Znojemské pivo

Appearance & taste

The main kinds are pale draught beer, dark draught beer and lager. The pale draught beer (3.2–4.0 % vol.) is more highly attenuated, with a fine bitterness, hop aroma, good head formation and a harmonious flavour. The dark draught beer (3.8–4.0 % vol.) is garnet red, less bitter and smells and tastes of malt and caramel. The lager (4.5–5.0 % vol.) is medium attenuated, fuller in flavour, with medium to more pronounced bitterness, a clean aroma and good head formation. According to the specification, the fine bitterness comes from the hop varieties used.

Production

It is brewed essentially from three raw materials: malt from two-row spring barley, hops of the varieties semi-early Saaz red hop and Magnum Hallertau as pellets and extract, and drinking water from the municipal supply without further treatment. The yeast is a bottom-fermenting strain.

In the brewhouse the malt is milled, mixed with water and mashed by the classic two-step method. The extract is boiled with the hops to make wort, separated from the spent grain and cooled. Main fermentation takes about seven days in open fermentation vats; the yeast then settles at the bottom. Depending on the kind, the young beer matures for 30 to 90 days at about 2 °C in lagering cellars connected to the historic underground passages of the town of Znojmo, clarifying and absorbing carbon dioxide in the process. Before being filled into kegs and bottles, it is filtered, stabilised and pasteurised.

Origin & history

The area is the district of Znojmo (Znaim).

According to the specification, the first reference to brewing in Znojmo dates from 1278. From the time of Charles IV, the “Losungsbuch” of 1363 survives, listing houses and citizens with brewing rights. In 1629 there were two independent municipal breweries, which merged in 1924; Znojmo thus became the centre of brewing in the lower Thaya valley (Podyje). After privatisation in 1993 the tradition of municipal brewing was continued. In Czechia the designation of origin was registered in 2002.