2004, June 6th , Brian left Ireland's shores on tour of Europe and European Cities for the next few months, sending his reports and experiences to us here - Prague, Budapest, Munich.... and many many more ..... Enjoy.

Part 2: Beer Review (beers 1 to 35)

Our goal is to drink 80 beers by the end and although at the beginning we thought this would be an easy target to hit, it's become apparent that it won't all be plain sailing - a lot of hard work is going to have to be put in to reach our goal. 

Beer Review

Altough we are compiling a beer list, there are a few
little things that have to b taken into account when
rating various beers. First of all, to really judge a
beer, you should spend the whole night drinking it, to
get a feel for it. Also some of the beers on our list
were bottles, and therefore not on draught, which is
what we would have perferred. Marks out of ten were
awarded, and some people might disagree with a few of
our decisions. But tough, it's our list......

Oh, and excuse the spellings!

Prague
1. Pilsner Urquell
Most common of all the Czech beers, refreshing crisp
taste, although found to lose it's quality after a few
pints 7/10

2. Gambrinus Light
Nice beer, similar to Pilsner, Steve and Damien
preferred it to Pilsner, I didn't 7/10

3. Gambrinus Dark
Drinkable dark beer in a country not known for it's
dark beers. More of a nod to dark beer than anything
else 5.5/10

4. Brannik
Not a great beer, we thought it was quite bland
compared to the beers we had previously that day
4.5/10

5. Bernard Light
Wheaty tasty beer, best we had in Prague. Not easy to
find, but was in our local, a music bar where one
night some woman kept lifting her top of to show her
boyfriend her chest 9/10

6. Bernard Dark
Mix betweeen Smithwicks and Guinness, not fantastic,
may struggle with it if not a stout drinker 5/10

7. Kelt Stout
"Like drinking a can of Guinness out of an empty
peanut packet" - Steve
Salted peanut packet, according to Steve. Mark liked
it 4/10

8. Staropramen Sveltly
Very nice beer, although not as nice as out of a
bottle at home 7/10

9. Staropramen Granat (semi dark)
A good cross between light and dark beer 7/10

10. Krusovice
Another excellent beer, one of the best, drank a lot
of it in Pizzeria Einstein, served to us by waitress
who we all had a thing for (someone you could bring
home to your mother!) 8/10

11. Budvar
Common, Americans would love it. Mark was very
disappointed with it, him being a Budvar drinker back
home 5/10

12. Velvet
Very creamy dark beer, got it in "Rocky O'Reilly's
Irish Bar", similar to Kilkenny and Caffreys 6/10

13. Kosel Dark
Nice beer, similar again to Smithwicks 6/10

14. Starobrno
Very smooth, light and refreshing. Very drinkable 7/10

15. Platan (Btl)
Very nice beer, crisp, similar to Franziskaner Kristal
6.5/10

16. D
Bland enough beer, brought to us by the same people
who brought us Staropramen. Lads think its worse than
Budweiser, I don't agree 1/10

17. Kosel Light (Btl)
A step above "D", bland enough 2/10

18. Samson (Btl)
Similar to Budvar, who make it, drunk by that type of
person 5/10

19. Radegast (Btl).
No taste whatsover. Sh1t. 1/10

20. Rytir (Btl)
Better than Radegast, but unusual taste 2/10

21. Zlatopramen (Btl)
That's more like it. Crisp, tasty beer 6/10

22. Primus (Btl)
Quite nice, surpirisingly tasty. Damien is not sure
about it however 5.5/10

23. Klasik (Btl)
Boring enough 3/10

---
Myself and Damien took it very handy in Budapest,
having done a rediculous amount of boozing in Prague.
So, we probably didn´t get some main beers. But, we
got a few
----

24. Dreher Light
Very good beer, easy to drink, and everywhere sells it
7/10

25. Dreher Dark
We think this is Dreher dark, but not sure. Damien
didn´t like it, I thought it was alright, if a bit
heavy 5/10

26. Borsodi (Btl)
Quite impressive beer, clean taste, but loses its
taste after a while 6/10

27. Tikettes (Btl)
Slight smokey, meaty taste, very strange, not great
but gets better as you drink it 5/10

28. Szalon (Btl)
Again slight smokey taste to begin, weak, it´s label
suggests 4.8% surprisingly. Gets better as you drink
it 5,5/10

29. Zlaty Bazant (Btl)
An average beer, drank while having pizza 5/10

30. Kobanyai (Btl)
Only ok average beer 4.5/10

31. Arany Aszok (Btl)
Same as above 4.5/10

32. Soproni Aszok Quite a good refreshing beer, very
enjoyable 6,5/10

33. Steffl (Btl)
A very good strong beer worthy of 6,5/10

34. Kaiser (Btl)
Austrian beer, I think, another good beer not as good
as Steffl 6/10

35. Borosyzan
A very good beer according to Damien, I thought it was
only ok 6,5/10
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