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High spirits at the Zatec Millennium festival By Alastair Gilmour For The Prague Post (September 16, 2004) It is often said that beer runs like an inspirational thread through Czech culture. Poets, painters, composers and presidents have come under its influence, as Bohemian tradition demands that beer is brewed not so much as an accompaniment to food but as an accompaniment to life. Even in the 21st century, little can happen without beer playing its part in the day-to-day business of living in the Czech Republic. This year the town of Zatec, some 60 kilometers (37.5 miles) northwest of Prague, has been hosting a series of events and festivities to celebrate its millennium and its relationship with that most mysterious of beer additives, the hop. One thousand years ago, in 1004, Zatec was first mentioned in Thietmar of Merseburg's Chronicle. The town's fields and gardens bristled with hops, and its castle -- founded by Bretislav II -- was brewing beer. This month, the combine harvesters have been threshing long into the night in the surrounding barley fields, and the local hop harvest has been gathered to be dried and packed for distribution worldwide. Bare hop poles now stand exposed like crucifixes against the skyline -- silent until the cycle starts again in early spring. Zatec is renowned worldwide for its hops (also known as Saaz). The reddish, iron-oxide-rich earth of north Bohemia is particularly suited to their cultivation, and their delicate lemon and citrus nature is a highly prized attribute for developing aromas and flavor in beer. Over the weekend of Aug. 27-29, the Zatec Millennium Hop Festival celebrated the anniversary of those 1,000 years. Breweries from all over the country -- Ferdinand, Louny, Pelhrimov, Svijany, Budvar and Rychtar -- lined up to pay tribute to the aromatic plant, while visitors enjoyed the beer, food, music, dancing, parades, displays and children's activities. To an outside observer, it was an exhilarating, touching and humbling experience. Slightly disappointingly, in this most special year, the crop is reported to be only average due to cool, wet weather in May and June. The hop -- humulus lupulus -- is a tall climber, a cousin of the cannabis plant and closely related to nettle and elm. Hops contain volatile oils whose correct balance is important to beer's flavor, with resins such as alpha acids being nature's solution to its bitterness, flavoring and preservative qualities. The hop first attracted attention in early Egypt as a medicinal herb and was subsequently used throughout Europe to treat liver disease and digestive disorders. Fittingly, at this years' hop festival, a local Zatec beer -- the 11° -- won its category in a blind tasting. Brewmaster Tomas Lejsek has created a range of beers that is a credit to the town's diverse history. Zatecky pivovar, based in the former royal castle on a steep hill above the river Ohre, has benefited from massive financial investment over the past two years, with the brewing plant undergoing a huge refurbishment program. Zatec's beers are terrifically mellow with initial hints of fruit that develop from exquisite floral, spicy aromas through malty, biscuit flavors to a long, dry, fairly bitter finish. They slowly ferment for 45 days at a temperature just above the freezing point in the cavernous brewery cellars, 30 meters (98 feet) below street level. Down in those "dungeons" it is easy to trace the centuries of expansion and modernization carried out since the construction of the present building was started by master architect Lorenz Rott in 1778. A Czech proverb says: Kde se pivo vari, tam se dobre dari -- where beer is brewed, there life is good. Perhaps we should add, "Where the hop has grown for a millennium, there is also an inspirational thread."
The author is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers.
Alastair Gilmourcan be reached at features@praguepost.com |
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