BUDVAR PREDICTS GREAT FUTURE FOR ITS YEAST BEER IN THE
It can be called unpasteurised beer, Krausened lager or krouzkovany-lezak, but there is no debate about Budvar’s Yeast beer being the jewel in the Budvar brewery’s crown and one of the finest beers of its kind brewed anywhere in the world.
The descriptions of the beer offered by beer aficionados after encountering it have often read more like an account of a religious experience than a critique of a brew and, until now, for most Brits just finding it has had the hint of a search for the Holy Grail about it. First they had to go to the Czech Republic, as until now this was the only country where it was available, and then plunge into deepest Southern Bohemia to the Budvar brewery tap, or alternatively find one of Budvar’s own branded outlets or hope they stumbled across one of the just 50 restaurants in the Czech Republic that meet the Budvar brewery’s stringent conditions for stocking yeast beer.
Now with the beer being regularly available in the
According to Budvar UK’s Sales Director, Joe Laventure the Budvar brewery’s decision to bring the beer here, was based on the growing sophistication of the British beer scene. “Where you have growing numbers of drinkers enjoying great cask ales Budvar yeast beer has to have a big future as well”, he says.
For it to work the yeast beer, with a life of only four weeks, has to be left stored upright in situ for at least six hours prior to tapping at a temperature of 3 to 5º C ,whilst dispense requires the highest standards of line cleanliness and hygiene. It is for these reasons that in the Czech Republic Budvar is very fussy about who stocks its yeast beer and the same rules will apply in the
Besides this yeast beer and Original have a lot in common, in fact they start life as the same brew, the differences emerging only at the end of the process. The raw materials for the process are the same. For instance the Moravian pale malt produced from four varieties of spring barley and the Red bine semi-early Saaz hops are the same as is the spring water from the brewery’s underground lake. Like wise so is the actual brewing process which includes two mash decoction, manual application of hops followed by cold bottom fermentation by the same strain of yeast reproducing here since 1895.This is followed by maturation in horizontal tanks for 90 days followed by filtration.
It’s at this point that yeast beer divides from Original when yeast cells in the peak of condition, collected during the most intense fermentation period, are added to the mature lager. Besides enhancing the taste of the beer the live culture of yeast gives the beer a higher content of amino-acids and B complex vitamins. It also contains a large ratio of high-molecular proteins which gives the brew its unique fresh fullness of flavour.
Budvar yeast beer has an ABV of 5 and is supplied in 50L kegs.
Further information from:Peter Gordon, Director National Accounts, Budweiser Budvar
2010-10-18
