{"id":3554,"date":"2021-04-26T11:33:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T11:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=3554"},"modified":"2021-04-26T11:33:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T11:33:40","slug":"czech-recipe-beer-in-kaliningrad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/czech-recipe-beer-in-kaliningrad\/","title":{"rendered":"Czech Recipe Beer in Kaliningrad"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Mick Hart\u2019s totally biased review of bottled beers* in Kaliningrad (or how to live without British real ale!)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Article 13: Czech Recipe Beer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: 26 April 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hitler may have referred to England as a nation of shopkeepers, but back in the day when England was England, before it became what it is today (R.I.P. England), I, and many of my contemporaries, considered England to be not only a nation of beer drinkers, but the <\/em>nation of beer drinkers. So, it might surprise you to learn that it is in fact Czechoslovakia that holds the official title of being the most beer-sodden country in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous articles in this series:<\/strong>
Bottled Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Variety of Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Cedar Wood Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Gold Mine Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Zhigulevskoye Beer Kaliningrad Russia<\/a>
Lidskae Aksamitnae Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Baltika 3 in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Ostmark Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Three Bears Crystal Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Soft Barley Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Oak & Hoop Beer in Kaliningrad<\/a>
Lifting the Bridge on Leningradskoe Beer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to official beer-drinking records, the boozy Czechs knock back more beer per capita than anybody else, anywhere else. But take heart dear Brits! As beer in Czechoslovakia is, like everywhere else on the opposite side of the Channel, lager, and in Czechoslovakia dominated by Pilsner lager, we Brits can still claim with pride and satisfaction that the UK is the only country in the world in which two great institutions, real ale and the public house, have come together over the centuries to form a unique drinking culture. (Spirit-lifting background music of ‘Real Ale Britannia, Real Ale rules the craves, thanks to Fox and Farage Brits will never be PC slaves!’)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood evening landlord, a pint of Farage please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould that be a pint of ‘Farage Best He Made Them Bitter’ or a pint of ‘Farage Patriot’?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we are not here today to talk about national institutions, history and how the unholy trinity, Politics~Globalism~Pandemic-scare, are out to eradicate them, or to dwell forlornly on poor cold, wet and shivering Brits sitting in pub beer gardens six feet apart from one another sipping ale through a useless mask. No, we are here today, in the here and now, to consider the merits\/demerits of a Russian beer known as Czech Recipe. Whether the recipe is Czech or simply called Czech Recipe, as Czechs and beer go together like volume and ringing cash registers, I will leave to your discretion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowhere near as exciting by name as Farage\u2019s \u2018EU Looking at Me!\u2019 bitter, or BLM\u2019s ‘Churchill Still Stands\u2019 jet-black porter, Czech Recipe might sound like a cake mix, which comes in a bottle just short of 1.5 litres, has a green label and the name in olde worlde script, but contrarily this light, filtered, live beer produced by the Lipetsk brewery is quite a tasty brew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green in colour, until you take the top off the bottle and pour it into your glass, Czech Recipe has a pale golden hue, a faint aroma of no particular kind (so forget about all those pretentious beer reviews that compare it to Elton John\u2019s piano, with \u2018notes\u2019 of this and \u2018notes\u2019 of that) and a foamy head that could not recede faster were it wearing a loose-fitting toup\u00e9e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sip ~ it\u2019s zesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sip ~ it\u2019s tangy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gulp ~ it\u2019s crisp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gulp gone ~ it is very refreshing \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Czech Recipe is all these things, and it is also 4.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Czech<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The aftertaste, which is so important whatever beer you are quaffing, because it is this that keeps you quaffing, is dry. In fact, it is very dry. \u2018Nuts!\u2019 you say, and you are right. The dry, crisp aftertaste is what makes it the perfect complement to nuts and other snacks. It teases the palate, without raping it, and offers a flirtatious relationship free from guilt ~ even though it is not real ale. It is, in fact, the sort of Czech you could easily take home to meet your mum. Strong to a degree but, as Leonard Cohen sang (I don\u2019t know whether he drank it?) \u2018It\u2019s light, light enough to let it go \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Czech Recipe Beer in Kaliningrad<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s perception of Czech beer is Pilsner and, since I am no great fan of Pilsner, I get all suspicious and cautious about buying it. Usually, I will stand there in the shop staring at it, thinking ‘dare I’? Czech Recipe could have been a recipe for a taste disaster, but it bucked the trend (yes, I have spelt it right) and once sampled left me feeling as happy as a pig in \u2026 a large grass field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the beers that I have been drinking in Kaliningrad ~ not that I have been drinking a lot, you understand, it\u2019s just an expression ~ is much stronger than the 4.2 percent I would normally go for was I drinking in England (voice in the two and six pennies, \u201cYeah, leave it out \u2026!\u201d). But, I have found that often the lighter strength beers here are light on taste and flavour, and you need to buy something with a bit more welly to compensate (same voice, \u201cStrewth, I\u2019ve \u2018eard it all now!\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Czech Recipe fills the gap in the market and fills it nicely. It is a reasonably strong beer, but one that is more concerned with delivering taste than with blowing your pants and socks off ~ and that\u2019s fine by me, for the last thing that I want is to be left standing there with a Czech in my hand wearing nothing but my cravat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, my bars nearly open, so note the essentials below, put your trainers on and hot foot it down to the shop. Buy yourself some of the Recipe and see for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0If my appraisal is wrong, I\u2019ll let you buy me a bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\ude01TRAINSPOTTING & ANORAKS<\/strong>
Name of Beer:<\/strong> Czech Recipe
Brewer: <\/strong>Lipetsk Brewery
Where it is brewed:<\/strong> Lipetsk, Russia
Bottle capacity:<\/strong> 1.42 litres
Strength:<\/strong> 4.7%
Price:<\/strong> It cost me about 147 rubles (\u00a31.41)
Appearance:<\/strong> Pale golden
Aroma:<\/strong> I haven\u2019t decided
Taste:<\/strong> Zesty, refreshing, hoppy with dry aftertaste
Fizz amplitude:<\/strong> 6\/10
Label\/Marketing:<\/strong> Old School
Would you buy it again?<\/strong> I have done
Marks out of 10:<\/strong> 6.5+<\/p>\n\n\n\n

>>>>>>>The Lipetsk Brewery Russia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2021 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Note that the beers that feature in this review series only include bottled beer types that are routinely sold through supermarket outlets and in no way reflect the variety of beer and\/or quality available in Kaliningrad from speciality outlets and\/or through bars and restaurants.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mick Hart\u2019s totally biased review of bottled beers* in Kaliningrad (or how to live without British real ale!) Article 13: Czech Recipe Beer Published: 26 April 2021 Hitler may have referred to England as a nation of shopkeepers, but back in the day when England was England, before it became what it is today (R.I.P. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[130],"tags":[480,598,498,479,521,1467,483,524,544,1286,482,1288,497,529],"class_list":["post-3554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life-in-kaliningrad","tag-beer-drinking-kaliningrad","tag-beer-guide-kaliningrad","tag-beer-kaliningrad","tag-bottled-beer-in-kaliningrad","tag-cedar-wood-beer-in-kaliningrad","tag-czech-recipe-beer-in-kaliningrad","tag-englishman-beer-kaliningrad","tag-gold-mine-beer-in-kaliningrad","tag-lidskae-aksamitnae-beer-in-kaliningrad","tag-mick-hart-drinks-three-bears-beer","tag-mick-harts-guide-bottled-beers-kaliningrad","tag-mick-harts-review-of-beers-in-kaliningrad","tag-variety-of-beer-in-kaliningrad","tag-zhigulevskoye-beer-kaliningrad-russia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t