Probably the best known Central European brewer in the UK, Budweiser Budvar’s brewmaster, Josef Tolar is the winner of the 2008 award for the Czech Brewmaster of the Year. It is made annually by the SPP, the Czech equivalent of the Campaign for Real Ale.
Committed to preserving the quality of Czech beer along with its traditions the SPP annual awards are regarded as the most prestigious and most eagerly awaited in the Czech beer calendar.
The award ceremony took place at the Budweiser Budvar brewery last Wednesday (Nov 19th) when Budvar Dark was also declared dark beer of the year. A champion of the Czech style of lager conditioned beers, Tolar is also something unusual for a Czech brewer being something of an expert on UK beers. It came as no surprise then that he became the first brewer from this mainly lager conditioned part of the world, to be a judge at the GBBF’s annual Champion Beer of Britain event this year.
Recently he has been in print arguing that craft brewers of lager conditioned beer like Budvar have more in common with UK brewers of regional cask ales than they do with the Euro-fizz made by international brewers. The two traditions should co-operate as important pillars of the European beer heritage he says.
