Beer Styles

What is a Bohemian Pils? It's a pale, bottom-fermented beer in the Pilsner tradition, with a malty body, Saaz hops, and a bitterness that lingers long on the palate. The style guideline calls it Czech Premium Pale Lager. In Czech it's simply called ležák, meaning lager, a category that includes Pilsner beer itself.

How does it differ from German Pils? German Pils is usually paler and drier, with a clean, crisp malt profile. Bohemian Pils is more golden, has more malt sweetness in the body, and a rounder bitterness. According to the style guideline, its color ranges from 7 to 12 EBC, and bitterness from 30 to 45 IBU.

Two numbers help with classification. Original gravity indicates how much dissolved material was in the wort before fermentation, measured in degrees Plato. Fermentation converts this into alcohol. Czech brewers name their beers after this value: a Ten (desítka) has roughly 10 degrees, a Twelve (dvanáctka) roughly 12 degrees original gravity.

According to the brewery, Pilsner Urquell is a Twelve with 4.4 percent alcohol. Gambrinus Original 10, as the name suggests, is a Ten. Both are pale lagers from Pilsen, yet one tastes fuller and broader, the other leaner and lighter.

Important: the figures in the chart are a competition corridor, not a recipe requirement. Individual beers may fall above or below them. The label always states the exact value.