2010 Czech Beer Festival answers visitor demand with wider variety of interesting brews

The Czech Beer Festival Prague 2010 has just got underway in the capital. Between now and May 30, visitors will be able to sample scores of brews in several large tents at the city’s Letňany Exhibition Centre. Now in its third year, the festival is offering a greater variety of beers than ever, and is also becoming more popular with visitors from abroad. Shortly before it opened at lunchtime on Friday, I asked the man behind the Czech Beer Festival, Jan Hübner, what was new this year?

“We have a special new tent, which we call Tent for Beer Professionals. There you can try foreign beers and we will provide beer tasting. And we have much bigger tents than last year.”

How does it work? Is it the case that different tents serve different beers?

“Yes, in each tent you have different beer and different food. It’s very hard to try all of them, because we have more than 80 Czech brands.”

Photo: www.ceskypivnifestival.cz

Somebody was telling me that this year you have more small breweries than in the past.

“Yes, that’s our reaction to demand from people, because they want to try new things and smaller breweries, because it’s hard to get those beers in the shops.”

Who are the people who come to the beer festival? Are they absolute beer enthusiasts and experts, or simply ordinary people who like drinking?

“I think 90 percent of them are normal, ordinary people who like…not drinking, they like entertainment. We have live groups playing here every night.”

The price of a beer here is 40 crowns. That’s more than you’d pay in a typical Czech pub. Why is it that expensive?

Jan Hübner

“We don’t think it’s expensive. You have to realise you have a live programme, you have the atmosphere, it’s hard to find a restaurant with 3,000 seats. That’s why the price is 40 crowns. But I have to say that we have the same price as last year.”

Are most of your visitors Czechs? Or do you also get some foreigners coming here?

“I think around 30 percent of visitors are foreigners.”

Do people come especially to Prague for the festival?

“Yes, they’re starting to come. They make reservations. We have a lot of reservations for this year, especially from abroad.”

What countries?

“Most are from Germany, the UK and Russia.”

This festival is taking place in Letňany, which is a long way from the centre of Prague. Is that a problem for you in terms of attracting visitors?

Photo: www.ceskypivnifestival.cz

“I think you’re not right, because if you jump on the metro at Muzeum, on Wenceslas Square, it takes 18 minutes to the gates of the festival. It’s very easy to come here.”

And roughly how many people are you expecting to come here over the next 17 days?

“We’re expecting 130 or 150 thousand people.”