Pivo, Bier & Ale, the only Czech magazine specializing in beer, celebrated its first birthday at the Strahov Brewery with a bash that was attended by most of the who’s who of the modern Czech brewing scene. But it wasn’t only the magazine that ended the evening with a happy face.
Pavel Borowiec, PBA’s editor in chief and father of the whole idea, decided that the anniversary could serve as a good excuse to hand out the first annual awards that the server Aktualně.cz has dubbed “Pivní Oskary”.
Who won what is not as interesting as what the categories were and how the winners will be decided from now on. There are 16 categories and not a single one of them is for a beer of any kind. They award brewpubs, pubs, shops, restaurants and also people, from brewery managers and owners to Výčepní (bar tenders). The idea is that every link in the chain is as important as the other. A brewery can have the best Brew Master, the most modern equipment, the best processes, but if the product hasn’t been well taken care of at the pub’s cellars all that won’t matter and the client will enjoy their pint as much as I can enjoy warm Stella Artois. And I must say, that’s a philosophy I like.
This year’s winners were:
Photo: Petr Buriánek
- Traditional Czech Restaurant: Černokostelecký pivovár Kostelec nad Černými lesy
- Czech hospoda: U Hrocha, Prague
- Pivní bar (multi-tap pub, basically): Zlý časy, Prague
- Pivní bar and restaurant: Kulový blesk, Prague
- Brewpub: Klášterní pivovar Strahov, Prague
- Brewery Restaurant: Antošův pivovar s krčmou Slaný
- Pivotéka (specialised shop): Pivkupectví, Prague – Nusle
- Brewery shop: Pivovar Černá Hora
- Brewery with its own hotel, restaurant and other services: Chodovar, Chodová Planá
- Master Výčepní, hospoda: Bohouš Hanzík, U Jelínků, Prague
- Master Výčepní, pivní bar: Jiří “Bejček” Stehlíček, První pivní tramway Prague, Klára Valuchová, Pivovarský Klub Prague
- Personality of the year – brewery with up to 1000 hl/year output: Martin and Adam Matuška, Pivovar Matuška, Broumy
- Personality of the year – brewery with up to 10.000 hl/year output: Lucie and Štěpán Tkadlec, Únětický Pivovar
- Personality of the year – brewery with up to 400.000 hl/year output: Miloš Hrabák, Director of Pivovar Vyškov
- Personality of the year – brewery with over 400.000 hl/year output: Roman Havlík and Petr Menšík, Pivovar Svijany
- Long term contribution for Czech Brewing: Pavel Jákl, author and historian, Prof. Gabriela Basařová, Josef Tolar, former Head Brewer at Budějovický Budvar
All the people above are the first members of the Czech Beer Academy and, together with the staff of the magazine, they will get to decide next year’s winners, who will also become members of the Academy, and so on. And I must say, that’s also a philosophy I like. All of them are people who love and understand beer, who represent both the “new guard” and the “old guard” and hopefully, this will mean that the awards will not stay only in Prague, but will be spread more uniformly over the country.
After the rather long award ceremony (and also before it) it was time to actually celebrate with some truly memorable brews from the house (God, Strahov’s Weizenbock and IPA are fantastic!) and from other brewers like Kout and Matuška that turned the event into a pub full of štamgasty. Almost everyone knew each other and those few who didn’t soon got to know someone who introduced them to everyone.
I was there, of course . I’m a regular contributor of Pivo, Bier & Ale and have many friends in the local beer community. Let me tell you one thing, I’m still surprised at the way some of these people took me as one of their own and it’s great to be in “ahoj” terms with not a few of the most important Czech beer personalities. Imagine you are a roadie or do-it-all guy for a small town rock band and run into Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl or Keith Richards and they greet you with a sincere “How you doing, mate? Long time no see! How’s the family?” or something like that. That’s pretty much the way I sometimes feel among these people, only that they are not rock stars but just men and women who really love what they do.
Anyway, I had a fantastic time at Strahov and I truly hope PBA will get to celebrate many more anniversaries like this, it’s a very important thing for the local beer culture as it wants to show that beer is not just a brand or something cheap you drink with the sole purpose of getting hammered and that there is a fascinating world beyond that pint of desítka. Here’s to the magazine’s health!
Na Zdraví!
Max Bahnson is the author of the Pivní Filosof – Beer Philosopher beer blog.
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