Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II), Part 58: Prague, Urquell & the Doppelbock Viscosity Tour (Euro Beer Travel 1995, Part I).
In a more perfect world, the accumulated experience of one two three beer-oriented trips to Europe in 1995 might count for at least partial credits toward an honorary master’s degree. Then again, this entire narrative is a sort of doctoral thesis about how to stumble into a career in beer, so if any officials from Indiana University Southeast (my alma mater) are reading … my door is always open.
In 1995 the late winter-early spring Doppelbock Viscosity Tour took us to Prague, Plzeň, Munich and Bamberg for classic Bohemian and Bavarian brewing themes. The August excursion to Moravia, Slovakia and Hungary is relayed here. Belgium came in autumn, launching a love affair with that country’s legendary ales. I’m still smitten, three decades later.
The larger point is that I returned from each of these journeys with a far better sense of what a great beer bar should be.
Substantive excerpts from three separate Walking the Dog articles are included here. Much of the text appears as written in 1995, but trimmed, edited and reorganized.
- “Several Thousand Delta Frequent Flier Miles Later”
- “Czech Brewing Esoterica & the Hlučín Micro, 1995”
- “Under a Hungarian Bull’s Blood Red Cask, August 1995”
Summer in the Czech pubs with George.
I didn’t intend to take a second trip to Europe in 1995, but the lure of visiting the Czech Republic in the company of George Hrabčák and Frank Thackeray turned out to be an irresistible temptation. In 1989 I spent a month with George’s parents in Ostrava, and his aunt and uncle in Prague. It was quite enjoyable to meet them all again, especially George’s dad, Vladimir, who simply is an amazing human being (1).
Highlights included two very different pub crawls, one in and near Děhylov, the village outside Ostrava where George’s parents now live, and another in urban Prague with Aleš, George’s cousin. But a young microbrewery in the small town of Hlučín also was visited, and I’ll begin there.
Hlučinský Starý Pivovar (2) — Stary means “old” — is a microbrewery located in Hlučín, (HLOO-cheen), a small town situated in the hills and farmland to the immediate west of Ostrava, the steel making...Read more
