5 days program for groups focused on beer in Prague.

Day 1:

We pick up the guests in the airport and drive to the hotel. Depending on the time of arrival we arrange a short city walk/orientation tour. We will visit the Old Town Square, the Jewish Area and the Charles Bridge. On the tour we will have two Pilsner Urquells in a beer hall close to the Charles Bridge. If it is lunch time this beer hall serves typical, Czech courses like soup, goulash etc.

In the evening we walk to U Medvidku - By the bears, which is a micro brewery, restaurant and beer hall, where we will enjoy a traditional dinner and have some Budweiser beers. With full stomachs there will be an excursion in the brewery to see the process of brewing beer. First the guide will deliver a small lecture of app. 30 min. We will inform about the brewing process, where the malt is heated up to 65-75 degrees in the big copper vessels, then the hops are added, this gives the bitter taste to the beer, and finally the yeast is added, too. The yeast converts the sugar from the malt into alcohol. We will also tell about some of the biggest breweries like Pilsner Urguell and Budweiser. Not least we will entertain the guests about the very special traditions and rules in the local pubs outside the centrum of Prague and finally we will disclose why the Czechs are the heaviest beer drinkers in the world. After the lecture we go to the big copper vessels, where the malt is boiled. They are placed in the midlle of the restaurant. We will have the chance to see, smell and taste the ingredients for the tasty beer. Then we come to the fermentation cellar to see how the yeast makes the beer bubble with fine, white foam. At the end we will se the lager tanks, too.

Day 2:

After breakfast our bus will drive us to Velké Popovice for a vist in the Kozel Brewery (the one with the goat). We will have an excursion in the brewery, which is part of the Pilsner company. We will watch all parts of the brewing process - the boiling of the malt, the fermentation and the lagering in this big brewery. Not least we will come to filling station, too. Of course we will then taste of one or two of the fine Kozel beers from the brewery. It could be the sweet, dark one, which many tourists like After the excursion we go for lunch in the brewery´s own restaurant, of course we will have more beer there. We return to Pague in the middle of the afternoon.

Late afternoon we meet again and walk to the river Moldau for a two hour boat trip. We start with an aperitif, followed by a big buffet, consisting of hot and cold dishes, fruit, cheese and cake for dessert. One drink is included, but of course you can buy more beers on board.

On the trip we will pass a lock and later we will sail around in the center, close to the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle. We will have a spectaculor look on many of the most interesting monuments, seen form the water side. After the boat trip the guide can recommend you some of the more special and interesting bars in the center of Prague.

Day 3:

The most of the day is for your own disposal. You can spent the day in some of Pragues more than 50 micro breweries, most of them offer beer tastings. We meet late in the afternoon and go by public transportation to a part of Prague called Žižkov. It is a neighbourhood, which was earlier mainly inhabited by workers. Today it is one of the places in Europe with the biggest concentration of local bars. We will taste a long row of different beers and visit four very different places. We will start in a bar, where they serve beer from smaller breweries around the country. They order only one barrel of each kind of beer, so when it is empty they get another beer from another brewery. This means that we never know in advance, what we can offer the guests. There are eight different beers on the tap and we will taste two of them. It could be IPA, wheat, light, semi dark, dark or just a lager. Then we go to the bar U Vystřelenýho oka - The shot out eye!!!. This is one of the most special ad traditional bars in Prague, especially if it comes the interior and the decoration. You should not miss to go to the toilet - you will never forget that. Next stop is a micro brewery, where they normally serve a light, a dark and a smoked beer. We end up in a bar/restaurant for dinner. We offer soup of the day, followed by another big meat plate, consisting of hot and sweet chicken legs, smoked spareribs, sausages and meat loaf, the side dishes are only bread and salat. Free consumption of four different beers.

Day 4:

First part of the day for your own disposal. In the middle of the day we go to Beer Museum, which is placed in the Old Town. In the museum you will find everything connected to beer. There are posters informing about the history of beer, from the very start in Mesopotamia in the 10. century B.C. unitil today. The brewing process will be explained and illustrated. There are a lot of interesting statistics, as well as a small film about the production of malt and hops. You will also see the tools, which were earlier used for tapping the beer in the bars. It will be explained why Czech beer probably is the best in the world.

After the visit in the exhibition halls there will be a beer tasting in the basement, where the two small rooms are furnished respectively as a bar in the 19. century and as a bar during communism. You will have four small beers from minor breweries outside Prague. The visit will last app. one hour.

Day 5:

Maybe there will be time for some more beers before we go to the airport for departure.

Additional information:

Within the last decades a lot of micro breweries have opened, we can easily go there. The most famous is of course U fleků, which has been operating since 1499. This is really a tourist trap, but is serves fantastic home made black beer. Another example is the monastery brewery, close to Prague castle. Maybe we could got to Pivovarsky Dum - the Brew House, close to the center, too.

If you prefer to go to the Budweiser brewery , which is placed in České Budějovice a couple of hours drive south of Prague or Pilsner Urquell in Pilsen a little bit more than one hours drive west of Prague, this will of course be possible, too.

On board the bus or during dinners we will give some small lectures about the Czech history in the 20th century, Czech religion, Czech language, the Christmas dinner, having carp, the spilt up of Czechoslovakia in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the political situation, and not least information about the social system concerning maternity leave, education system, salaries, taxes, rent, unemployment rate, health system and retirement.