Page 199 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

WHERE T O EA T AND DRINK  197

Beer and Beer Halls

Staropramen Gambrinus Velkopopovický Budweiser Plzeňský prazdroj
kozel Budvar (Pilsner Urquell)
The real place to enjoy Czech beer is a pub or assumption that all the customers want to go on
beer hall (pivnice). Each pub is usually supplied drinking until closing time, so don’t be surprised
by a single brewery (pivovar), so only one brand if more beers arrive without you having ordered
of beer is available, but several different types them. If you don’t want them, just say no. The bill
are on offer. The major brands include Pilsner is only totted up when you are ready to leave.
Urquell and Gambrinus from Plzeň,
Staropramen from Prague, and
Velkopopovický Kozel from Velké
Popovice, south of Prague. The usual
drink is draught light beer (světlé), but
a number of beer halls, including U
Fleků (see p155) and Chalice Restaurant
(see p154) also serve special, strong
dark lagers (ask for tmavé).
A half litre of beer (equivalent to just
under a pint) is called a velké (large),
and a third of a litre (larger than a
half pint) is called a malé (small). The
waiters bring beers and snacks to your
table and mark everything you eat and
drink on a tab. You should be aware
that in some pubs there is a tacit People enjoying a drink in Café Lávka, near the Charles Bridge
Wines
Vavřinecké. In the autumn, a semi-fermented
Czech wine producers have not yet young, sweet white or red wine called burčák
emulated the success of other East is sold and drunk across the capital.
European wine-makers. The main
wine-growing region is in Moravia, Czech Spirits and Liqueurs
where most of the best wine is
produced for local consump- In every restaurant and pub, you’ll
tion. Some wine is also made find Becherovka, a bitter-sweet,
in Bohemia, around Mělník, amber herbal drink served both as
just north of Prague. The whites an aperitif and a liqueur. It can also
are made mostly from Riesling, be diluted with tonic (called Beton).
Müller-Thurgau or Veltliner grapes Other local drinks include Borovička,
(polosuché is demi-sec and suché a juniper-flavoured spirit, and plum
is sec). Rulandské (Pinot) is an brandy or Slivovice. The latter is
acceptable dry white. The reds clear, strong and an acquired taste.
Rulandské, white are slightly better, the main Imported spirits and cocktails are
and red choices being Frankovka and more expensive. Becherovka

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