Trains, Trams and Automobiles Part 3: The Continuing Search for the Elusive Czech Pilsner in Hradec Kralove & Dvur Kralove nad Labem

We stayed in the lovely village of Libcany, not very far from Hradec Kralove. This is where Lukáš’ family now lives, and his mother Zuzana was a most gracious and generous host, not to mention a great cook. She kept my belly full the entire time I was there. There were excellent cheeses, tasty dark Czech bread and she even made her version of carbonara, with tagliatelli noodles and Hungarian bacon, followed by a wonderful dumpling and vegetable soup. Then, when I thought I could eat no more, out came the absolutely lovely sweet plum dumplings for dessert! Delicious! This is where the real Czech cuisine can be found, in the homes of people who love to cook. Our tour of the local Tambor Brewery had to be put off for one day, so we made the best of it, me catching up on my notes and Lukáš catching up on sleep.
Late in the day, Lukáš’ sister Zuzanka joined us and we went into Hradec Kralove for the evening to visit three beer bars and see a bit of this old world town. At Danup, our first stop, we had to send back the Herold Dark Lager as it was served totally warm, and was therefore quite undrinkable. It was warm, because the waitress forgot to turn on the cooling device, but it eventually came back at a proper temperature. This 13° Plato dark lager is almost black in colour with a profound roastiness and notes of black malt and coffee.
We headed next to a Ferdinand Brewery pub, where we tried 3 of the 4 beers they had on tap. The 10° Plato Pale Lager (a nice, lightly balanced brew), the 12° Pale Lager (hoppier, some middle malt and a dry finish) and the 11° Plato Dark Lager (smoother than the Herold, with more reddish hues, creamier mouthfeel and drier finish).
We finished the night at a much more modern, well light and stylish pub that served the beers of the brewery Primator. I was intrigued by the English Pale Ale they had on tap, but it tasted a bit odd since it seemed to be made with pilsner malt and not a lot of hop. The Oatmeal Stout, however, was excellent, full bodied, deep black and very much in style. The Weizen was an excellent version too, pale yellow, cloudy, fruity with hints of banana and clove. The 12° Lager was crisp and clean, light gold and very drinkable. My evening ended though, when I ordered a bottle of what they called a Double in the menu, but on the back of the bottle it was described as a Dunkels Doppel Bockbier. It was neither, being more a sweet, strong Baltic porter. Very dark burgundy brown and malt dominated, the warming alcohol effect was almost immediate, and it was a heavy beer (24° Plato) with a full body and a long sweet malt finish that just kept lingering. I nursed this one until we went to catch the bus.
Next morning we were off to one of the best breweries in the Czech Republic, Tambor. We were picked up at the train station in Dvur Kralove nad Labem by the owner, Nasik Kiriakovsky and after a quick 5 minute drive (it’s a small village) were at the brewery and met by Head Brewer Martin Vrba, who gave us a personal tour of the facility.
Tambor means ‘drummer’, as in the marching drummers who used to drum armies into battle in the 19th century. As they story goes, the Austrians and the Prussians had a great battle in this town in 1866, and when the victorious Prussians marched into town, lead by their tambors, they drank the old brewery dry and then burnt it to the ground. The brewery was rebuilt, but eventually closed in 1979. Exactly 30 years after its closing, Tambor opened.
Situated a little above the town, they have their own mineral rich, pure water source, and besides the beers they produce, hope to soon market their water in bottles too. Tambor currently brews about 4,500 hectoliters a year, but are already in the process to step up their brewing capacity to 30,000 to meet the every growing demand. They do not only market their products in the Czech Republic, but also in Moscow, Stockholm and will be sending their beers to Tel’Aviv and New York City soon. In fact, they are a certified ‘kosher’ brewery and therefore are favourites of Jewish communities in all of these places. More recently, one was brewed especially for the Pope’s tour of the country. Martin has even brewed a very light in alcohol beer using cardamom in Syria. Truly international indeed. Their facilities are very modern and they use a 2 step decoction mash method and only brew in small batches, their mash tun and brew kettle holding only 25 barrels, while their fermentation tanks hold 50. This will not change when the new building expansion is complete, as small batch brewing ensures the maintenance of the high standards Tambor is known for. In fact, brewer Martin Vrba is a very busy man. Outside of his duties at Tambor, he is the co-owner of an Italian brewery and also runs a business building breweries all over Europe. He said he is about to complete his 40th installation.
Also, proudly, all of Tambor’s ingredients and equipment are Czech made and I would say they are the vanguard of a renaissance in Czech brewing. After the Velvet Revolution, open markets were not kind to the Czech brewing industry. Large regional breweries bought up the smaller ones, and they in turn were swallowed up by the giant multi-nationals and this, of course, made the famous Czech pilsner an endangered species. Tambor is trying to change all of that, by maintaining small batch, high quality brewing, they are returning the prominence of the true Czech pilsner to the world.
Now, the beers… Tambor makes 3 pilsners: a 10° Plato (4.3%), an 11° (4.6%) and a 12° (5.1%). Only the 11° is both filtered and unfiltered (which makes 4, I guess), all the others are filtered, which is important to the flavour profile. They also make a 13° Dark Lager (5%) and a special 14° Amber Lager (5.8%) at Christmas time. All of the Pilsners are crisp, clean and clear, with a thick, white mousy head, good carbonation and lovely lacing. They all have excellent hop aroma and are very well balanced, with a lovely hop bitterness sitting on top of a most pleasing maltiness, giving way to an exceptional, dry finish. They use only Saaz hops and the Saaz offshoots Sladek (and Premiant only in the 11° Pilsner), , for bitterness, flavouring and aroma. The Dark Lager is a deep and dark reddish brown, featuring garnet hues, with a rich, tan head, a gorgeous full flavoured, creamy mouthfeel and a very good balance of hop and black malt bitterness against some malt sweetness that is nicely subdued resulting in smooth, medium body and a delicious, long finish.
Martin left us in the tasting room and after a few more of their delicious pilsners I came to the realization that my quest was complete, at long last, I had finally found the true, great Czech pilsner I had been looking for. I want to thank Lukáš for all of his efforts and all of his time, he truly made my trip to the Czech Republic a memorable one. We left each other at the train station in Hradec Kralove, he headed home to Brno, and I continued on to Chodova Plana for a much needed day at the spa.