Painting the Town

“Where are you going?”

“Nusle.”

“Why the hell are you going to Nusle?  What’s there?”

“Zlý Časy,” I told my friend last Thursday afternoon. “And if you like beer you’d be a fool not to join me.”

Take the 11 or 18 to Náměstí Bratří Synků and walk 100 meters down Čestmírova. On the left side of the street is a small pub marked with black and white expressionist signage that when considered with the ominous name (“Bad Times” in English) makes you wonder what you’re getting yourself into.

In the basement there are nine tables, and Thursday evening seven were reserved, which is not unusual regardless of the day. A garden and a better-lit non-smoking room are upstairs, but the basement is the epicenter. Best to make some new friends and squeeze in at their table.

Twenty-four different beers from Moravian and Bohemian microbreweries are on tap (though a few are usually expended), and the choices are always changing. Such a selection could make for some bad times, especially since the prices are right: a large beer ranges from 29 Kč to 55 Kč.

Two current winners: the Matuška California 12,5°APA from Matuška Pivovar in the Central Bohemian town of Broumy is one of the best pale ales I’ve ever tasted, and the Jubiler světlý special from the eponymous Vyškov Pivovar in South Moravia is a strong and smooth amber.

Zlý Časy may be Prague’s best gateway to the burgeoning Czech microbrew scene. And to the world microbrew scene, for that matter. The Zlý Časy Pivkupectví, as it’s so called, sells well over a hundred bottled craft beers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. I was stunned to see my three favorite beers on one list: Chimay Tripel, Flying Dog Kerberos, and Franziskaner Hefeweizen.

A group of geology students at the next table say when they first started coming here four years ago there were only four beers on tap, never mind the robust imports list. The Zlý Časy crowd comprises both young and old, but everyone I spoke to had at least one thing in common – an enthusiasm for beer.

Our server is a casual middle-aged fellow that the high school girls sharing our table endearingly call “Bambula.” They say he officially works for Český Dráhy but in his spare time comes here to taste, serve and talk beer. Three times he comes to our table with a small glass half-full of ale in hand.  After introducing the beer – its brewer, style, defining features – he swirls the glass around, sticks his nose into the mouth, and then rinses his teeth with a measured sip. I want to tell him it’s not wine, but I appreciate the enthusiasm, and it’s a good thing too because apparently I have a lot to learn about tasting beer.

Bambula mostly hangs by the taps with the other staff members, an insouciant bunch escaped from the set of some pastoral Stella Artois commercial – the slow pour, the brotherly cheers, the long, satisfying swig all on a lazy, sun-drenched afternoon…

I take them in with the rest of my surroundings – brick walls, ruddy yellow lighting, Norman Rockwell cookie tins, a pair of McCarthy-era television sets, antique wooden skis hanging on the wall – and it all comes together: this place is stuck in time. And you’re encouraged to be stuck with it. That’s what the art of brewing (and enjoying) beer is all about. The place isn’t called Bad Times because you’re sure to drink yourself to the hospital; it’s an admonishment of time itself, like the way you’d scold a guilty dog: “Bad times!  Bad times!”

Indeed, after my fourth beer I look down at my watch and feel like swearing at it. The place is loud, lively and fun. My friend and I had made sure to order different beers and never the same one twice, but that meant there were still 16 we hadn’t tried.

Oh well, a good reason to come back to Nusle.

Zlý časy
Čestmírova 5
Praha 4
zlycasy.eu

Mon.-Thurs. 11:00 – 23:30
Friday 11:00 – 01:00
Saturday 17:00 – 01:00
Sunday 17:00 – 23:00