Czech beer
Czech beer is all about lager: golden, with floral Saaz hops and brewed with Moravian barley. The country is the birthplace of the pilsner. At Hoptimaal you'll find Czech beer from Sibeeria Brewery and Budějovický Budvar, in the styles Lager & Pilsner and Barleywine.
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Breweries from Czechia 2
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How the Czech beer scene came about
Czechia has been brewing for centuries, using Moravian barley and Bohemian hops. In the Middle Ages everyone, from farmer to king, brewed beer at home. In 1265 King Přemysl Otakar II founded the town of České Budějovice (Budweis in German) and granted it brewing rights. In 1295 Wenceslaus II founded New Plzeň and gave all its inhabitants the right to brew and sell beer at home. Elsewhere in Central Europe that was usually reserved for nobles. In 1588 the world's first brewing handbook was also published, written by the Bohemian Tadeas Hajeck.
The Thirty Years' War set beer quality back for years. It only recovered at the start of the 19th century, with the founding of large citizen breweries. In Plzeň, the young Bavarian brewer Josef Groll brewed the first pilsner with new golden malts and bottom-fermenting yeast from Munich. That was in 1842. Most of the beer the world drinks today descends distantly from that beer.
After the Second World War, too, Czechoslovakia kept making good lagers, unlike East Germany. After the Velvet Revolution, foreign investors bought up many breweries. Budweiser Budvar remained state-owned.
What Czechia is known for
Lager, and above all the pilsner. What we call Bohemian or Czech pils is called světlý ležák in Czechia: golden, with floral aromas from Saaz hops (Žatec) and usually 4.5 to 5 percent alcohol. Most Czech brewers stick to patient, traditional methods such as open fermentation and long cold maturation. That's why the best lagers taste precise and clear, never dull.
The names on the label say something about colour and strength. Světlé is light, polotmavé is amber and tmavé is dark. Výčepní is the light draught beer class, ležák the middle class and speciální everything above 5.5 percent alcohol. Top-fermented beers such as weizen or porter exist too, but are rare.
Per head of population, Czechs drink more beer than any other country. The craft beer scene got going more slowly than you'd expect, but it is growing steadily. More and more pubs pour a čtvrtá pípa, a fourth tap that is independent of the big breweries.
Czech beer at Hoptimaal
At Hoptimaal you can choose from two Czech breweries: Sibeeria Brewery and Budějovický Budvar. From Budvar, which comes from České Budějovice, you'll find Budweiser Budvar / Czechvar Original, among others, highly rated on Untappd. From Sibeeria, Sibeeria Zima 2023 and Sibeeria Zima 2024 score well with Untappd users.
In terms of style, you'll mostly end up with Lager & Pilsner and Barleywine. Each brewery has its own page with us, with all the beers we supply from it.
Frequently asked questions
What is typical Czech beer?
Typical is a bottom-fermenting lager, called ležák in Czechia. The best known is the světlý ležák, a golden pils with floral Saaz hops and usually 4.5 to 5 percent alcohol.
Which Czech breweries are well known?
Well-known names are Pilsner Urquell, Budweiser Budvar, Staropramen, Krušovice and Radegast. From this list you'll find Budějovický Budvar with us, alongside Sibeeria Brewery.
What do výčepní, ležák and speciální mean on a Czech label?
They are strength classes. Výčepní is light draught beer with usually less than 4.5 percent alcohol, ležák is the middle class and speciální starts above 5.5 percent. In addition, světlé, polotmavé or tmavé indicates the colour.
Beer from other countries
- Dutch beer 175
- American beer 71
- Belgian beer 68
- Canadian beer 54
- German beer 37
- English beer 37
- Spanish beer 21
- Romanian beer 17
- French beer 16
- Swedish beer 15
- Norwegian beer 14
- Estonian beer 17
- Polish beer 11
- Irish beer 8
- Finnish beer 9
- Hungarian beer 8
- Latvian beer 8
- Croatian beer 8
- Danish beer 8
- Portuguese beer 4
- Welsh beer 5
- Scottish beer 4
- Brazilian beer 4
- Ukrainian beer 2
- Greek beer 3
- Slovenian beer 3
