Just Maybe The World’s Most Surprising Beerfest

by Brett Atkinson on

We seem to spend an inordinate time here at Gadling writing about beer, especially when it rolls around to Oktoberfest season. Click here for Justin’s post about the best beer tents in Munich, and here for his video insight into the most exciting funfair rides on offer after a few foaming steins.

My own hazy memories of September in Munich include enduring the “Drei Loopen” roller coaster after a lunch of Lowenbrau and pretzels.

A quieter and altogether suprising alternative to the Oktoberfest is the small scale beerfest that recently took place in the Palestinian town of Taybeh. Brewer Nadim Khoury is a Christian, but out of respect for his Muslim neighbours actually brought forward the start date to avoid clashing with Ramadan.

A range of brews were available for ten shekels (around $1.60) and festivities included the Palestinian rap group DAM and local hip hop crews Boikutt and G-Town. Sounds like a cool place to be.

Click here for an excellent article on the challenges of being a brewer on the West Bank.

Story and pic via the BBC.

Great Czech Beers You’ve Never Heard Of

by Brett Atkinson on

Neil’s post on discovering the joys of tiny local pubs outside of the rip-off prices of Prague had me both salivating and reminiscing. Everyone has heard of Pilsner Urquell and Budvar, (the original and superior Budweiser), but a journey around the Czech Republic (hooray, I got it right Iva), is also a journey to Nirvana for lovers of the amber liquid. Here’s three Czech beers you’ve probably never heard of, but deserve to try at least once in your life.

  1. Eggenberg – From the quaint town of Cesky Krumlov. Try it at the town brewery or at the cosy Na Louzi pub.
  2. Bernard – A boutique brewery in the town of Humpolec, but available all around the country.
  3. Cerna Hora – The Black Mountain brewery in southern Moravia creates interesting brews like honey flavoured Kvasar. Try the range at the Cernohorsky Sklep in Brno.

There’s also Litovel from Olomouc, Hostan from Znojmo and Jezek (“Hedgehog”) beer from Jihlava. And don’t even get me started on the increasing number of micro-breweries popping up and bubbling away.

To quote Homer Simpson, or someone equally insightful. “So many beers, so little time.”

Thanks to Adam Polselli on Flickr for the pic.

Leave Prague for Authentic Czech Pubs

by Neil Woodburn on

To get the typical Czech pub experience these days, one must now leave Prague far behind.

When I first began visiting this fine city more than a decade ago, traditional Czech pubs were on every corner. They were smoky, served cheap beer, and full of all walks of Czech life, from students to pensioners, artists to soldiers, and everything in between.

Today, however, most pubs in the center of Prague are now overpriced tourist dives that lack the charm and character of their communist era predecessors.

So, what to do?

Traveler extraordinaire Rick Steves has a solution: leave town.

The Czech Republic is blessed with numerous small towns simply oozing with character. Although many have moved with the times, a leisurely drive through the countryside will reveal those that haven’t. You probably won’t be able to pronounce their names, but you will be able to locate the local bar and pop in for a pint. If you’re lucky, you just might get a surly, communist era waitress who ticks off your 50 cent beers on a small slip of paper left at the table. Take a deep drink and you may just travel back in time.

How To Tell If You’re Smart Enough To Become An Aussie

by Brett Atkinson on

Recently I posted a story about a traveller from Australia that was accused of swearing on a SkyWest flight to Pittsburgh. Her supposed crime was to utter the true blue Aussie phrase “Fair Dinkum” in response to being told the serious news that the plane’s supply of pretzels had expired. Of course it’s not swearing, but just a bit of Downunder idiom meaning “Seriously?” or “For real?”

In an effort to make sure new immigrants to the land of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Fosters lager can hit the ground running linguistically and culturally, the Australian government has announced plans for a new citizenship test that will probe potential immigrants’ knowledge of Australian culture and history. Maybe the Aussies could organise an exchange programme with the culturally-challenged inflight team fromSkyWest.

There’s no word yet if the Bush administration is going to ask newcomers to the Land of the Free if they can locate “The Iraq” on a map.

News via the BBC.

Prague Pub Crawl: 4 Blocks, 20 Pubs, 20 Beers, $20 Spent

by Iva Skoch on

In the last few years, much of Prague’s nightlife has shifted from the center (too expensive, too many tourists) to the neighborhood of Zizkov in the Prague 3 working class district. Consequently, Zizkov is my favorite neighborhood for going out. Let me be clear, there ain’t many martini bars to be found here, although a few have popped up. Rather, you will find old school pubs still selling beer for less than $1.

The main artery of pub life in Zizkov is Borivojova street. Its 4-block stretch from Lipanska street to Riegrovy sady has some 20-30 drinking establishments. Weekend after weekend, seasoned drinkers come here to try to accomplish the impossible: stop at each pub and have a beer. We are talking half-liters, too. According to the Prague Post, nobody has been able to do it yet.

Even in a country with universal health care, there cannot be enough liver transplants to go around.