Královský Pivovar Krušovice: Krušovice Cerne

I apologize for my long delay. I'll have to admit, I probably could of found time in the past month to post on more beer. But with summer in full swing I've finally been getting to all the activities and fun I've was craving this past winter.

To prove my intentions, I'll inform you that I bought this Krušovice the second week of summer. But instead of cracking it open and and enjoying, I buried it deep in my fridge. After drinking handfuls of beers that I never reviewed, I finally found myself staring at this beauty.

Back in June, I picked out this Krušovice from the shelves because I really enjoyed every Krušovice I had in the Czech Republic. Even two years after that visit, I'm still surprised and giddy every time I found a solid Czech beer in American shops.

The Crene is not their flagship. Krušovice is known for their traditional pilsner (which I posted on earlier). But they brew a selection of good beers. This beer is very dark with only a hit of amber-brown coloring around the edges. Almost no head. The smell is very strong and pierces the senses with a burnt roasted coffee flavor. The taste is not as powerful as the smell and it has a thinner body for a dark beer, so finishing a pint or two isn't as difficult as you would imagine after first view. There's a touch of a hop bite, but the after taste of dark roasted malts is the predominate flavor.

While not my favorite from the brewery a Schwarzbier is a nice change of pace from american microbrews. I haven't tried all of Krušovice's craft, but I'm looking forward to stumbling onto more. Cheers.

Královský Pivovar Krušovice: Krušovice Imperial

Keeping with the foreign trend I bring to you Krušovice from the Czech Repblic. As beer drinkers know, the Czech people make killer Pilsners. Krušovice definitely fits into that class.

In Prague, Pat, Nick, Hof and I sampled the best of the best. And we all enjoyed Krušovice. But this is not a memory post. I drink Krušovice quite frequently. As Pat and Deidre can attest, Davis randomly has a Czech bar with both Krušovice Imperial and Krušovice Dark Lager on tap year round. Thus, the beer is also available as a result around town. It's quite wonderful.

Just to clarify the 'imperial' tag is not used in the American sense: this brew is not double alcohol content; its rests at the standard 5% amount by volume. That's just the name of their flagship pilsner.

As for the taste, the most prominent feature of this brew is the Saaz Hops flavors. It's the standard and oh so delicious hop taste you will find in any quality Czech pilsner. Powerful, clean, and crisp. I feel Krušovice sets itself apart from the other Czech beers for the shortness of this crisp taste. It's not an overpowering pils with very strong flavors and lingers on the palate. It's the hops you want but not much else. You can definitely throw back a few of these; doesn't matter you decide to go with the pint, bottle, or stein. But I think we all prefer the stein. Na zdraví. Cheers.