Before delving into grand old times in Czechia, this announcement.
APRON Inc.’s program of good works will be on the agenda when New Albany’s Donum Dei Brewery (3211 Grant Line Road #3) hosts its 5th Annual Chili Cook-Off on Sunday, February 5, starting at 12 noon.
Suggested donations this year are $2 for a sample cup and $5 for a bowl, with all proceeds going to APRON Inc. Once again the organizers seek 12 chili-cooking contestants; past participants have first shot at slots, and all others are on a backup list. As of this morning a few slots remain. Contact Blake if you’d like to cook, or with any questions: blake.montgomery(at)outfront(dot)com. The overall winner will receive the traveling trophy, swag from Donum Dei, and a feeling of deep satisfaction at helping APRON lend a helping hand.
I remember being in Prague in the mid-1990s. We’d wander through downtown neighborhoods hunting beer, sometimes hopping trams, other times using the subway, but most often on foot.
The objective was to find draft beers from as many of the Czech Republic’s breweries as possible, and having identified these beers, to sample them with dignoty and aplomb.
(When very thirsty, we’d dispense with decorum and throw them down.)
In retrospect, it isn’t clear to me what sort of legal framework for beer distribution existed in the Czech Republic at the time. Something akin to a “tied house” seemed common, in that a pivnice (piv-nee-tsuh, or tavern) generally would serve beer from only one brewery.
These days, we’d probably decamp to a multi-tap and be overwhelmed by sheer choice. I’ve read that Prague now has such establishments boasting bountiful selections, as well as WiFi to enable the inevitable postings at Untappd, but this approach strikes me as tantamount to the king’s gamesmen running the animals past his shooting stand.
It’s also no way to conduct a drinking tour of a city, any city, especially when traveling overseas, where there’s so much else to be learned quite apart from beer. The pursuit of the perfect pint should last a lifetime, and along the way, provide you with enough incidental knowledge to...Read more
