Beer Styles

What is Pardubický porter? It's a bottom-fermented, nearly black beer with an original gravity of 19°, brewed in Pardubice since 1890. It belongs to the Baltic Porter style, a strong, dark beer from the Baltic region, and tastes of caramel, coffee, and dried fruit.

How does porter differ from stout? English porter is top-fermented and leaner, and stout was originally an especially robust porter. Baltic Porter, by contrast, is brewed with bottom-fermenting yeast, making it stronger and giving it a smoother, rounder character.

Krakonoš from Trutnov represents the Czech dark lager style. It's lighter than the porter, with up to about 5.8% alcohol, and tastes more of bread crust than coffee. The brewery produces both pale and dark beers.

Primátor's wheat beer is a pale hefeweizen. According to the brewery, it has 4.8% alcohol and an original gravity of 12°, and it won an award at the World Beer Awards in 2013. It's hazy, smells of banana and clove, and is hopped noticeably less than the region's lagers.

The difference between porter and dark lager lies mainly in strength and sweetness. The dark lager drinks easily with a meal, while the porter is a beer for small glasses, better suited as a dessert pairing or with cheese.

Anyone who tastes all three styles side by side quickly notices that color alone doesn't determine character. The wheat beer is pale and hazy, the porter dark and heavy, and the lager from Trutnov dark yet light. Each style has its own place at the table.