On tour in Las Vegas: How the Czechs taught the Americans to pour beer
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The beer conference in Las Vegas included a beer expo, the announcement of the best beer awarded in the World Beer Cup, lectures for thousands of people, workshops and so-called hospitality suites, one of which was also hosted by members of Beer the Czech Way. In addition to the presentations, the programme also included a tapping school.
The trip to Vegas also included a pub takeover at the Beer Zombies brewery. How did the remote preparations go? "We were in contact with the brewery people several months in advance. Among other things, we were fine-tuning the preparation of the equipment, because we had to bring a lot of things in, like sponges, detergents, jumpers, hoses, or taps" explains Lucka Janečková, the bartender.
In America hygiene does not allow hand washing of glasses – they wash them in a dishwasher. "We had to take this into account. Of course, there was no cooling tub, so we made do with plastic containers filled with ice water. We solved everything temporarily, but it resulted in perfectly treated beer, the same as in our Lokál pubs," says Lucka.
This evening was preceded by two days of preparation, testing, getting to know the staff and, most importantly, the first taste of the beer brewed by Lukáš Tomsa in collaboration with Sacred Profane Brewery and Cohesion Brewing Company.
Wondering what the Czech Brewers Conference looked like day by day? Read the diary of the team of thirteen participants from Lokál CZ, Pult, PIVO Institute and Dvou kohoutů.
The evening of 18th April
Part of the team met in Pult the evening before departure, to pack the remaining 60 pieces of glassware for the tap school. It took a bit longer, so we took a taxi straight to the airport.
Day 1: Friday 19 April
We flew out of Prague around 6am, so we didn't get much sleep. We had a four-hour layover in Amsterdam and then straight to Vegas! We survived the nine-hour flight and, thanks to the time delay, arrived at about two o'clock in the afternoon. We had to take advantage of that.
We were staying in a classic motel with a pool, so freshened up in our rooms and headed into town around 6pm. This was the first time most of us had been to the United States, so we were a bit out of it. We had dinner and then went to the Bellagio, one of the most famous casinos in the world. However, due to travel fatigue, we soon went back to the hotel and to bed.
Day 2: Saturday 20th April
After breakfast, we went to Beer Zombies Brewery for the upcoming pub takeover. We checked out what the place looked like, what was working and if anything needed to be bought. When we found out that our beer was in place and everything was running like clockwork, a weight fell from our hearts. In the afternoon we explored the town, shared a Guinness at an Irish pub and tried our hand at the old lever machines.
Day 3: Sunday 21st April
We met with people from the Czech Embassy led by Tereza Černa, and representatives of other brands also participating in the CBC as part of the Beer the Czech Way mission. These were people from LUKR, which is the manufacturer of the taps we have in all the Lokál pubs, Bohemia Hop (hop grower), Bucher Denwel (technology manufacturer), Cheops (machinery and equipment manufacturer) and Hop & Stuff (distributor of Czech hops and taps in the US).
Day 4: Monday 22nd April
Our big day! We had a pub takeover at Beer Zombies Brewery, and tapped beers brewed by Lukáš Tomsa. We were supposed to meet around 9:30. We split up our stations and started setting up our taps, among other things we had to mount our taps. We operated three taps, an outdoor mobile, indoor and another one at the tapping school.
The latter was a great success. Initially a schedule was set with regular intervals, however the interest was so great that the tap school ran virtually non-stop. There was also the legendary contest of downing "mlíko".
The whole evening went off without a hitch and finished fairly early, sometime around 1am it was cleaned up so everyone was fit for the next day's conference. We had a great group of people, the locals helped us a lot, and everyone enjoyed themselves. We tapped 700 litres of beer in eight hours. And finally we managed to celebrate our Lucka's birthday!
Day 5: Tuesday 23rd April
After breakfast we went to the CBC campus. From 2 p.m. onwards, together with the whole Czech group we hosted a hospitality suite. The lecture included another tap school and there was a long line for our beer. That was the end of the official program for us. We topped it off with a team dinner.
Day 6: Wednesday 24th April
This time we attended the CBC as visitors. However, our steps were not directed to the conference, but to the Beer Expo. It was from there that we brought the idea for our Nashville mobile taproom last year. Again, we gathered a lot of inspiration, especially when it came to merch, packaging, beer to go and tech gadgets.
In the afternoon, we had an after party and meet and greet at The Silver Stamp. Lucka and Tomáš left early, to teach the staff how to tap the classic Czech pours: hladinka, mlíko and šnyt. From LUKR taps, of course. The service changed throughout the evening, but they enjoyed the new style of tapping so much that they taught it to each other!
Day 7: Thursday 25th April
Our last day was spent relaxing and exploring the city. Some went shopping, some golfing, and others took a trip to the Grand Canyon. We saw Hoover Dam, Eagle Point and Guano Point. When we returned, we had dinner together and went to bed. The next day we flew back to Prague.
The whole event was a great opportunity to meet and inspire each other. "We were pleased to see that people are really interested in Czech lager and the technique of tapping it. I consider our care for beer to be unique, but we can take inspiration from American merch, because they really have it perfected and it sells in large quantities. I also brought some ideas on how to work with beer packaging with me. That's something I'd like to work on and improve," Lucka adds.
