Budvar - The Original Budweiser

I recently discovered that there was a monthly series regarding beer topics, courtesy of The Brookston Beer Bulletin. I am thankful for the inspiration, and will probably hit on one of these each month in the future. You will know that it's part of The Sessions by the logo at the top. Other than that, it will start out like this:


Eastern Beers

I'd like to think that I had two beer awakenings in my life. The first was when I lived in Germany and learned to drink beer there. I got about 3 good years of beer drinking done before we moved back to America. As I finished out high school, I just went along with the crowd, pretty much drinking whatever cheap American lager we pooled our money to buy.

My parents moved back to Germany in 1989. I was in my 3rd year of college and on Christmas break when I returned with my best friend. My mom and dad took us to Sachsenhausen, where we toured the bars, drinking Hefeweizen on tap (for some reason, most places only served these in half liter bottles. The guy told us some story about needing proper pressure to have it on tap. I wonder, now, if that was a casked hefeweizen we drank). The beer that really stuck with me that night, however, was a draft of Budvar.

I remember it was the last bar we went to, and I believe I still had my senses about me. I had both the Pilsner Urquell and the Budvar at this place, both "vom fass" (from the tap). My buddy, Paul, said he thought the Urquell was the best beer he'd ever had in his life. I was kind of shocked, because I felt the same about the Budvar.

A big, fluffy head, and a nice Saaz hop bitterness with a somewhat fruity and dry finish. I still remember how crisp it was to this day. While I've had it in the states, I don't think you can really compare the bottle version to the kegged version. Also, it is difficult to find it in a brown bottle. It really is a shame that both the Urquell and Budvar come in green bottles. They actually had Urquell on tap at U.S. Cellular field for a time. I would gladly walk halfway around the stadium and stand in line for 10 minutes to get that.

There is an ugly side to this story, as well. See, this beer is actually known around the world as Budweiser-Budvar. Adolphus Busch apparently stole this name around 1876, from the town of Budweis in Czechloslovakia, where Budvar had been made in some form since 1245 A.D. As a result of this thievery, the original Budweiser has had to put up with fighting to keep its name in various countries worldwide.

In the U.S., you can find this beer under the name "Czechvar". It is still worth trying, if you want to get an idea what this beer is all about. However, I will always look forward to a future day when I can once again taste the original on tap.

My Good Friend Buddy Weiser is Going to Belgium

Did you think I was just going to sit out on this one?

Wrong.

I don't care that Bud got sold to a foreign company. Miller and Coors sold a few years ago as well. Bud took advantage of that. I recently saw a somewhat faded sticker on the glass door of a cooler in Oklahoma that said, "Budweiser - the only brewer still owned by Americans" or something like that. Guess they better send those people a razor blade and get them to start peelin'.

If Bud drinkers are so offended by this, then I'm glad. Proud of you, really. No matter what kind of Budweiser you drink, you are drinking an inferior product. Sorry. The beer is brewed with rice. It's a cheap adjunct.

The thing that really pisses me off is all the marketing around macrobrews. Even though they're losing their share of the market to craft and mirco-brewed beers, they still continue to market themselves as great. I'm here to tell you that whoever owns who, as far as American Lager goes, Budweiser (and if you want to throw the light versions of beers in there, Bud Light) is at best, in 10th place. I'm sure, though, that I can find at least 10 American Lagers better than Bud.

I've been telling people the old story of how Great Grandpa Anheuser stole the name Budweiser from the Czechs in Europe, then made a recipe (was he cloning it? Not sure, through whatever process changes over the years took place, it's not at all like the original Budvar-Budweis) and this is what you're drinking now. Can the original compete in America under the original name? Sorry, no. In fact, it appears that there is an agreement with the original (now referred to as "Czechvar") company to use Anheuser-Busch's marketing and such. I'm not sure, though. I haven't really seen any ads for Czechvar in the states. Seems like this "agreement" is similar to when a record company signs a band to a contract and then does nothing with them. How are the major labels doing these days?

So to recap, I don't like Bud and Bud products overall, because: 1) They stole then tarnished a good beer's name; 2) It's not real beer because it's made with rice; 3) It's not the Great American Lager like you see on billboards.

If the current Anheuser-Busch was truly interested in making good beer, he'd take his money, and go invest it in Schlafly, down the street in St. Louis. Now that, my friends, is some decent American beer.

Homebrew Update - March 08

This month, we did a couple of brews including a kit from Northern Brewer called the Tongue Splitter, which I mentioned in a previous blog. I also plagiarized a couple of Czech Budvar Budweiser recipes and ordered my own ingredients. This is a lager-style of beer, so it requires that the brew be refridgerated during fermentation. In case you weren't aware, Anheiser-Busch took the Budweiser name from the original beer, and it is not allowed to be sold under that name in this country, even though it is clearly the better of the two. You can find it under the Czechvar moniker. I've had it in the past 3 years, and it was pretty good, but if you ever get to try this beer or Pilsner Urquell on tap in Europe, you will walk away thinking that it's one of the best beers you've ever tasted.

While in college, my folks lived in Europe, and I had to go there during Christmas break. My buddy, P Mart, came over for a couple of weeks, and one night, my dad took the whole family to Sachsenhausen, which I believe is a part of Frankfurt. There were quite a few bars there, one which served hefeweizen on tap, and supposedly, this was a big deal, because everywhere I ever got a weizen, it was from a half liter bottle poured into a big glass. One of the last places we went had the two Czech beers mentioned above on tap, and both P Mart and I looked at each other and said that the beers were not only the best we had that night, but probably in our 22-year old lives.

Unfortunately, I cannot say anything good will come of my own version. After 2 days, the beer had not begun fermenting, and on the fifth day, John told me that there was a white funk growing on top of the liquid. I told him to pitch it on the curb. Better luck next time.

I also recently went to Pensacola, and I will be writing about some beers I tried down there.