Came today for the Tour and had a great time. We first had a meal at the brewery which was first class.
We took both the Czech and English tours as we were a mixed group.
Our guide was wonderful and explained everything clearly and in a friendly and interesting way.
The cellar and ice room where our favourite places along with the tasting room surrounded by huge barrels.
It was nice to learn the history of the brewery and also how their particular methods have helped produce one of the finest beers in the World.
All in all the visit was tip top.
Walking onto the grounds of this place puts you on another planet. Everything is so new for being such an old brewery. All the updates keep the place looking clean but they didn't take away from the heritage. The tour was perfect. Through the bottling center and the new and old brewery houses. They guide was very informative. She answered all our questions and introduced us to how PU was made from the beginning until now.
You would expect a little cheeseyness for an old brewery tour, but this is that and more. Very modern presentation of the brewing process, and an extensive look at all of it. The best part, they draw you a fresh glass of this outstanding beer right from a barrel in the cellar. Definitely worth your time. And check out the town as well, amazing architecture!
The brewery is huge and they have clearly made an investment in a world class tour experience. But our guide was impatient and unable to answer some of our questions. On the Sunday we went, the canning/bottling lines were shutdown for maintenance, which while understandable was disappointing (and not apparent when we booked the tour). As someone who enjoys craft beers and has visited many breweries, the lack of some information is surprising. Why did we taste the unfiltered beer but not the filtered beer? Or try the highly touted local water? Recommend visiting if you have a chance as the tour through the cellars is very cool and the history is long and interesting.
We did not pre-book a tour and upon our arrival on a Sunday in October the next German and English tours were each full so we had to wait a bit to get on a free tour.
We ended up taking an English tour with our guide named George. He was a great tour guide and conveyed the tour in a very interesting and detailed manner.
The tour included the bottling and packaging, the two brew houses and even part of the extensive cellar system with lots of interesting facts about the history od Pilsner Urquell, the brewing process and more. Also, we got to tasted a glass of unfiltered beer.
I would definitely recommend the tour and hope you get a tour guide as great as George :-)
Besides a brewery tour it's almost all the same (they explain the ingredients, the brewering process...), at the end of the tour you go to an underground part where the beer is fermented and you taste a Pilsner Urquell directly from the barrels, unfiltered. This beer you won't find anywhere else than in this place. It's amazing. If you are in Prague you MUST go to Pilsen and visit the brewery.