Beer—a town that loves it

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32788, 13 December 1971, Page 24

Beer—a town that loves it

(By

COLIN McINTYRE.

N.Z.P.A.-Reuter correspondent)

PILSEN. In the Bohemian town! of Pilsen, where beer has been brewed for 700 years, it is said that people drink two beers a day the first and the last. However, Czechoslovaks 1 ! understandable partiality for their beer poses problems fori the State-controlled brewing! industry, which is expanding! production energetically in | order to increase exports, i As a brewery official! lamented not without a! touch of pride—“most of the! extra production is being taken up by Czechoslovaks,! who are getting thirstier every day.” Statistics seem to bear him out. At present Czechoslovakia is second only to Belgium in annual per capita consumption.

The average for the whole population is 29 gallons compared to Belgium, 30 gallons. But, if one excludes predominantly wine - drinking Slovakia from this, Bohemia leads the world with 33 gallons, while the Pilsen area has the awe-inspiring figure! of 59 gallons. Before j World War II the Czechoslovak figure was a modest' 17.5 gallons. (In 1969, New Zealanders! drank 24.5 gallons of beer! per capita.) At present Bohemia's eight,’ largest breweries produce aj yearly flood of 352,110,000’ gallons of beer of varying |i degrees of potency, of which!, only about 22m gallons!; manages to get abroad. !; Pilsen and the almost!; equally famous Budvar (Bud-!; weiser) beer go mostly to the!, West, particularly West!; Germany, while Prague’s!. Smichov beer is exported! widely within the Eastern!, hlnr

bloc. |« In addition, Czechoslovakia I, exports brewer’s malt and;: hops to all parts of the world, r including Japan, Latin I: America, Switzerland and West Germany. j Bohemians have always | been exceptionally fussy j about their beer. In the Middle Ages, Pilsen town councillors would make regular spot-checks on brewers to test the quality of the brew. The test was simple but effective. A sample was poured on a solid oak bench, allowed to dry, then solemnly sat on by a number of local worthies in leather trousers. If they stuck, it was a good brew. If the bench came up with them as they! stood, it was a fantastic one. Those unfortunates who failed the test were put’ in the stocks with a jagged! metal collar around their! necks and beaten with a silver-embossed leather club.’ In 1842, the brewing houses in Pilsen banded together and founded the Pilsner Brewery, I

] which has produced the beer bearing its name ever since, lin spite of severe bomb damage during World War 11. The brewery now has a curious blend of traditional techniques—which the brewers have refused to change for fear of altering the beer’s incomparable flavour and modern technology in the auxiliary processes. i Bottling machines capable lof filling 20.000 bottles an ihour are imported from West Germany and Denmark, while the machines for a new filtering plant come from Austria and Switzerland. In the brewing room itself, however, everything is done just as it has been for decades, by craftsmen. Malt and hops are boiled together in huge copper vats for about 10 hours, then let into oak vats where yeast is added and fermentation begins. After two weeks the brew

1 is poured into oak barrels,! some 50 years old, where it is allowed to mature for a minimum of three months. After each maturing process the barrels are brought out to the pitching shop! jwhere the old pitch lining is ! i removed and a new one! I poured in. Knowledgeable! drinkers maintain that this ’fresh pitch is one of many! factors which sets Pilsner; apart from other beers. I Brewers in Pilsen are wary! of saying exactly what it is that gives Pilsener beer its ’famous bitter-smooth taste,! [but cite the water from the! brewery’s own artesian wells,! ■adherence to traditional! ! methods, a craftsman-like; I rather than an industrial, ! approach to brewing, and top- l t !quality raw materials from! the surrounding countryside as factors. And the old brewers’ greeting still is heard in Pilsen, “Dej buh stesti” “Lord! Ibring luck”—a reminder of! j times when brewing was! ! mostly just that.