Why are there two placemats? Because there's one through 10, or one through 12, I mean. How many Czech... Roger brought up Brophy's worth of beer for once. How many Czech Dark Lagers exist? I thought it was dark Czech Lagers. Is it Czech Dark Lagers? Czech Dark Lagers. Not dark Czech Lagers? So Czech is the modifier. Yep. I call bullsh**. I know a bunch of them are from Chicago. Bro, do you give us unsalted walnuts? Yep. Communist Russia? What? In Soviet Russia, walnuts salt you. It's the tasting note. Apples? Unsalted walnuts and red delicious apples? These are not how dairy is, sir. Walnuts are my favorite nuts. This is a stereospolip. I do not have a food plate. Walnuts are a lot of people's favorite nuts when they taste like something. Well, la dee da. Where am I supposed to put 12 beers? On the mats. I ain't got a computer here. How do you have a computer there? How am I supposed to ignore what Roger's saying while checking my emails? Your phone? I actually do kind of feel bad for Roger. Look on his faces. Nobody is taking Czech Dark Lager seriously. Yeah, and I put a lot of time and effort into this. I'm taking this very seriously. I actually bought one of these last year. Like for fun? Yeah. Oh my God. I don't know what this is. I still don't believe it's a thing. We're doing a podcast. We've been doing it for like six years. You're in work right now. I'm ultimately wearing. That is a decent apple. I had one. It is a pretty good apple. Greg Hall has one of the apples he has tattooed on his body. I saw him the other night. Just think of his sweaty forearm, his hairy sweaty forearm. We have a photo of it. Yeah. Hey, welcome back to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. For the last six months, Roger has been teasing us that we're gonna do a Czech Dark Lager episode. So it's late, and we all wanna be home, and here we are. I swear to God, I've never had a Czech Dark Lager. What are you talking about? Shut the hell up, yes, you have. No, I haven't, name one. Well, Roger, name one. Art history, you've drank many Czech Dark Lagers. He's messing with you. Art history, Veritas is one. It is a thing in beer now. It's a growing style trend. Roger has been on this, tooting the horn about this for quite a while now. Championing. Yeah, so, and more importantly, he's brought a Brophy acceptable amount of things to try. A lot of beer. And we're trying them blind. So, whose favorite dark lager is going to be the PBR of the round? Look how dark it is. It's so dark. I didn't think it would be this dark. Not just to clever it in. It's so Czech. So again, Greg, this is with you and mine. This is beer-flavored beer. This is beer for adults. But before we get started, who's here today? You're listening to Barrel to Bottle. Did we do that part? Yeah, I did that part. Yes, he did that part. Say who you are and where you're from. I'm Greg. I do communications at Binny's. Council Bluffs, Iowa. The home of less soils, blown, windswept across Nebraska. He knows what he's talking about, but it's annoying. Hey, it's Pat. I write things and talk about things. Greg, communications at Binny's. Jenna, communications at Binny's. Chris, wine at Binny's. Jim, communications at Binny's. I'm Roger. I do beer here, and I champion beer-flavored beer whenever I have the chance. Also, talk about lagers whenever I have the chance. Much to my surprise, if someone were to bet me money what the next big style would be that a bunch of local brews would make, never in a million years would I guess it would be Czech Dark Lager. Right? Like some kind of raspberry sour milkshake. It's crazy. But I think in a lot of ways, it speaks to some of the things we've said on our podcast before. We've been called curmudgeonly our aversion to smooch. Wait, who said that? It's a hazy backlash. No, we got hate mail once because I made fun of smooch. We all made fun of smooch. Yeah, but I made fun of it most vociferously. So, I think part of the reason, I mean, in all fairness, we have about three or four Czech Dark Lagers from the Czech Republic. We now carry- Praga, baby. Love Praga. Twice as many from local breweries. Like, take a minute to appreciate that. That's crazy. Yeah. And I think part of the reason is that it's an easy beer to love. It's interesting in that it's dark, but it is not heavy. So, we've often lauded beers like Guinness, draft in that it's super light, it's flavorful, but it's not heavy. It's not a heavy beer. And Czech Dark Lager is a bit like that. The other thing, to speak Greg's language, I think there's a band analogy here. It kind of reminds me of when people in college would find a band and part of the reason they loved it was that it was new, it was their band. Talking about Greg with Rush. No, Greg with Good Bands. So, it was new to you and when you talked about it, no one had ever heard of it, right? I mean, we've all met people like that where they're all excited about a band because they kind of discovered it. I think there's a factor to Czech Dark Lager. There's the Utes out there that are getting kind of tired of hazies and beers that everybody's been talking about. And Czech Dark Lager is something that both their parents, no one wants to like what the old people like, don't know what it is, and their contemporaries don't either. So, it's like, it's ironic in that it's hundreds of years old. It's the anti-old man beer. It's been around forever, but it's so new to everyone because it was an unknown thing here. Cream of wheat is going to make a comeback. The other thing that I think influenced it was the popularity of what's called a Luger Faucet. So, people started making Czech Pilsners and seeing these beautiful pours in the big dimpled mug with the wet, you know, creamy big head of foam. And they're like, that's awesome. Luger, L-U-K-R, is a Czech draft beer equipment manufacturer. And they make these beautiful wood-handled, all-brass draft systems that have hop cones carved into solid brass on top of the fountains that pour the beer and stuff. And you can do the Czech style slow pour. Slow pour. But more importantly, in the Czech Republic, there's four different ways commonly to pour a beer. And the Luger Faucet can do all of it there. It's a side-pull faucet. They're really cool. Look them up on Instagram. It's like the best beer file on Instagram. The best part is it's not beer branded. It's just about the draft equipment and how beautiful the beer is when it's poured. Some foam, half foam, all foam. Oh, really? Okay, three of them. Yeah, like the Milko. The Milko. Yeah. So if you've ever used a traditional chet tap, the mistake everyone makes when they try to pull a beer for the first time is to only open the faucet a little bit. And that's a misnomer because it's just on or off. And the beauty of the Luger is that it's a ball valve, so you can open it partially and then you can mitigate how much foam you get. And the foam, the most important thing is that there's a micro screen in there, and the foam ends up being what they call wet foam. It has a higher portion of beer in it. Dense and creamy. When you do the Milko pour where it looks literally like a mug full of foam. Kind of like a nitro. You can actually drink the foam as opposed to just being like, thanks, like what am I supposed to do with this? Put it on my face for shaving cream? Like it actually pours and you can drink it. It's photogenic. That's also my theory of people don't read books anymore. They want to look at stuff on social, and these pours look beautiful. Much like a German slow pour, the foam looks really gorgeous. Unlike a slow pour, it's actually a fast pour process. So whereas everyone's sitting at the beer bar being like, when's my damn Pilsner going to be ready? Part of the reason they invented this in the Czech Republic is that they drink more beer per capita than any nation in the world. And have for many decades. And they need to crank that out. Like there are videos of people just, it's on and it's just nonstop. They're filling glasses. Greg, it's like every person who patrons a bar there is you or me. Oh my. That's a lot of work. Yeah. And then they're like, man, these guys are funny. I wonder if they know how funny they are. So let's set the stage for what we're going to do here today. I brought one of every of the craft examples of this made in the Illinois market that's available right now, as well as four of the examples from the Czech Republic. Jim is going to pour these for us blind. So the idea here is to drink these comparatively. So I figured we would take a little over like initial impressions of these, take a little sip, smell them, maybe jot some notes. But then eventually we'll just taste all of them next to one another. And then I can talk about the history behind the breweries they're from or the American craft breweries approach to the style. That means we have to go fast up front. Yeah, man, my apples are turning brown. What are you doing? Yeah. So then I brought a couple. So I'm always trying to get you to think about beer and food. And two of the classic descriptors for Czech Dark Lager. I didn't even get my goose breast out. Where's the goose breast? Pat brought goose breast and some kind of creamery cheese. Oh, nice. Yeah, do you want it? You want it? As opposed to non-creamery cheese? There's cheese and we didn't bring out the cheese. And smoked goose breast. What the hell? Dang. Oh, it's prepared? Dude, it looks like bacon. It looks like some broth. It's fully cooked. Oh. So two of the descriptors for Czech Dark Lager are dark fruit or fruity and then nutty. My idea here was just to, two things I had on hand that I thought would be delicious. I often describe when I'm writing the descriptors for these, walnut, and I'm thinking of literally just crack a walnut, walnut. So that's bitter. Pat was joking. It's bitter and creamy, like on the palate, it's fleshy. Exactly, perfect, that those two descriptors are spot on. So these beers, especially depending on what beer the brewery is emulating can be anywhere from very sweet to very dry. So we're going to see a combination of the two, and a lot of the Chicago breweries, ironically, are modeling their beer after this one specific Czech brewery, who makes a much roaster, dryer, nuttier example. I think number one fits that category. I agree. Number one, number one. So are we doing the quick tasting and then telling people what they are, so that they know when we don't know right up front? All right. So yeah, number one. Number one, Midnight Orange. Midnight Orange. Number one, Lev Lion Dark Lager. This is number one. It is kind of walnutty. It's dry. It's very dry. There's no sweetness here at all. And you said fruit and nut. Yeah. So it's also a very expansive style as far as like, okay, so is this going to be the level of fruitiness can be varied from almost like none to really rich plum. Plum is a big descriptor, but other dark fruits, berry fruits, orchard fruit, the nuttiness can vary, the sweetness can vary. So there's a lot of, it's not so much like hard and fast, what exactly you're going to have here. But also there should be- Roger, you're telling me not only something called Czech Dark Lager exists, but also it's all over the map. Yes. A lot of these two, part of the appeal I think is that they are lower alcohol. So we're seeing trend in like lower alcohol options, NA options. So not everybody wants, a lot of these IPAs are like 7 percent and up. So this is definitely a standout in the shelf in that a lot of these are like in the four and a half percent range right on. So like typical old school beer, not IPA land type of beer. I mean, this is really interesting because this number one, it's very, very dark. I think dark for the style, looks almost like a Schwarz beer or something. It's super dark. It's almost Guinness. You can see a little bit of light shining through in like a red highlight sort of way. Yeah. And then there's a good tan cream head on top. Yeah. And it's very, very dry. And indeed, there is some walnutty bitterness on the finish. Yeah. I will give you that there's a fruitiness here that you would think equate with ales. Like that is kind of an interesting component of it. Yeah. But it's a lot of this one. But it has pretty lean finish. Yeah. I gave you that plate just to, sorry, to make it easier for you. Pat's over in the corner slicing up. Pat's in the basement mixing up the medicine. What it looks like. Dude. Jim. I'm good. No. Come on. I want cheese. Smoked goose. I've never been a big goose guy. Do I have to eat the fatty part? Can you wash the knife? I don't mind when you just wash the knife. Do I have to? No. Yeah. But you're missing out on most of the flavor. I'll eat like the meat. Please, sir, can I have some more goose? It's delightful goose. Boy, go get me the fattest goose in the market. What day is it today? It's Christmas, Mr. Scrooge. I watched them up at Christmas with my kids. A classic. Michael Caine is a gem. Yeah, he's the best. He's amazing. All right, so here's our second expression. Number two. Dovetail, Czech Dark Lager. Color-wise, this one's a little lighter. More tanned. Yeah. Same fine, lacy, beady head. I was going to say, they both manage a very fine, creamy head. You smell that apple? It's like green apple. I've got a Luger Tap back here. Right? It's like it has a brightness. Stone fruit brightness. Oh, man. Yeah, nice and dry. Like I no longer is in the name, but because they're so dark, I keep expecting them to be very heavy, like all of these barrel-aged beers, and they're so light. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely dry again, but a little, I don't know, more caramely maltiness up front. Brighter. Yeah. Which is to say we've gone from like dark roast chocolate to like light roast chocolate and cedar, like something like that. Cedar is a good call. It's very, very, very dry still though. Yeah, it is. Boudre. Take a sip of this and then think of drinking just a Pilsner. A lot of these are going to be made with Saz hops. That's the hop of the Czech Republic. This clearly expresses that Saz character. For people that try a Pilsner and think, oh, this is plain Jane for me or it's too hoppy, this is a great example of if you balance that out with a little bit of Caramel malt, you get some balance, those hops are more nuanced, they're less on your face. But in the finish of this, you definitely check. Check. You don't taste the Czech hop sauce. Yeah, for sure. To John's point, it's a light and refreshing dark beer. Yes. Than anything heavy, which is what so many people misunderstand about malt bills in beers, right? Just because it's dark doesn't mean it's sweet, doesn't mean it's overly rich, it can be light on its feet. Very much so. An even more obscure beer that we've seen a few breweries do would be a Schwartz beer, which is the German equivalent of this. I would say Schwartz beer is we don't have as many examples here in the US. The one that gets talked about the most is Kostritzer, which is fine. It's a little anemic, in my opinion, it's there, it's too thin, and it's very roasty, so it's almost too thin to support the level of roast. I've definitely talked to some brewers who are like, I'm not making a Schwartz beer, they're boring. And I'm like, are you saying, because, you know, Coastritzer is boring? Like, yes, this is why you're a craft brewer, like you can make a good one. Right? I mean, Metropolitan, you know, RIP, that was probably their best beer. And their Schwartz beer had a ton of character. Yeah, that's a bit silly that they, because the one brand that's predominant, predominant in this market is lacking in character. It doesn't mean that you have to make one. It's the exact reason to have a craft example. So if you had had Schwartz beer and you like it, or you've been curious about it, this is a style that's sort of akin. And especially a lot of the Chicago examples of people doing this, they have that level of roast that would be more akin to a Schwartz beer. That number Jack cheese is delicious. It's really good. Number three, Praga Dark Lager. Number three is a beautiful chestnut brown color. This is the first one that smells like lager. It has a little bit of funfair weirdness. It does smell like lager. This definitely to me, another kindred style would be Bach beer. And this to me has that kind of rich, deeply caramelized malt character that you find in several box and doppel box. This would be more akin to a Bach, which usually if people have had a Bach, they probably had a Mybach or a Doppelbach. But just a standard Bach, you know, that would be like good old Shinerbach down in Texas. There's a little on the sweet side. It is the South after all. Hey, your tea stinks. Hey, this one is really good. This might be my favorite so far. I think I prefer the simplicity and the one-dimensional punch at number one. I like that it's toasty and caramelized and reasonably round and rich on the mid-palate, but then it finishes up just crisp and dry on the end. It is all that. I really like this one. It's not nearly as bone dry as the first two examples, but it is by no means sweet. Also, I call shenanigans. Roger, you're cueing these up like you were reading off of notecards. Do you know the order here? No, I have had these probably more than a lot of people since I've always been interested in them, but this one to me, I'd be willing to bet quite a bit of money that this is one from the Czech Republic versus Chicago interpretation in that. You had pointed out local producers are aiming at one of- Very nice with the goose by the producers there. There's a place called Ufleku, which has been operating in Prague since 1499. Johnny Kamley. Everybody that goes there, it's like a transformative experience for them to go to this place. I actually think a big part of it is that we're paralyzed by choice here. Yes. There's too many beers here, and it's so refreshing to walk into a place and they're like, you want a beer? I'm like, yeah, we have a beer. And they just hand you one and you're like. I went to that place in Toronto. It was a little disappointing. Oh my God, this goose with this number three. Sorry, Greg. I'm not in, but it looks like a roast. It looks like corned beef. A little bit, yeah. If you take the fatty stuff off, it's pretty good. No, you got to leave the fatty stuff on. Yeah, the fatty stuff is just literally fat. It's delicious. I can only chew through so much per bite, though. I can eat it all. You got a handful of butter. I can only have so much of that. There's no limit to butter either. Like my dog and Spear Gnome. You drop a pound of Irish butter on the floor, I'm fighting your dog for it, for sure. All right, we get another one, Jim. Here we go. Number four, Half Acre Czech Dark Lager. Number four, this is what I was talking about with the inspired by Ufleku. Definitely dark and it has more of a roast character to me than some of the other ones. It's a little sweeter than number one, but it's still pretty dry, pretty biscuity. It's a little sweeter and I think it's a little bit pulled back on some of the hop character we saw in some of the earlier ones too. The finish is pretty easy going. Yeah. One time I took a nap and then I woke up and I was like, I think I could probably fall back asleep again. That's the best kind of nap. I'm talking about this beer. I'm talking about these beers right here. I like this beer. This beer is a very good minus. My only complaint is that it needs a little more hop lift. Right. Other than that, it's hitting all the right notes. It's clean, it's dry, it's roasty. It's got a dried malt toastiness to it. I like everything about this. It is the most dark chocolate. Yeah. I agree with everything that's just been said. And precisely what I was trying to say is that it's very nice. I wish there was just a little bit more hop cut at the end. I bet it's from Chicago. Yes, I think this is probably a Illinois one. Yeah. Oh, Jenna's Goose is pretty damn good with the fat. Yeah. Ufleku? Ufleku. I feel you. It just melts away. It's delightful. Great goose, right? Really good. They smoked the goose? Smoked goose breast. I want to drive out there and buy some now. Gone for the year. Oh, man. There's goose all over the place. They did get enough goose livers for the goose liver pate, which is, quote, loaded with pork fat. I only had goose once before and it was at Silver Oak and I actually like this better. I mean, also, having made a whole goose before, you are much better served buying a breast. Yeah, they're fat and bone. Fat and bone, yeah. You never made one, man. You'd want to for years. And they cost a fortune, which is like, these things are everywhere. Very true. Sorry, Greg, let's talk about this goose cooking for a little more. This is just like the first 25% of the show. This is why I love it when people give me wild shot goose. Wow. This is a roasty coffee-ish mocha boy. Hey, hey, hey. Your goose is cooked. Number five. Off-color, 10 crowns, Czech Dark Lager. All right. It is, no, it's super roasty. Roasty mocha coffee. Yeah. This one woke me up too. I bet this one is local. Yeah, the hazelnutty. I bet this one is fresh and American made. Look at that dense and glorious head. This is like the most coffee. It's so tightly knit. The most coffee of what we had. Medium roast coffee with some cream in it. This is the most Greg of the beer so far. Yeah. No, I'm super into number five right here. Good job. Whoever made number five. It smells like such a roast coffee. It's the sweetest yet too. It's fresh. It's fresh. It's youthful. This has got to be the most recently bottled canned. It's very fresh. It's sweet up front, but it's got that roasty, grainy huskiness on the finish. Try that one with the walnut. Okay. If you insist I will. Yeah. It's got that walnut almost walnut tannin-like feel to it. Yeah. The walnut skin. Oh, yeah. Okay. Does everybody eat cheese and nuts on the microphone for a minute? Number six, Brow Check, Dark Lager. So I suggest trying number six with the apple I brought, which is the good old Arkansas black. Is that what it is? I've been wondering. So Arkansas black, one of the weirdest apples, hard as a rock. They tell kids, don't throw these at each other because you kill someone with them. That just encourages them to do it more. Yeah, right. So you need to let these sit. They literally have to sit for a couple months after you pick them. And then the flesh goes from white to yellow, they get waxy on the outside and it turns into this. You ever keep apples for a while and you're like, oh, they're mushy now, they lose that crispiness. Yeah, you get mealy. These apples are picked like over two and a half months ago and you get that crunch. So, and this beer, I think, has some of that. What a Roger episode. The first thing I thought was right in the nose, there's loads of apple. To be red delicious. They weren't mealy and disgusting. That's about the extent. I just wanted to insult Roger by calling them red delicious earlier. I knew they were not red delicious. Try this beer and again for something that if you handed somebody something this dark, I mean, it's dark. It is so light. It just pillowy soft on the palate. Just like, it's pretty delicious. On the palate, the only thing that would- I think it tastes kind of old in the finish though. Well, that's lager, right? I mean, it's dry. There is not even any sweetness in this. I mean- It's like lager without the lift. Like, it doesn't spring back up and it doesn't get crispy. I don't know. I'd say that this, again, sometimes people call Schwarzbeer black pills, and this is almost kind of like a black pill. I bet this one's European. You think this one's European, Roger? I'm on the fence. I think maybe. I am also on the fence with this one. It has a little bit of malty sweetness up front, but finishes very dry and has a lot of fruitiness to it. It needs like this much more hops, like just a little crisp smack of hops at the end. That's the thing with this style is you really got to walk the line because it's not supposed to be a hoppy style. It's supposed to be soft and malty with just enough hop bite to bring it into the line. Maybe if it was three months younger or something like that, like an Atlantic voyage younger. Oh, I see what you're saying. And then it turns out that it's from like the south side. The long, long voyage. Yeah. Through the Suez and Panama canals. All right, let's get number seven. Number seven. Art history veritas. Oh, also a very dark one. Most hops of any of them. Love it. By far. Love it. Oh yeah. Not most, but it has like a mocha roast and cream. Yeah. Right up front. There's lots of coffee, lots of. It's bigger, which isn't to say it's extreme. It's just like more present up front with both a bitterness and a cream, and then it finishes like dry and hoppy. I like this one. I mean, the nose is like coffee and herbs together. Yeah. Herbaceous, one of my favorite descriptors. Yeah. It's really good. It's right behind mineral. Oh, and yeah, the hop cut is definitely much more present there on the finish. I don't think any of these use American hops, but the herbal element is bordering on sprucey, which makes me think of American hops. It's almost piney. This is my favorite of the day so far. Yeah. Piney. Like literally a pine two by four. It's so light on the palate, but it also conveys a certain creaminess. This is very well done. I'm putting a star next to number seven right there. Nice foam too. It's like that cappuccino foam. All about it. On number seven, my note was IPA and most body so far. Because the IPA, like the hop, that bitter hopiness. Yeah. It's a crispy boy. Roger, are you ready for number eight? Revolution progress. Number eight, I think has the most lagerish nose as far as this is like yeasty and bready in that champagne sense from the champagne buyer pick episode that Alicia brought. Like this is a yeasty fermenty nose. Also, the hop strike me is slightly floral here as well as herbaceous. Very creamy, dense hat again. Very, very dark color. Nice balance on this. I feel like it's not as, well, obviously not as austere as the last one, but... Oh, that's good. I think it has a vanilla sweetness at the front of the palate. And yeah, it's fine. It's like pudding. Yeah, this definitely has the most multi-richness, perhaps. I like this a lot. And it has like an autumnal leaf quality at the end. I can see that. Yeah, a little bit of earthiness. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. Okay, so I don't like it up front, but it's a grower. Like as I taste it, I'm like, oh, oh, hey, hey, guy. Again, one of the things I mentioned with these beers when I've been writing them up, is their food pairing potential is like off the charts. It's been sad the last few years to see Bohemian and Czech restaurants cease to be. They were a fixture of the Chicagoland area. I grew up personally going to many of them and always loved them. One of the signature dishes at any of these places was duck. It was very apropos that Brof brought us some goose. Goose and duck, both classic dishes and Czech cuisine, and they pair beautifully with these beers. This smoked one, I think, is even more so because there's the roasty note in these. What a beautiful pairing. But in general, part of the reason to get excited about this style is that it is so great with dinner because it's flavorful but it's light. So it's not going to fill you up like another dark beer, be it a stout or a porter, Scotch ale, anything that's darker and richer and sweeter. This is just so pillowy light and it's going to compliment the food without just being too weighty. Like a hoppy, hoppy, hoppy beer is not going to compete with spice and stuff like that. Let me just point out, there's also a beautiful Christmas goose recipe on the website. By somebody. Number nine. Number nine, number nine. I only understand the Simpsons joke, which is number eight. Number eight. Number nine. Samson, Dark Lager. This one smells like lager again, but it's like- I don't like this one. I call it green bottle. I think this smells grainy and fermenty, almost like it needs more time lagering, or it's just like toast malt and leanish. I don't know that it's skunked, but it smells unfinished. One? Sadly, like every import, I think. That is bulls**t. Figure it out. It's 2023. It's bonkers, and you'd think they'd be dark enough at this point that it would filter some of it out. I will say Saws Hops have an herbal character to them that are grassiness, not so much herbal as grassy. It leans on the cusp of the light struck phenomenon. Still, I bet in the farm on that this is an import and a boring one at that. Whoa, rough. Anybody else have anything to follow that? I think that's about right. It stinks. All right. Number 10. But we're still passing number 10, so I'm just filling dead air here with my voice. It stinks. It stinks. Number 10. Hopewell's Certified Czech Dark Lager. Number 10. Huge fan of number 10. It's like sauce, but it's like graham crackers. It's like the graham cracker of the bunch. It's very rich and creamy compared to a lot of them too. It has some lager bitterness, but it comes across as complexity and not weird. The finish is hops. I mean, they're spicy. Spicy boy. No doubt. Mocha roast too. Oh, man. This baby's got it all. Number 10 is getting the store. Yeah, it's really good. Really, really good. It's got body. It's got texture. It's got deliciousness and it has appropriate hop cup. It has a mixed bubbly laced head that has both big and tiny bubbles. Tiny bubbles. Definitely has like a crema on top there. Hawaiian Dark Lager. Roger. Good name for a nitro beer. Number 11. Already we're moving on to number 11. Oh, I mean, 10 is awesome. I think, I just, I definitely want to- 10 is up there for best of the day. Yeah. Number 11. Art History Wenceslas. These go to 11. 11. Dude, I got the best guitar pedal. It goes to 11? Seen it. It does indeed go to 11. Oh, this is so creamy. Damn, Jim. Leaving these heavy hitters for the end. This is really good. Great mix of malt sweetness with hot bitterness. Wow. Yeah, we're really building to a crescendo here. This, the hops are most- This is unbelievable. The body is incredibly creamy. It's sweeter. I think you guys are responding to it because it's notably sweeter than- Oh, it definitely is. Many of the past forms. It definitely is. But it also has the most hot character. It's really bitter too though. It's got a lot of herbal bitterness. West Coast IPA is amazing, and everybody wants a session barley wine. That's how I understand things. That's definitely from Chicago. That's definitely from somebody who knows how to make bitter. Hey, settle down and eat this goose fat. You enjoy that. I'm going to have some Pepper Jack and black sargassum apple. What do you call this apple? Black Arkansas. Actually, it's Arkansas black, but since he said black sassam frass or whatever he just said. Sargassum. Sargassum. Black sargassum. Roger's definitely into Black Oak Arkansas. Jim Dandy to the rescue. Go Jim Dandy, go. Why do we have these guys on? When do we get to start complaining about how late it is and why this is going so slow? If he's going to be doing this. You're right. Right. Number 11. It is bigger. It's bolder. It's uncut. My fingers are slick with goose fat. Okay. Mine too. Somebody sent help. This goose is the best. It is really good. That one is a standout for sure. Standout. Hell yeah. It's tied with 10 for me right now. I'm going to retaste them all before final judgment. 10 is nuttier. Which is a biblical end to Czech lagers. The Ethiopian mid roast, medium roast compared to 11's big old IPA. Yeah. 11's really good. Holy s***. We have one more? Nope. That's all. Oh. Why is there a number 12? Why is there a number 12? How are you going to leave us one short? It's the template, dude. Number 12 is for Tom. I know you're going to be listening to this at some point from Goldfinger. I really wish that we had Tom's Czech Dark Lager because it was one of my favorites. He needs to brew it again. He used this Moravian barley that Sugar Creek propped up from a sample they got from a seed bank in Europe. Damn. What are you talking about, Moravia? Yeah. Where is that? That's part of the Czech Republic. No, that's the planet that the bad guys were on in the 8th Star Wars movie. No. You're thinking of Ghostbusters 2. Oh, yeah. The Scourge of Moravia. Let's pop culture reference. You're talking about Vigo Carpenter. Moravia is in Czechoslovakia historically. Yeah. So when you talk about Bohemia, that was- Yeah, indeed. You say it's Bohemian like you? Yes. All right, I'm going to re-taste 11 beers very quickly. I'm going to re-taste one, two, three, four. So yeah, re-taste some of them, see what the standouts are. I mean, if you want to rank them, you can, but I think it's fun to just give credit where credit's due. Why do we do this if we're not going to rank them? One, five, seven, ten, 11. And 11 is tough. I guess I should have written some notes. Hey, three kicks ass. What are you talking about three kicks ass? Oh, man. Three is like if you left kicks ass with an Arnold Plummer out in the sun. I see where you're coming from with that. It does have a black tea note. That's pretty funny. Five is delicious. It's like a cappuccino. Five tastes American. Yeah. Yep. It's so coffee-ish. Yeah. I love American beer. Ten's all right. You know what? I think I'm less in love with it than I was before. So Jim, what's the deal? The second half was just the better beers? Eleven is the man. Yeah. It sure seems like it. Suck it, one through six. Okay. I think Jim wanted us to make sure that we got a baseline of the Czech examples. I think a lot of the Czech ones are in the first batch. Are you ready to reveal? Yeah. Nine is the worst of the second half. Nine stinks. Number two is bad also. What is the thing you're doing? Is that what you don't want to say? Oh, no. There's a chemical flaw in number two. We're whispering about number two. It's like apple skin. This is a poison problem. Okay. So, I wrote down one word next to all of them, like the first thing that came to my mind when I tried all of them and I put grass next to number two, which I feel like is not supposed to be there. Roger, we made it through. We have tasted 11 different apparently dark Czech lagers, Czech Dark Lagers, and we have- Just don't call them a CDL. I am not on board with that. Commercial drivers lagers? Exactly. Cascadian Dark Lager? Wait, Cascadia has a Dark Lager too? Tom and Goldfinger is making one of those. Yeah, let's go, baby. Wait, Tom of Tom's Dark Lager? Tom of Tom's Charitable Shoes? Now, Goldfinger is making a Cascadian. That's their tongue in cheek at the whole CDL thing. All right. Are we doing the reveals now? Yeah. Oh, okay. Number one, Praga. Oh, Lev, the Black Lion. Literally never heard of this before in my life. Hey, Brown Glass, not bad. It got a good plus from me. I got a star exclamation point. Star exclamation point? You loved it that much? Well, I mean- What does star exclamation point mean? Star. I've literally never seen that bottle in my life. Same. Yeah, no, not aware that this is a thing. It looks like some 1950s TV ad. Roger, where did you buy these? Miskas Corner Store? So I smelled every single one and then sipped everyone, and then wrote one word that I thought immediately came to my mind after I smelled and tasted each one, and I wrote sourdough next to this one. Sourdough. Yeah, I like that. Very much think it has a bit of tang to it. Lev is, we've had this on our shelves for years. It's a pretty old brewery, 1834. The beer that they're probably more well known for is the Czech Rebel series of beers, which aren't really available here anymore, but they were, and that's kind of, you know. But Lev endures, I don't have a ton of info about it. Sometimes with these foreign websites, it's tough. Who always blames the website. Damn spotting. 4.7% alcohol, so moderate. $2.99 for a half-liter bottle. Okay. If somebody was like, hey, do you want another Lev? I'd be like, all right. Yeah. Nothing wrong with it. Yeah. Yeah, it's fine. It definitely tastes more like what I remember Czech Dark Lager tasting like. So it has some fruitiness, it has a little sweetness. It doesn't have much roastiness, if any. It's got that plummy kind of character to it and caramel. It's not sweet, but it's not super dry either. Yeah. Kind of Bach-esque. So if you like Bach beer, I think you'd like this. Number two. Dovetail, Czech style Dark Lager. Well, something's up with this. That's too bad. Yeah. I don't get it. I very much pick up acid aldehyde on this. For those that aren't familiar, that either presents typically as green apple or for me, it's more of a latex paint, raw pumpkin. I couldn't think of when you're carving a pumpkin. Yeah. For sawing. Exactly. What is that? What did you say? That is the ancient precursor to Halloween. Okay. Cool. You missed the Dingle Distillery Podcast. Oh yeah, I forgot about Dingle. I wouldn't say I missed it. Gourd carving galore. I mean, it's one of those, it's like having a lightstruck beer, like I just can't get past that smell. It's pretty prominent. It's definitely got that raw pumpkin. And to be fair, Dovetail makes great beers, but I don't know. Not this. Number three. Number three. Praga. Praga. Love Praga. I gave this a very good. Have always loved Praga, even though it's green glass. And I felt like you could taste maybe a tinge of that, but not a ton. It was acceptable, but sweet. I mean, definitely when Chris was talking earlier about like, you know, Czech Lagers, Czech Dark Lagers, definitely had a reputation before they were a thing as being on the sweeter side, kind of like a sweeter Bach. And that's kind of how I. Hell yeah. I mean, I did not have a reputation. I'm glad I like this. This is a beer I've always championed. Here's your background on Praga. So Praga is a brand that was created in 2004 and it's contracted at Samson, which, spoiler alert, is one of the other beers here. So you had both the Praga and the Samson, and we'll talk more about Samson when we reveal that one. Locally grown barley, malted in house, local sawzops, and it's open vat for mentors and loggered for 50 to 60 days. That's a respectable damn loggering time. I'll tell you that much. Maybe they shouldn't do it. Maybe they should keep it a little fresh. Well, maybe only adults should drink their beer. I think your beef with this is probably that it needs more hops. I think you said that in your description. Yep. The next one I said was very good but needs hops. Number four. What is that? Oh, half acre. Half acre. Half acre made of Czech Dark Lager? Czech Dark Lager. When did this come out, Roger? This was pretty recently. So when I started writing about these in the Beer Buzz, I did Rev first, then Dovetail, then half acre. So within the last couple of months, the half acre delivered more hops. Number four. Still not enough. 5.1% alcohol. The malt bill on this is floor malted Pilsner, Vienna, Kara Bohemian. It is really good. Caraffa Special 3. And then it's hopped with Tradition. So it's a type of Hallertau and Saz. Huh. Solid beer. Yeah. Very good. Number 5. I gave this very good plus and guessed it was American. This one got a star. I love the toffee roast. What is it? Ten Crowns from Off Color. Way to go, Off Color. Last time I had this was at the Tasting Room, I think with you, Greg. Didn't we go there one day? Yeah. We left Lincoln Park like last winter and went there and had a few of these. Yeah, with Ben. You had a few of them. I was drinking Dallas and Morris. Okay, fine. I was there. Jenna was there too. Neither of us remembered. I mean, I remember Jenna being there. That's fine. I remember talking over Jenna all night. I'm just here. I like this one. I think now that it's gone a while, it's a little bit understated, but it's a solid take on the style. This is one of my faves. Big props as always to Off Color for being totally transparent about their hot bill and malt bill, which is readily available on their website. Love it. They even go so far as to telling you the original Gravity, which is 13 Play-Doh. Honey, you're curious. No idea what that means. Yeah, f*** off. We don't care. It's 5.5% alcohol, 20 IBU. So lower on the hop range, even though it presents nice and dry because they often ferment their beers very well. And roast bitterness. And that comes from a little bit of black malt in there. Nice. So there's Pills, Dark Munich, Cara Munich, Chocolate and Black Malt. What's a Cara Munich? It's about 50 bucks a pound. Cara is short for like caramelized. Caramel. It also says Huskless Roasted Barley. Little toastier, a little more caramelized Munich Malt. That's roasted barley. I mean, Munich Malt is very kind of like bready, right, Raj? Yeah. Yeah. Munich has very kind of, also kind of a English equivalent, biscuity, like the German equivalent, kind of bready. Yeah, or like a toasted bread crust. Okay. Yeah. Yeah? Riosch. I'm gonna guess that there's green glass on number six. No. Womp womp. Brow check. Brow check. We had this before. But we had a floor malting? We actually did have this straight up beer on the Czech Lager podcast. We had a Czech Lager podcast? I remember it now. Czech Lager and Czech Dark Lager. How is this a two-parter? The episode was called, Check Out These Beers. Oh my God. This is kind of an interesting story. So this is a brewery that got commandeered during communist rule. They tried to revive it. That didn't really work. So I don't have total confirmation. Then again, I was like translating the web. I was hitting Google Translate on the website. But I think I remember reading that, I think it's state owned. I think it's like Czechvar in that it's... They wanted to preserve this building. So that can be the problem when the big magnates come in. If it's not financially worth their while, they don't want to fix it up and preserve it. So this brewery is from the 19th century. So, essentially, it was like this beautiful brewery on a river. And they're like, we could just knock it down, or we can be proud of this heritage. Was the Google Translate like, our beer is an expression of the local countryside and rich heritage of region. But this brewery is serious about their malt, right? Yeah, so it's floor malted at the brewery, artesian well water, they lager for two months. It says on the bottle, three step brewing method. So that's probably either decoction or step mashing. I was going to guess it's a dance. It's the Nova Pocka, similar to Polka. The boot scooting boogie. Opened in 1872. So it's the nice price of $1.99 a bottle. So are you kidding me? Pretty good for two bucks. I hated it before now, but I want it now. Look at that. You get a pint for $2. Yeah. All right. So ridiculous. It doesn't matter. You can edit it out if you want. Is this Veritas? Okay. Bam. Oh, I loved it. Good. Yeah. The trophy's like, thank God. Thank God. Yeah. Can we do it? Yeah. The truth, number seven. I called this one because of a very specific pop they use. This is Art History Veritas. What's with the little carrot above the R? What does that mean? It's some Czech shit, man. You don't know Czech. It's like an umlaut, but not an umlaut. It's one of those things you can do on your iPhone if you press the R down. Yeah. What are we, Czech? Come on. Chris, I got nothing. That's a barrel of the bottle first right there. You're going to have to- I'm going to make some shit up right now. Hey, Jenna, look up the carrot distinction in the Czech language. Literally don't, it doesn't matter. It's Czech on the internet. Veritas, but it's Veritace. Roger, what's this hop that you picked out, you arrogant shit? Zupasaza. What? What is it going on right now? That's the hop issue. Amazing soup. Michigan Grown Saas Hops at Hophead Farms. I said citrus hoppy, roast mocha, light and zippy on the palate, roasty, dry and hoppy on the finish. Very good plus plus. I really enjoyed it. This one got a star for me. I could drink this all day. I can and have and will later this week. I think part of the reason that you guys both like this is that to me, the bitterness expresses as almost like an amaro herbaceousness. We're not that bitter. Want a bet? I mean, you guys are the amaro. Seven. That's a solid beer. Very good without a doubt. This is one of the beers that was specifically modeled after. That we waited a month to record this podcast for. Yeah. The Ufleku experience. They were kind enough to, again, they are transparent on their stands. When people go to Ufleku, they're blown away by their environment. I imagine I'm in Ufleku and I'm like, it's all right. It's fine. It's fine. Plus all every dish has meat in it, so you're like, so what can you get me? Can we get some bread? Yeah. You can eat a plate of cabbage. There you go. You can get a fat wash plan. I do not trust their cabbage. Cabbage and dumplings. Yeah, there's probably some sort of- Yeah, the cabbage is like fried in goose fat. Veritas is Czech two-row and floor malted barley, dark bohemian malt, and then those Zupa Saz hops, 4.8%, 24 IBU. Worth mentioning, Michael Roper of The Hop Leaf loved this beer so much that he wanted Art History to provide him with a house lager pour. Nice. At The Hop Leaf. Dude, I spent last Wednesday night at Hop Leaf. Yeah. It's arguably one of the best bars in the city. Without a doubt. Still is. They're mussels? Off the chart. Mussels and beer. So Art History Veritas, one that you definitely need to check out. Brofe and I have checked it out quite a few times at their brewery. Is that? CZECHED. Yeah. Why do you think I work at Geneva every day this time of year? Yeah. I was joking the other day. I go, hey, how often do you think that when he's, this time of year I go, how many times do you think Brofe's at Art History? And Tom goes, four. Yeah. Four times a week. That's about right. I mean, this is a simple storefront in a strip mall. Yeah. Right next to an Ace Hardware. The best part is the pizza wagon out front. The pizza wagon is very good. Number eight. Progress. Play on words. Progress. I don't get it. That makes me want to throw the can on the floor. Who is this from? Look, dude, that clock is on a- I liked it a lot. Who made this? That's on a Killing Joke album. Look, more swans. And more swans. What's with the swan motif? They must be swimming around Prague. This is Revolution. Oh yeah. Wow, nice. 5.8, worth mentioning the strongest of the bunch by quite a bit. The strongest of the bunch is 5.8. It's not the strongest of the bunch, I take that back. There is one that's stronger. There's still hope for Greg. But- I hope it's number 10 or number 11. Shout out to Doug. This definitely, the cheesy name here, smacks of the craft beer aficionado, alter ego, whatever the hell his name is. The description is cute, but it doesn't tell us much about the beer. Packs the beautifully layered charm of its namesake city into a clean quenching brew that benefits from extended cold conditioning. Soft on the palate, carrying bohemian notes, and lightly toasty caramel and dark fruit. Cold conditioning, is that the- loggering. loggering. Yeah. Smirp. Yeah. So, whatever. Come on, Rev. Just tell us what you made the beer with. Number nine. Good beer? Very good beer. Yeah. Number nine. Do it, Samson. Ah, I didn't really like this one. It was terrible. Oh, we had this one on the Czech beer episode, I remember. I said it needs more time. I thought it was underloggered, but really it's just skunk. We're really giving Samson a haircut here. Yeah. So, this brewery was purchased recently by Anheuser-Busch. They saw fit to... This is one of those Czech breweries that was commandeered during communist rule, and during communist rule, it was called Samson. So then when it was, you know, free again, they brought it back to the original name, and then when Anheuser-Busch bought it, they renamed it Samson. Ah, they are like, name of liberation. Oh, no. Not anymore. We are bringing it back to the ubiquitous name that people remember. All right, the next two were tied for my favorites of the whole tasting. I can't wait to see what these are. Eleven takes on number ten slightly, but here we go. Yeah, number ten. Number ten. Hopewell? Wow, a Hopewell that doesn't suck? Wow, I love that. I've had a lot of Hopewells. I didn't like. Wow. Well, it's good. I think that's a little hypercritical and unwarranted, but I've been saying for years that Hopewell makes sneaky good lagers. And yeah, I think they killed it with this one. And they worked in a cheeky reference that wasn't quite as smarmy as progress. Certified? Certified, check. Nice. Oh, yeah. What's the tailgate grid pattern on the can? It's supposed to look like, you know... I know what number 11 is, and I'm glad it was pretty much my favorite of the tasting and definitely Greg's favorite of the tasting. And it's definitely the strongest of the tasting. Pat, what is number 11? Number 11 is Art History Wenceslas. Number 11. The Good King's... Oh, Rad. Nice. I'm in. You guys have been talking about this for two years, and I've been ignoring you because you kept saying, Czech Dark Lager. You kept describing the thing. So number 11 is indeed Good King Wenceslas here from Art History. This is where it's at. What's the ABV on that can there, Greg? Little tiny stuff on the bottom. 6.8. Yeah. Easily the strongest here. Oh wait, sorry. Yeah. So that's why it's Greg's favorite. 28 IBUs. You know, I have other things besides alcohol. I like it for its wonderful balance of sweet and hop. Yeah, that's why. Greg liked it for its wonderful intoxicating nature. It's Roasty Coffee. You know what? Yeah, absolutely delicious beer. Nice job. Yeah. Very limited quantities at a Binny's near you. Jim, how did you know to put this last? If it's still around at all. I mean, I know it's very good. I just I didn't really. He just shuffled them. Just lucky. Just luck. But I knew it was a good one. I had it. That's the one I bought last year. By the way, there are famously Swans and Brock. Is that the thing? Oh, OK. Well, that makes sense. Just like Bruges. In Bruges? Except this beer is drinkable. What is Bruges beer? Brugesat, just strong Belgian strong golden ales that are 9% alcohol and tastes like their flogs. Brugesat, that sounds great. Yeah. It has a gesture on the label. As it should. It's like, hey, hey, golden monkey to you again. Yeah. You thought you were done with it. Oh, you had a four pack of Optimotor, six pack and whatever. Brugesat. Roger, thank you. Because I never in my life would have tried something that said Czech Dark Lager. I have to keep looking down at the placemat to even know what those words are. It's a good style, man. For anybody that I think part of the reason it's catching on is just that this is a breath of fresh air compared to the direction beer was going. We were getting real sweet with stuff. These are dry. These are easy to drink. You can drink a full glass. But they're full of flavor, too. They're not just like, you know. Classic, flavorful, eminently drinkable. Well put. Pair beautifully with food. I think that's a Daft Punk song. You're not supposed to know my identity right now. I think one of those Daft Punk guys writes the recipes for Binny's Beverage Depot. Almost certainly was the mix master, Binny's Mix Master. I think as we've shown here, this is seemingly an obscure style that you've probably never heard of, but there's a lot of reason why you should quickly familiarize yourself with it. Excellent examples here, some fun stuff from abroad. But I think I just like to finish it off is that a lot of the times people question, okay, so why am I buying a craft version of something that I can get from abroad? Freshness. Two dollars a pint. Freshness. We've shown here, this is a perfect example of how craft brewers can trump the original offerings. Not even just from Frenchness standpoint. They're not even tied into tradition. They can make it a unique style by making tiny tweaks. It's still true to the style, but has different expression. Yeah, I mean, these other things are made by global conglomerates that are beholding the shareholder interest. Don't noun it. And these guys are local, and they're going to make whatever decisions they feel are going to make the most flavorful beer, whereas other people are going to act in the best interests of their shareholders. So one is clearly craft and the other is just any other business. True that. So that's a true definition. That's a Marxist reading of beer production. Down with capitalism. No, it's not about capitalism. Everyone's allowed to make money with it. But I mean, there's some real truth to that. Like the ingredient selection is, you know, they're buying some better malts and having some more complex malt bills. There are there are there are brewers who are judged on output of hectoliters of alcohol versus ton of grain input. And there are brewers who are judged on flavor and metals. And you can spend your money with either. All right, so there's got to be a point in the middle, right? Because I'm super tired of seeing like old style knockoffs that cost like $12 a four pack. Yeah, that's unfortunate. Yeah, and that sucks. This is very much the opposite of that. This is what crab loggers should be. Speaking of that, Art History's got another batch of kreuzan in the tanks, apparently nicknamed the Brophy Batch. They told one person about that and it was in a dream he had. Yes, Cindy, if you're listening, please don't call it that. Yeah. Raj, back me up here. No, that was a joke, Brophy. I followed it up with that they needed to brew a second one because it was like in Christmas vacation, when Griswold lights his house and they hit the auxiliary power, and they knew Brophy was working at the Geneva store, so they're like, wow, we got It's really good. Man. Hey, so it's been dark in Czech here. We loved about half of them, I'd say. What? That's fair. We have to love all of them? No, it's funny the way you said it. Get your Czech Dark Lager locally and from a can because those were plainly better. It's that simple and pair them with smoked goose breast because that was awesome. We'll see you next week with something fun. Maybe at some point in the next eight months, we'll have another wine episode again. Until then. I'm Pat. I'm Greg. I'm Jim. Chris. I'm insulted. I'm Chris. I'm Jenna. I'm Roger. Keep tasting.