Pivovar Kout na Šumavě

WFMU Podcast: interview in English and Czech with Kout's owner

  Kout podcast (non-Flash)
 
The Kout Brewery, or Pivovar Kout na Šumavě, is located in the south-western corner of the Czech Replublic, an area well known for launching the Pilsner style in 1842. The influence of the creation of Pilsner continues to drive the beer world, with Pilsner style light lagers dominating breweries the world over.

The first written record of beer being brewed by Kout was in 1736, though it's thought that the brewery originates from at least 100 years earlier. From its official founding Kout was run by the Stadion family, then in 1924 it passed to the Schönborn family. The brewery was nationalized by the communist government after WWII and was operated by Pilsner Urquell. It ceased operations in 1969, but before it closed, Kout's current owner, Mr. Jan Skala, worked summer jobs as a teenager at the brewery in 1967-68. From that point forward the brewery and the beer would be forever in his heart.
In 2002 Mr. Skala learned that the idle brewery was for sale and set out to acquire it with the intention of restoring Kout to its former glory and resurrecting its unique version of classic, traditional Czech beer. In 2006 the brewery was once again up and running! Incredibly, one of the former brewers of Kout, Mr. Bohuslav Hlavsa who was brewing there in 1969, was found and retained to bring Kout's beers back to life. After Kout closed in '69, Mr. Hlavsa continued brewing at the nearby Domazlice Brewery.

Adrian and Mr. Skala of Kout with Jimmy Carbone.

Kout strictly adheres to a traditional Czech recipe and technique from over 200 years ago. They get their brewing water from a "secret well", according to Mr. Skala, and use only Czech Pilsner malts, some specialty malts from Germany, and Czech grown Saaz hops. All the beers are double-decoction mashed, except for Kout 12° which uses triple-decoction. The beers undergo open primary fermentation -- a distinct rarity in modern brewing -- using the same yeast strain as České Budějovice (Budvar), and then are carefully lagered. The Koutská 10° blonde beer (4% ABV) is aged for about 5 weeks, while their Koutský tmavý speciál 18° (9% ABV) is aged for up to 5 months! The beers are kegged, unpasturized and unfiltered.

Mr. Jan Skala.

This summer Kout 10°, 12° and 18° are being brought into the USA for the first time on a very limited basis, available only in kegs.

Koutská 10° Pilsner (4% ABV) lagered for 5 weeksKoutská 12° Blonde lager (5% ABV) lagered for 3 months
Koutská 14° Schwartzbier  (6% ABV) lagered for 4 months
Koutský 18° Dopplebock (9% ABV) lagered for 5 months
   

Kout Brewery.

The 18° Spuyten Duyvil.

L-R: B.R., Paul of Ale Street News, Joe of Spuyten, Alexander of Andechs, Sebastian of Freigeist.

  Kout podcast

Hospoda Czech Pub

[link to podcast page]
WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 12/22/2012

Last October we did a short blog post on Hospoda, the Czech bistro located in the Bohemian National Hall at 321 E. 73rd St., between 1st Ave. and 2nd Ave. The building also houses the General Consulate of the Czech Republic, and hosts many cultural events and activities. But more importantly, the building houses the freshest, tastiest Pilsner Urquell this side of the Atlantic!
 
Check out the podcast to learn about the four distinctly different ways that they serve Pilsner Urquell -- the flagship beer of Hospoda. Also in the podcast Hospoda manager Filip Trcka explains the newly implemented methods of transport and distribution of Pilsner Urquell (known in Czech as Plzeňský Prazdroj) which ensures the freshest Pilsner in America! (Well, up until when the bar receives the beer -- how they handle it after that determines the beers final condition).

Hospoda manager Filip

The walls of Hospoda feature a wood-cut mural...

created by a Prague graffiti artist Masker.

And now for some trivia and history... it's been estimated that 90% of the beer consumed worldwide owes it's origin to the "original Pilsner." One of the most famous cousins to Pilsner beer, of course, is Anheuser-Bush's Budweiser. And while many know that "Bud" was inspired by Böhmisch Budweis aka Budweiser Budvar aka České Budějovice, many don't know that American Budweiser was originally a contract brew, made for Carl Conrad in 1876. Conrad, who was a liquor importer, discovered Bohemian Pilsner beer while traveling through Europe.

Conrad contracted with his St. Louis business colleague Adolphus Bush to make a similar beer for the American market. Bush had sold brewing supplies prior to becoming a brewer, when he married into the Anheuser family, which operated a brewery. It turned out that cloning Czech Pilsner was an extremely difficult thing to do at the time. Getting a hold of Moravian malt wasn't a cost effective option, and the American two-row barley wasn't exactly perfect for cloning the newly invented beer style. Pilsner was invented in 1842 by Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer who was contracted by the town of Pilsen to formulate a new high quality beer to replace the dreck that the townspeople rejected in protest in 1840.

The distinct rings mean clean glassware!

 Bush consulted with his brewmaster, experimenting with different ingredients and techniques, and finally hit upon using rice -- by a ratio of 1 lb of rice for every 21 lbs of barley -- as an adjunct to attain the flavor, texture, color, and characteristics that he sought. The beer was decoction mashed, and used a yeast strain imported from Bohemia. And, interestingly enough, at the time it was more expensive to use rice in place of barley -- it was used to provide the light color, body and flavor, not as a means to save money.

A few sips into a Creme or "Hladinka".

Hospoda Czech Pub/Bistro

 

Considering what a huge fan I am of Budvar, Staropramen, and, of course Pilsner Urquell, I can't believe that it's taken me a year to check out Hospoda (Czech for "pub"), the Czech bar/bistro located in the Upper East Side -- in the same building as the Consulate General of the Czech Republic. My Czech hockey coaching pal Mike has been trying to get me there since the place opened in fall of 2011, touting the various types of pours served and the extreme freshness of the Pilsner there. I thought, "Meh -- I've had Urquell. It's good. How could it be that much, if any, better at this place?"

Finally, chance would place us in the pub's neighborhood. As we entered Mike greeted the reputed master tapman Lukas, who's in charge of the famed pours at Hospoda. We sat at a long, narrow communal table and a waitress came to us with small sample glasses filled with mostly Pilsner Urquell foam. She explained the four different pours offered and what differentiated them -- from the creamiest all-foam pour to the sharp tasting headless mug.

A glass floor reveals the cold room storing kegs.

As I put glass to mouth and got my first taste of Hospoda's Pilsner Urquell, I had a genuine flashback to the very first time that I tasted fresh Czech pilsner. I was 18 years old, in West Berlin and I had ordered a Budweiser Budvar on draught. It was like no other beer that I had ever tasted. And since then, I've had more Czech pilsners than I can recall, often at the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Queens. And you'd think that they'd have good pilsner there, and they do. But not like this -- nothing as bright and fresh and flavorful as the pilsner served at Hospoda.

Descriptions of the various pours on offer.

We'll leave the report there for now, because it's inevitable that B.R. and I will return to Hospoda (in the very near future) for some of that Czech liquid gold, and to find out how the beer there is so much fresher and tastier than what we've experienced elsewhere in the past.