Get the perfect pour!

Practice makes perfect, so let our expert tapsters put you behind the bar and show you the secrets of pouring the perfect pint. They'll explain what a cut beer really is, along with the story of beer's long and winding journey into the pint glass. At the end of the course, you'll walk away with a certificate and a gift.

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Lager is a beer that is bottom fermented at lower temperatures, and left to rest in lager tanks for at least three weeks at the end of the brewing process. Typically, it has a thick head – but in practice this depends on how well the bartender has poured the beer.

Czech lager differs from other lagers at first glance, namely thanks to its colour – a golden tone which is darker than, for example, German pils or helles. Taste-wise, it is fuller, with a more pronounced bitterness. Emphasis is often placed on purity of flavour, which is determined by not only the malt, but also the hops or yeast. Low levels of diacetyl give a slightly buttery aroma – despite sometimes being considered “the butter defect”, this is a typical trait of Czech lager and a result of the brewing process, therefore tolerated at global competitions.

And, of course, there is one more characteristic that a typical Czech lager should have: drinkability. By which we mean it should naturally encourage further consumption.

So, let’s take a look at the lagers we have in the Czech Republic.

Pilsner

Pilsner Urquell is a classic example. A traditional Pilsner lager with a full body and higher bitterness – 38 IBUs – it is brewed from spring two-row barley, soft Pilsner water and, of course, Žatec hops, a semi-arid red variety. A decoction mash is used, or in the case of Prazdroj, a triple mash.

Light lager

A bottom-fermented beer brewed by decoction mashing. One to three mashes are used, but double mashing is the most common. The degree of maturity varies, and the categories in competitions are based on this. It’s a full-bodied beer, with medium to medium-high bitterness, perfectly pairing the fullness of the beer and the malt character of the body. And the alcohol content? A typical Czech pale lager is between 4-5,2 %.

Dark lager

A dark to black bottom-fermented beer that is sometimes almost sweet, often with notes of chocolate or coffee (from roasted malt). This lager offers more bitterness and fullness than its pale counterpart – yet at the same time, it may have less bite. A typical example is Flekovská 13 from the U Fleků brewery in central Prague.

Semi-dark

A historical replacement for cut beer, with varying intensity of colour, taste and aroma. Characterised by a pronounced fullness, it can be close to Vienna lager but is usually less caramel-like.

One ten, please.

We couldn’t not mention the so-called Czech light draught beer. Popularly called "desítka", or “a ten”, it may not be an internationally respected beer style, but is very well known in our country.

Czech legislators have a lot to say, too – after all, it's an important topic. According to legislation, bottom-fermented beers are divided into:

• Low-alcohol beer with an alcohol content of 0.5 to 1.2%,
• Table beer, which has a degree of 6°P
• Draught beer, which has a degree of beer between 7 and 10°P
• Then there's our lager with 11 to 12 °P 
• Finally strong beer, which is anything above 13°P

For draught beer, the Czech legal standard sets a range of 7° to 10.99° EPM. Compared to lager, it has less fullness and bitterness, often around lower medium and mainly reflected in the aftertaste of the beer. The sharpness, however, is usually comparable.

The word lager comes from the German term for storage – and consequently we’ll be looking across to our neighbours in Germany for the next part of our series. Stay tuned!