The traditions of brewing in the Czech Republic go back to the deepest antiquity, when as early as 999, monks in the Czech Republic brewed beer for their own needs. Having passed a long stage of development, by the XIX century there was a modern Czech brewing, famous throughout the world. The starting point in the new stage of development was the establishment of the city brewery in Pilsen. In 1842, the brewer Josef Groll brewed his own recipe for his beer, which became the most popular in the world - Pils or Pilsen. The originality of the beer consisted in the combination of the unique “soft” water from natural sources and the use of hops and malt in unconventional proportions, as well as the use of lighter malt than usual.
The two main types of traditional Czech beer are lezak and pils (pilsner). So what is a Lezak (lezhak)? This is a bottom-fermented beer brewed from pale, dark, colored barley malt. It has little pronounced hops, mainly aromatic varieties. In taste prevails over the hop malt (sweet) character. Pils (pilsner), Pils is also a bottom-fermented beer, but brewed from pale malt. It pronounced hops, and besides aromatic, its bitter varieties. Pilsner has a pronounced hop (bitter) aroma and taste, filled with a less malty, well-refreshing taste.
The system of protection of agricultural and food products on a territorial (geographical) basis has existed in the European Union since 1993, in order to protect the rights of producers from plagiarists, and consumers from low-quality products. Czech beer, which is very popular in the world, can now be defended using, among other things, the mechanism of the European Commission. The protected beer brand “Czech beer” is still used by only 12 breweries, for 46 types of beer, covering 56% of the beer market in the Czech Republic. “Czech beer” protected by territorial indication is used for example by breweries such as Plzeňský Prazdroj, Pivovar Černá Hora, Pivovar Vyškov, Rodinný Pivovar Bernard. The Czech Beer brand received such legal protection in the European Commission in 2008 due to the active work of the Czech Union of Breweries and Malting (Český svaz pivovarů a sladoven). There is a list of varieties of barley that are allowed to be used for the production of Czech beer (as of 2013 - eight varieties). Hops that can be used for Czech beer are only Zatecký varieties.
Control over Czech breweries that want to use or already use the name “Czech beer” is exercised by a special state body - the State Agricultural and Food Inspection (Státní zemědělská a potravinářská inspekce). This inspection controls that the entire technological process complies with the standards, and no one could call their beer “Czech beer” without official permission. A brewer who wants to use the “Czech Beer” brand to advertise or designate his beer is obliged to apply to the Inspectorate for a special permit. In the absence of such a permit and unlawful use of the brand, besides financial sanctions, the brewery faces a ban on the sale of such beer. In the practice of the Inspectorate, there were already cases of using the beer “Czech beer” in advertising without a permit, but so far everything went without strict sanctions and the issues with the brewers were regulated in a peaceful manner.
According to the decree of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (Vyhláška č. 248/2018), the classification of 1997 was completely changed, according to which even top-fermented beer with an original gravity of 11 - 12.99% was called lager, which caused misunderstandings among consumers when breweries were required to label as “Ležák”. The classification of beer in the Czech Republic serves, among other things, for the calculation of indirect tax on brewed beer by breweries (analogue of excise duty).
Let us examine in more detail the fundamental provisions of the new classification of Czech beer. Beer is a foamy drink produced by fermentation of a wort prepared from malt, water, processed or unprocessed hops or hop products, which, due to the fermentation process, contains not only alcohol and carbonic acid, but also a certain amount of non-fermented extract; up to 1/3 of the total volume of the extract can be replaced by malt, sugar, raw malt or rice. In flavored beers, the volume of alcohol can be increased by adding alcoholic beverages. At the same time, the type or style of beer means the designation of the usual mode of production and raw material base, according to the technological processes used in traditional regions of production, according to consumer expectations.
Pale is beer brewed mainly from pale malts. Dark and semi-dark is beer brewed from dark malts, caramel and color malts, mixed with pale malts. Cut beer (rezane) is beer obtained by mixing pale and dark beers while bottling or serving.
In general, all beer is divided into the following groups:
- Stolní - beer with a density of initial wort up to 6% inclusive;
- Výčepní - beer with a density of initial wort 7 - 10.99%;
- Ležák - bottom-fermented beer, with an initial wort density of 11 - 12.99%;
- Plne - top-fermented beer, with an initial wort density of 11 - 12.99%;
- Silne - beer with a density of initial wort 13% and higher;
- Nizkoalkoholické - beer, with a volume of alcohol 0.5 - 1.2%;
- Nealkoholické - beer, with the volume of alcohol up to 0.5%;
- Pivo z jiných obilovin - beer containing at least 1/3 of grain crops other than barley in the mash;
- Kvasnicové - beer produced by adding pure yeast cultures or part of the fermented wort to the finished beer;
- Ochucené - beer produced by adding flavors, products or raw materials with their own flavor or alcoholic beverages; the amount of alcohol produced from such beverages may not exceed the amount of alcohol in the original beer;
- Nápoj na bázi piva - fermented malt drink or mixed beer drink or atypical beer drink;
a) Kvašený sladový nápoj (fermented malt beverage) - a beverage made from wort by brewing technology that can be flavored;
b) Míchaný nápoj z piva (mixed beer drink) - a drink produced by mixing beer with a soft drink or with a concentrate for making soft drinks;
c) Atypický pivní nápoj (atypical beer drink) - a drink based on beer with a modified malt fraction or a modified fermentation method.
