This Beer Tastes Old

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A battle-hardened (read: beer-stained) coaster from U Fleku, Prague's oldest brewery
A couple years back, the wife and I traveled with some of our good friends to Europe. This might have actually been the catalyst to my beer obsession now that I think about it. Among other things on the itinerary, we visited the legendary Oktoberfest in Munich and then headed up to Prague where we found this lovely little brewery. 

U Fleku was recommended to us by my wife's boss, whose wife was from the Czech Republic. I'm so pleased that we went and checked it out. U Fleku is accessed off a little side street and the outside is very unassuming. It's been in operation since...wait for it....1499! That's over 500 years old! Our country isn't as old as this beer...not even close.
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Once inside we were assaulted with the quiet din of many a pint being shared and an especially rosy cheeked accordion player waltzing his happy ass around. Bench seating is the standard here with very few small tables lining the outside of the room. Not many foreigners were present and we felt it was quite an authentic Czech experience. The food was crazy good and was probably either a pork knuckle or some whole chicken roasted to divinity. 

U Fleku serves only one kind of beer. It's a dark lager and I considered it to be the best beer of the trip; it far surpasses the famous Pilsner Urquell in my opinion. 

Waiters didn't even ask you if you wanted a beer. We sat down and a gent came by with a tray loaded with mugs of beer and 3 got slammed down in front of us with much splashing (refer to my coaster). 3 tick marks were put on a piece of paper and off he went weaving among the polka band to other thirsty patrons. When your beer was almost gone another one was provided, a check mark was produced, and no words were exchanged. Beauty in simplicity?

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Happy ass accordion player
If you find yourself in Prague you owe it to yourself to check out this brewery. It was absolutely one of the highlights of our trip and of all the modest amount of travel I have done it is still one of the most memorable nights I've had. The beer was delicious too!

Now to see if I can go get #SWMBO to take me out for fancy beer drinking....

Cheers!

Chocolate Stout tap handle artwork
Awesome tap handle art work courtesy of #SWMBO as usual
What I'm Drinking:
Homebrewed Chocolate Stout 
ABV 5.2%

I found this recipe over at Homebrew Talk. It actually called for mint to be put in it. I decided at the last minute to forego that and I think it turned out pretty well. 

This beer is a dark, opaque brown with a moderate, but quickly dissipating light brown head. Chocolate aroma dominates. Bitterness and semi-sweetness from the chocolate complement each other well. This beer finishes semi-dry and with a significant cocoa taste. 

I'm warming up to this one...or maybe this one's warming me up.




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