Original and Best?

OK. That's Barr's Irn Bru, but when it comes to pilsner style lager, Pilsner Urquell is the one that begat all the others.  It has been the original since 1842 and the brewery makes much of its history. As for taste it describes the beer as refreshing, clean and balanced, but the beer is much more complex than that. Deeply satisfying to drink, it has rich malt, spicy hops, hints of toffee from the trademark diacetyl finish - one that most brewer's wouldn't want in a lager, but is there in this one by design - and a very smooth finish. It belies its modest strength of 4.4% and its natural carbonation makes it very easy drinking.

I was in London last week to see the Hockney Exhibition at the Tate and by good fortune it co-incided with an invitation by PU to visit the new Draft House in Plough Place and sample, under the tuition of  Beer Master Robert Lobovsky, the three different, approved pours that give different taste experiences. Along with Robert, Artisan Butcher Alex Sharp, talked about the prime Galloway beef cuts that we were to sample with each pour, fresh in tanks, unpasteurised and direct from Pilsen.

However this event wasn't about the taste of PU, as much as the mouthfeel and appearance of it, and there the complexity deepens. The head is absolutely paramount. The Czech classic Hladinka is a smooth, creamy serve, Na dvakrat has a crisp body topped with a thick foam and finally the Mliko is presented as virtually pure foam giving the most aromatic and sweet of serves.  It was all rather fun and the beers certainly did taste different. One interesting point to me was that the Hladinka pour is so reminiscent of the pour you get when a sparkler is correctly applied to well conditioned cask beer, with the head being formed at the bottom and the beer poured through it to keep it away from air. Think of that when someone carelessly pours you your next pint of flat cask.

Robert was a great host as was Alex. I did decline an offer to try pouring one myself. I doubt if it is as easy as it looks. Now my family comes from Galloway, so the meat was of particular interest and it was good to have an expert talk us through the cuts.  It was also good to bump into fellow invitees the Crafty Beeress and her husband and enjoy a couple of pints of PU afterwards with them.

So lessons learned - or in my case reinforced? Treat beer with respect and learn how to pour it properly and buy the best beef you can afford, even if it means less of it.

Tankovna beer is pretty widely available in London and elsewhere, particularly Albert's Schloss in Manchester which sells more than the rest of the UK put together. Thanks to PU for the invite.

The new Draft House has the same awful music as Seething Lane, but is a pretty good spot really.

Budvar Tankové Pivo

Like some others I've been very impressed with the Tankovna Pilsner Urquell that is now sweeping some parts of the UK. It is one of the few things that makes the Draft House at Tower Hill remotely bearable when the suits are in and your head is being shredded by repeated tuneless bass music, comparable to being attacked, without anaesthetic, by a mental dental surgeon, with a particularly slow and buzzy drill of considerable width.  I digress, but feel better for getting that off my chest. Bastards.

I've been lucky enough to have tank beer in Prague and old enough to have had tank beer in the UK in one of its original incarnations, but done well, with top quality beer, it is really a rather good way to ensure the customer gets brewery fresh beer, as near as dammit as the brewer intended. (Mind you I don't always want things the way some brewers intend, but that's another digression.) I was therefore pleased to be invited to try Budvar Tankové Pivo shortly after its Manchester launch at the Oast House in Manchester's Spinningfields. Even better I had been asked to bring a plus one and my companion was the lovely E, fresh off the train from London and dragging her thirst behind her on what was a lovely day in early May

Now a word about the Oast House. This was opened as a ‘pop-up’ bar with temporary planning permission in October 2011.  It is a genuine 16th century oast house and was brought to Manchester from Kent, brick-by-brick and is now a permanent feature of Spinningfields, Manchester's business and leisure area, purpose built from 2000 onwards. It has a large beer garden and is attractively rustic, though not that big inside. I rather like it as it seems to always be populated by a very mixed and cheerful crowd.

Our hosts were Budweiser Budvar UK Beer Sommelier Jo Miller and (Oast House owners) New World Trading Company’s Beer Guru Warren McCoubrey.  I didn't know Jo before, but Warren is an old acquaintance, once being part of the famous Marble Arch Brewing team that brought you Manchester Bitter and Pint. He speaks (rightly) very highly of Dominic Driscoll, now brewing for Thornbridge and James Campbell, Head Brewer of Cloudwater, so we were off to a flying start. Jo turned out to be great fun and with a couple of local lasses joining us, it was a jolly little crowd that set about learning about Budvar and supping the beer.  For my part, though I had had tank Budvar in Prague, it was some time ago and I wanted to compare and contrast.  The beer itself is malty and bittersweet with a good Saaz hop finish. It is easy to drink and its 90 day maturation period does give a deeply rich and satisfying flavour.

So, did I prefer Budvar or Urquell?  Well, they are different beers entirely, but I would say that each has its place. I like Urquell for its sheer drinkability, its distinct spicy hoppiness and yes, even that slight diacetyl edge that somehow enhances the beer. Budvar is more sophisticated in its taste, maltier and somehow a little more steely.  Take your pick really. Neither will disappoint.

A big thanks to our hosts Warren, Jo (and Caroline from chip PR who ensured a constant steam of Budvar) for lots of wit and repartee. This wasn't so much a beer tasting as a natter among friends. We both enjoyed it enormously.

 Budvar Tankové Pivo is available in the Oast House at around a fiver a pop. When E and I called a couple of weeks later, it was flying out. Job done. People like it.

This Tanked

Fresh beer is the thing and that is good. Just round the corner from our hotel in Poblenou Barcelona, along a lovely tree lined street, we tumbled out of the restaurant we were eating in around 1a.m. and decided, as you do, that a nightcap was required.  It was early season and most places were closing, but one bar was still going like a fair - well it had people in it and wasn't closing, so near enough.  Inside we ordered beers, noting that the brewer was Mahou who are in fact the owners of San Miguel and Alhambra. Spain, like everywhere else these days has a rather concentrated brewing industry. (Despite many thinking otherwise, the Philippines end of the San Mig operation was bought out by Mahou in 1970.) The group is 100% a Spanish company.

As we sipped our beer we noted (eventually) that above us in the ceiling, were two large yellow tanks. Yes, we had Tankovna Mahou.  It didn't really impress, but then again, it was most likely a drink that wasn't really needed, so unlikely too really. But it didn't taste that much different to those I drank in Gaucin last year.. 

We returned two nights later in similar circumstances, but glasses of vino blanco were ordered. Probably a good decision.

They used to hide tank beer in the cellar in the UK.  Now the are a feature. Progress?  Almost certainly.

Judging

I do a bit of beer judging when I am invited to do so.  It is usually interesting and enjoyable, though depending on organisation and what you are actually asked to taste, it can be a bit of a slog.  Like many things it is what you make it and there is the bonus of meeting fellow judges, both old friends and colleagues and new. In fact that is, if truth be told, often the best part of it

Yesterday was the International Beer Challenge where 40 odd judges reviewed, swirled, sniffed, sipped and even swallowed over 400 beers. All beers are anonymised and we had a bit of fun when we thought we recognised a brewery or beer. We probably had around 50 beers each in batches by style. Held at the White Horse in Parson's Green - what a great venue - it was superbly organised and a model of efficiency in getting the beers out to the judges.  Now as you know there are more pale pilsner type lagers in production than anything else and it was these that made the bulk of the morning's work.  "Work?" I hear you hoot. Well yes actually.  You see the thing about most of these beers is the sheer sameiness of them.  They really are just variations on a theme, but some are made with better ingredients and some are simply brewed with considerably more skill and attention to detail.  It was our job to suss them out, but we kissed a lot of frogs while looking for our prince or princess.

More interesting were the specialty beers and of course, IPAs and Double IPAs.  These varied between delicious - remarkably few - and "What the heck was the brewer thinking of?" - many.  I didn't judge stouts or porters which is a pity, but talking to fellow judges, they had mized fortunes with them too.  It seems that no matter how many beers are produced, they all find a home where someone loves them.  That's beer for you, but those that are really good, do rise to the top.  Afterwards we gathered in the bar for a drink and a chat.  Oddly you may think, the beer of choice fo most judges was Tankovna Pilsner Urquell. I think the White Horse is the first UK venue for this technique which is meant to give much fresher beer.  The lovely shiny tanks certainly make a very handsome feature in the bar I must say.

As I looked around, I reckon that 90% of the judges were supping tankovna beer.  A compliment indeed to PU and a deserved one.  It was nearly as good as that served to me in Prague just a few weeks ago.  The main difference was the serving technique which lacked the panache of the single pour that is typical of Prague pubs.

Oh and the price.  At £4.80 a pint, it was a dear do.  But it was good.

Reflecting on the day, the best part really was meeting up with beery people either anew or once again, but the beer judging was great fun too, but hard work.

Getting Tanked Up

There has been a bit of talk recently about a new fad about to hit the UK.  Well hit some of the trendy, hipsterish parts thereof.  The fad is tank beer.  Now us older chaps can well remember awful tank beer in the seventies and eighties.  It was dire, tasteless, ice cold and probably made with floor sweepings.  It wasn't generally pasteurised and arrived on the back of very odd looking tanker/drays to be pumped into Grundy tanks in pub cellars.   These inexpensive, mass produced tanks, were produced in the 60's and 70's for directly dispensing carbonated beer from pub cellars.  On removal, as the cask conditioned revolution displaced them, they were snapped up by the nascent and burgeoning micro brewing sector as cheap, ready made, fermentation and conditioning/bright beer vessels. Might still be in use here and there still.

I read that Meantime are to the fore in this and you know, when it comes to their keg beers, they might be on to something in terms of freshness.  One place that has been  re-introducing tank beer for some time is the Czech Republic and I remember well on my previous visit around five years ago, legging round to sample the beer in the few places that sold it.  Fast forward five years and the craze has spread, if not like wildfire, at a steady pace.  Tankovna pubs sell beer from stainless steel tanks that hold ten hectolitres of brew held in a plastic envelope within. and steadily held at between 8 and 10ºC.  Beer is pushed out of the tank by air pressure, not in contact with the beer, which tastes remarkably and noticeably fresher, more rounded and tastier.

On my recent visit, we were fortunate to be within a three minute walk of one of the newest and finest outlets for Pilsner Urquell Tankovna beer. Lokal is a large, narrow beer hall, with a small bar at the front and two very long and large rooms behind, the furthest of which is mercifully no smoking.  The beer is remarkably good, with a rounded mouthfeel, medium carbonation, good hopping and is very moreish.  Lokal is mainly a Czech haunt and the beer is brought to you, without asking, as your glass empties, with the beers being marked off on a card covered in printed tankards.  When you have had enough, you simply decline and your bill will be totted up by the somewhat gruff but efficient waitresses.

Should you fancy the Budvar version, a good place to try it is U Medvídků where I first tried it years ago and where we lunched one day.  To me though, and I'm surprised to say it, the PU version was better.  You can also with ease seek out Krušovice, Gambrinus and Staropramen versions for comparison's sake, though you might want to avoid the Gambrinus one in the Old Town (pictured) where, to say the least,  some assiduity could be applied to measure.  Well short in other words.

So.  Tank beer making a comeback?  May not be a bad thing if done correctly.



The great thing about all these places is being able to view the tanks in situ. They are actually rather lovely, though a bit like Thomas the Tank Engine.