Beer Styles

What exactly is a Czech lager? It's a golden, bottom-fermented beer with a robust malt body and noticeable hop bitterness, considered a house beer throughout the Haná region and Ostrava alike, and classified as Czech Premium Pale Lager in the BJCP competition guidelines. North Moravia brews it in three versions: as a pale lager, a ten-degree beer, and a dark beer.

Compared to German Pils, Czech lager comes across as fuller and rounder. The BJCP bitterness range runs from 30 to 45 IBU, versus 22 to 40 for German Pils. There's also the slightly sweet malt note from decoction mashing, which German Pils typically lacks. By comparison, German Pils is drier, leaner, and more austere.

Breweries distinguish beers by original gravity: the ten-degree beer (desítka) is lighter and more drinkable, while the twelve-degree beer (dvanáctka) is fuller and more robust. At Radegast, "správně hořké," meaning "properly bitter," sums up the brand's whole approach: it markets itself on its pronounced hop bitterness.

Dark lager forms the second pillar. Czech dark lager combines roasted malt character with a lager's restraint. It tastes of bread crust and a hint of cocoa, and it's far less bitter than its color might suggest.

How does Moravian lager differ from the Bohemian lagers of Pilsen or Budweis? The difference lies more in the brands than in the method: Radegast leans into bitterness, Litovel into malt, and the Haná region supplies the barley behind it all. Taste closely, and you'll often find the softer, grainier side of Czech lager in the North, while the industrial region leans more bitter.