304: Adam Brož of Budějovický Budvar Loves Talking About and Brewing Great Lager
Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast
The Czech Pale Lager
The lager is not a boring category. It's quite white. And Czech style or Bohemian style. Sometimes if you read the definitions of the categories, sometimes there are the problems to fit the limits. So sometimes we are laughing. This beer is a category only for one beer. One one original.
The town of České Budějovice in South Bohemia may be better known to North Americans as Budweis, the German name that’s been appropriated by a couple of famous beers. The real Czech pale lager from here is known as Budvar—sold as Czechvar in the United States, for legal reasons. It’s an easygoing showcase of light, pure malt flavors and soft, balancing bitterness, nearer in profile to a Bavarian helles than a typical Czech světlý ležák.
Joining us to tell this iconic beer’s story and talk about how it’s made is brewmaster Adam Brož, who is contagiously passionate about all the little details that make a pale lager into something that both tastes great and is addictively drinkable. Along the way, he discusses:
- Budvar Original’s unique place in the pale lager spectrum
- the importance of soft water to the beer’s profile
- why he insists on sticking with whole-cone Saaz hops
- how the barley variety and crop matter to the brewing process
- why decoction matters, from deeper color and flavor to greater consistency
- the benefits of long maturation of at least 90 days in horizontal tanks
- a new variety of Budvar with higher bitterness
- how the dark lager came to be and what sets it apart
And more.
"Our product is not the beer, but the joy from the beer," says Broz. "And without drinkability, it’s half of the joy."
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