Pilsner Urquell makers to celebrate Czechoslovak statehood with special brew
It’s not just municipalities that will be taking part in events marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia next weekend. The makers of the famous lager Pilsner Urquell have announced they will also be involved through a number of events and special products.
“Pilsner Urquell would like to celebrate this date with a special edition of auction bottles. This year there will be a special design celebrating the 100th birthday and the bottles are also marked with traditional Czechoslovak colours. The authors of the bottles are Czech and Slovak designers Václav Mlynář and Jakub Pollág, the creative directors of the Czech glassmaker Bomma.
“However, there are only 10 of them. They will be sold at a charity auction in December. If you want to buy one, you will have to have a lot of money ready. Last year the most expensive specimen was sold for CZK 250,000.”
I understand you are also going to have a special exhibition at your museum. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
“We would like to invite visitors for a special exhibit at our brewery museum as well as to the Pilsen Historical Underground and our Gambrinus brewery. We charge a symbolic 28 crowns for each visitor. The exhibits are on October 27 and 28 as part of a special exhibition titled ‘Prazdroj 100 years ago and today’. Visitors will be able to see special objects from the period of the first republic, as well as a unique film from 1938 about Prazdroj.”
There are also rumours that you will be collaborating with a small brewery to make a special anniversary beer, is that true?
“Yes. We collaborated with a Broumov based brewery called Pivovar Matuška. They and our brew masters Václav Berka and Lenka Straková worked together to brew the beer which will be available during the celebration. However, further details will only be released this Friday, on the eve of the anniversary.”
Argentinian beer expert and blogger Max Bahnson says that this is the first time that a microbrewery and a macro brewery are working together. I asked him what the Broumov brewery is likely to add to the product.
“These are not amateur people. Martin Matuška, the founder of the brewery is a very experienced brew master. I think he has something like 30 years of experience. His son, who runs the day-to-day business, is also an expert. They are one of the first microbreweries that decided to go with a 100 percent distribution model instead of the common based brew pub and they are very well respected in the industry.”
