The pandemic has slowed the emergence of microbreweries. Only one was established in Prague last year
“If there are no external influences such as a pandemic, we plan to offer the sale of beer and thus outside our own companies. We still can’t cook everything we sell here, “one of the co-owners of Bad Flash, Jan Charvát, told ČTK, which would be attracted in the future by exports abroad. “I just hope that I will be able to take a longer vacation than one and a half days,” added another co-owner and brewer Martin Vávra, who, in addition to brewing beer, sometimes has to surprise as a waiter in a recently opened brewery bar.
Years ago, Charvát contributed to the growing interest in microbreweries by that he was one of the first to offer them on tap in his pub Zlý časy in Prague’s Nusle. Libor Kult did the same in Ball Lightning in Nové Město. In 2013, they co-founded Bad Flash, originally for the import and distribution of foreign beers.
A year later, he had the first beer brewed under his own brand in the Zhůřák microbrewery. Larger batches in other breweries followed, and interest in them grew outside their businesses, to which two Bad Flash bars in Vršovice and Karlín were added in the meantime. Therefore, they decided to build their own brewery.
Eventually, the original plan to build it on a green field came to an end, construction began in the autumn of 2019 on the premises of their wholesale warehouse. The first wave of the pandemic delayed the plans due to closed offices, the brewery did not brew the premiere batch until May this year. From November, those interested can taste up to six types of beer in the bar on the spot, in which it sits just a few meters from the brewery. In addition to lager, there are also beers of the ale or sour type, which are becoming increasingly popular in the conservative Czech beer community.
“When we started in 2007, there were only a few similar pubs in the Czech Republic, in addition, we worked mainly with medium-sized breweries such as Rohozec, Svijany or Březnice. At present, there are around hundreds of companies with beers from small breweries in Prague alone, so there is much more competition. The same applies to mini-breweries, which were around 50 at the time, while today there are ten times, “said Charvát, adding that he no longer intends to expand the number of his businesses.
“Of course, not all microbreweries brew great beer, but it has established itself here about fifty breweries that have at least a European level. This is another difference compared to the previous one, when the really good ones were scarce, “concluded Charvát.
At present, according to the Czech-Moravian Association of Mini-Breweries, there are around 480 mini-breweries in the Czech Republic. The microbrewery can produce a maximum of 10,000 hectoliters of beer per year, excise duties are reduced on this quantity. If he produced more, it would no longer be a mini-brewery.
The only flying brewery was established in Prague
Author: unsplash