Call it an auspicious start to 2009 for lovers of good beer: in the very center of Prague, a major Czech supermarket now has a large selection of great Trappist ales at the best prices in town.

Most of these beers are available elsewhere in Prague, so don’t expect to find any unknown gems among the supermarket’s Budvar and Pilsner Urquell bottles. As I wrote in a post that was lost in the Wormhole Incident™, you can find well-known Belgians at Pivovarský klub and Pivní galerie, though you’ll burn through your pocketbook if you do, as prices for a small bottle of the globally ubiquitous Chimay can hit 153 Kč ($7.90 / €5.70).

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A quick post on Wikipedia, which never fails to amaze me, though not always for the right reasons. Today my amazement is due to Wikipedia’s entry on the Plato scale, a method of measuring the amount of sugars before fermentation — how strong the malt tea is, in other words, before the yeast goes to work. It’s why we call a beer a desítka or a dvanáctka (a “ten” or a “twelve”) in Czech, and why many labels still proudly say 10º or 12%: because before the beer was fermented, it started out as a liquid with 10 or 12 percent sugar.

As I’ve noted in earlier articles and in Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic, the scale was originally invented in Prague by the German-speaking brewing scientist Carl (or Karl) Josef Napoleon Balling (1805-1868), pictured above.

The scale is often referred to by the name Plato, after the German scientist who later improved on Balling’s original work, though winemakers usually call it Brix, after another improver. However, it’s nice to give credit to Balling, the originator of the scale, especially since he’s a hometown hero.

However, I did not realize he was actually a hometown victim.

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Beers from the Měšťanský Pivovar — or Burghers’ Brewery — in the Czech town of Havličkův Brod are usually known by the brand name of Rebel. In this country, when it is thought of at all, Rebel is considered a better-than-average medium-size brewery, winning an award in Žatec in 2008 as the “brewery of the year” among producers under 100,000 hectoliters. Abroad, Rebel is one of the few Czech lagers to make it to the United States, along with other low-profile brewers like Nová Paka, sold under the Brouček / BrouCzech label.

However, it’s doubtful if most Americans — or even many Czechs — are aware of Rebel’s under-promoted Christmas beer, the very nice Rebel Sváteční speciál.

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This summer I helped a TV crew from the Discovery Channel film brewers and breweries around the Czech Republic. Along the way, we saw some interesting things at U Medvídků, Chodovar and Pilsner Urquell. And of course we got to try some excellent lagers.

Above is a shot of Pilsner Urquell’s senior trade brewmaster Václav Berka getting ready to talk on camera in front of the kettles. I’m not sure if that or anything else from the Czech Republic filming will make it into the final cut of the show, but I do know that the program is supposed to include Charlie Bamforth and Sam Calagione, and it has been given a title and theme that it didn’t have when we were working on it.

More importantly, it’s airing tonight, December 18, at 8 p.m. on the Discovery Channel, with further broadcasts at midnight tonight and January 2 at 6 p.m.

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Not all Czech Christmas beers are strong amber monsters like the holy brew sanctified at Klášterní Pivovar Strahov’s Christmas beer mass. Not all are malty, chewy desserts like the 17° Sváteční speciál from Broumov. In fact, the most common style for Czech holiday specials is a 14° golden beer which is just a touch stronger (usually around 6% alcohol) than a standard Czech pale lager.

Perhaps most typical of the style are the Vánoční speciál from Pivovar Krakonoš and the Speciál 14% from Pivovar Poutník in Pelhřimov.

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There’s more information about the Christmas Beer Markets taking place next weekend, December 20, 21 and 22, right here in Prague. Not only will some of the best Czech brewers bring their holiday and seasonal specials to the capital, but next weekend’s festival will also include a handful of great names in brewing from around Europe.

If you’re at all interested in craft beer, you won’t want to miss a single one of the festival’s just-announced foreign brews.

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Pivovar Broumov — aka Opat — is one of the country’s most interesting small breweries, regularly making an appearance at the Czech Beer Academy’s beer tastings with their “extra-hopped” medium-bodied beer, Opat Bitter extra-chmelené, one of the most aromatic pale lagers in the country. Other noteworthy models from Opat include beers flavored with honey and a new arrival made with coriander.

But this time of year is for Opat’s great Christmas brew: the 17° Sváteční speciál. Among Czech holiday beers in bottles, this one stands out.

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Q: I currently live in San Diego, California, but am moving to the Czech Republic in March, 2009. I am an avid homebrewer here in the USA but I was wondering if you know how accessible brewing supplies would be in the Czech Republic?

A: Until recently, homebrewing in the Czech Republic has had a very low profile. The intimate networks of homebrewers here would often buy or barter their ingredients directly from contacts at small commercial breweries and brewpubs, or even purchase leftover malt from giant breweries like Pilsner Urquell.

Lately, however, Czech homebrewing has really started to pick up the pace.

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Have pity on your local beer writer at Christmas: tracking down Czech Christmas brews can be an arduous and confusing task. Many breweries — even great Czech micro and regional breweries like Chodovar and Regent — simply put holiday-themed labels on their regular products and then call them Christmas beers. Other breweries — like Bernard in the case of their Sváteční ležák — have had formerly seasonal holiday beers turn into year-round offerings.

But real Christmas beers — the seasonal, limited-edition winter brews called vánoční (”Christmas”) or sváteční (”holiday”) — do exist in the Czech lands. And they’re just now starting to appear at pubs, supermarkets and beer stores near you.

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First anniversary: Paper. Fifth anniversary: Wood. Fiftieth anniversary: Gold.

Five hundred and fifty-fifth: One very special lager.

Or at least that’s how it is for Pivovar Rakovník, a Czech brewery originally founded in 1454. To celebrate its 555th birthday next year, Rakovník is adding a “jubilee special” to its Bakalář line of beers. And though 2009 is still most of a month away, the new brew is already available at Pivní galerie. Read the rest of this entry »