriek: a lambic-wier in which cherries are allowed to steep for several months. The success of this fruit beer has resulted in a series of further varieties, for example, strawberry, currant and even mirabelle and banana beers. Was one of Charlies favourites - God Rest Him
Pils: this beer is named after the Czech city of Pilsen where the first pale beer was brewed with bottom fermentation.Czech pils possesses a complex but balanced malt character, a fruity hop aroma and an astringent aftertaste. Found all over Europe and a particular favourite of Mike and leedsscum
Rauchbier: smoked beer is a Bamberg specialty in which green malt is kiln-dried with beechwood fire. This gives the malt, and with that the beer, its typical smoky taste. It is dark amber to brown in color. Norm loves this.
Stout: a British beer, almost black in color, top fermented brewed with strongly roasted malt. The Irish style is very tangy and thick but not too strong, while the flavor of the English stout is sweeter and more well rounded.
Weiße/ Weizenbier: white or wheat beer is a German top fermented beer brewed with wheat and barley malt. It is golden and somewhat darker than the Belgium Blanche. Wheat beer comes yeast-free (Kristallweizen) or yeast-clouded. German wheat beer is very carbonated, moderate to light and very refreshing, which has made it a popular summer beverage. The northern version, the "Berliner Weisse" is in contrast considerably more acidic and is therefore sweetened with woodruff or raspberry syrup to compensate for the sharpness. Unsurprisingly Derek names this amongst his favourites.
Bockbier: bock beers are strong but 'rounded' in taste and are exclusively a top fermented, malt-based brew. They are gold to dark brown and malt-sweet with a defined body.
Kölsch: Kölsch is a light blond, top fermented beer. It is moderately carbonated, accented with hops but hardly bitter.
Schwarzbier: black beer is bottom fermented. It is an extremely dark, almost black beer. This beer is full-bodied, has a malt aroma and a characteristic bitter chocolate flavor. One for me, Norm and JP
Steinbier: stone beer is a German specialty brewed by a method from the dim and distant past. Very hot stones are added to the mash to bring it to a boil. Caramelized sugar forms on the stones. The stones are then returned to the new beer during the aging process to initiate a second fermentation. The beer has a smoky but sweet flavor and is golden brown. We sampled quite a quantity of this in Saltzburg a few month ago.

Haus Der 100 Biere -The House of a 100 Beers - Berlin

A group of us visited Berlin in October 2007. We stayed in Charlottenberg and one the first night we found this place just round the corner at Mommsenstrasse 45. It's right in the middle of a load of restaurants and near to an Irish bar.

The name of the bar says it all and we were never dissapointed. It's true there are 100 beers although only about 15 or 16 of these are on draught. Some of those we tried were JP's favourite, Andechs Doppelbock dunkel, Duckstein, Klostriker Schwartzbier, numerous different Pilsners, a Kolsch, Weihenstephen Hefewiessbier which was fantastic and some beers from smaller breweries whose names escape me at the moment. Theye seemed to have a weekly? beer that was selling cheaper than the others but as we spent a few nights in there I can't really remember which one was the special. The bottels beer was not just from Germany. Thre were dozens from all over the world but why the hell would anybody want to drink something from the UK or USA when the German beer was so good
The staff are young girls with a good knowledge of English and some knowledge of the different draught ales. One poor bloke spent all night pouring the beers while the girls served the beer and smoked tabs.
The food is good and filling - a lot better than the bog standard sausage and pork knuckle that we seem to have been fed all over Eastern Europe. Derek had the most enormous cheese platter I'd ever seen. Needless to say, he couldn't finish it so we all piled in.
The decor is similar to a lot of bars in Bavaria , dark wood and huge, heavy tables. There was also room for a few hundred drinkers outside, although as it was the end of October, we didn't bother sitting there.

Prices? The normal price was 4 euro for 0.5 litre or 3.25 for 400ml. I'd tried some of these beers before but this was the first time I'd tried Konig Pilsner, Kostritzer Schwarzbier, Flensberger

and Jever. My overall favourite though was probably the Kostritzer because I never saw it anywhere else and it was different.