Czech-owned breweries take on Pilsner

The largest Czech-owned brewing group, K Brewery, is taking on the homogenous Czech beer market, dominated by foreign-owned breweries producing similar varieties of light and dark beers, with a strategy based on a broader variety of beers on tap.

The brewery recently launched a new 12° beer and a marketing campaign to rival the ubiquitous Pilsner Urquell. But the brewery has a long way to go to knock the undisputed king of Czech beers from its place of prominence, experts say.

K Brewery, a conglomerate of six breweries in the Czech Republic, including Protivínský Platan, Ježek and Lobkowicz, has begun promoting its 12° Lobkowicz Premium Quality beer as its flagship brand, hoping to crack the premium beer segment. To seasoned beer drinkers, bottles of Lobkowicz Premium will look and taste familiar: The green bottle with gold foil looks strikingly similar to Pilsner Urquell. Priced between 25 and 30 Kč, the beer is set to go head to head with the most famous Czech beer and other main premium competitors: Budvar, Heineken and Stella Artois.

Barbora Burešová, spokeswoman for K Brewery, acknowledged the company has a hard road ahead if it wants to gain a significant share of the premium market, but added the underdog status of Lobkowicz is one of its greatest advantages for pub owners and beer drinkers looking for something different.

"It is not easy, but we believe we can offer consumers a high-quality product brewed from pure Czech ingredients, based on traditional brewing methods, and we also provide at least the same service as our competitors do," she said. "Restaurants that want to differentiate from mass products often contact us with the wish of being supplied with Lobkowicz Premium."

Currently, 20 pubs and restaurants in Prague carry Lobkowicz Premium, and the company plans several nationwide marketing events to boost that number in 2010, according to Pavel Prchal, business director for K Brewery. The brewery recently sponsored a tasting party at Hotel Extol Inn in Holešovice, where two varieties of Lobkowicz beer, including Lobkowicz Premium, were on tap for free.

Prchal described the company's insistence on using traditional brewing methods as characteristics that set Lobkowicz beer apart from some its more famous competitors. The brewery does not dilute its beer to modify the gravity, or use recently developed technologies to speed up the fermentation process, he said.

Judging from the crowd at the Extol Inn, as well as the number of Lobkowicz signs springing up at restaurants and pubs throughout Prague, the brand's marketing push is working. Hostinec Hloupý Honza, located in Prague 1, is one pub that recently introduced Lobkowicz beer behind the bar. Until now, the pub has been a Pilsner-sponsored establishment, but, as of Feb. 1, Lobkowicz Premium is on tap as well.

Václav Bašta, food and drinks manager for Hostinec Hloupý Honza, explained his reasoning behind the switch, saying, "I'm not sure if Lobkowicz is going to overtake Pilsner, but people are going to hear about Lobkowicz."

The beer's relatively rare presence in pubs is seen as an asset to Bašta, giving the bar a special draw for customers who want the harder-to-find brand.

Lobkowicz is banking on pub owners who want to distinguish themselves from the plethora of local pubs and restaurants offering Pilsner, Gambrinus, Staropramen and other beers owned by the SAP and CVC conglomerates. But not all local beer drinkers are convinced of Lobkowicz's ability to take the place of Pilsner Urquell, one of the world's oldest and most famous premium beer brands.

Evan Rail, author of the Good Beer Guide: Prague and the Czech Republic, is skeptical about the new beer's ability to compete.

"I don't think Lobkowicz Premium has much chance at competing with Pilsner Urquell in terms of reputation, history or mindshare among Czech beer drinkers," he said. "In terms of quality, I suppose it could someday rival Pilsner Urquell. But, in order to do that, it would have to become one of the very best beers of its type in the world. Having tasted Lobkowicz Premium recently, I don't see that happening."

Last year, K Brewery's six breweries brewed 850,000 hectoliters of beer of the total 18.8 million hectoliters produced throughout the country, according to the Czech Beer and Malt Association. Plzenský Prazdroj, which produces four major types of beer and several offshoot brands, sold 10.5 million hectoliters of beer worldwide in 2009. Such numbers show just how far K Brewery has to go to catch up with Pilsner. But, according to Jiří Mareček, spokesman for Plzenský Prazdroj, Pilsner Urquell's success is more than just a numbers game.

" 'Premium' isn't just a word on the beer label. Of course, you can launch a new brand saying 'This is premium,' but will anyone care? The 'premium' quality in beer is gained over decades," he said.

- Petr Cibulka Jr. contributed to this report.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com