Dobranska Desitka is the 10˚ unfiltered house lager, light orange-colored in the glass and sitting beneath a fine and firm head of snow-white foam. A nose of crushed grain (think Grape Nuts) with underlying hints of resin and ripe pineapple in the background leads through to an appetizingly crisp mouthfeel that is softened by a flurry of light sugary caramel notes before a dry, bittersweet finish. It’s marvelous.

Dobranska Hvezda is the 12˚ svetly lezak (light lager), a superlative beer with sweet toasted grain, slight pepperiness and delicate Saaz-derived floral notes all vying for attention on the nose. The palate has a hint of fruit pastilles, a slight sweetness and a long lasting dry and bitter finish. A lightbulb flashes on in my head. I ask Petruzalek if what we are drinking is really a pilsner style, bearing in mind the closeness of the historical brewery (I didn’t know then that he had worked there until 2003). The answer, translated, comes back, “All these beers would be adjudged to be a pilsner style because of the way they are made.”

I guess he means yes. However, search through the rest of the Czech-brewing world and you will only find one brewery using the term pilsner: the mighty Pilsner Urquell, a Hercules of beer that has bestrode the world since its arrival in 1842. On that sunny afternoon, passing through this gorgeous array of beers, I wonder why this is so. Especially as in the rest of the brewing world the terms pils and pilsner/pilsener are sprinkled about as freely as ticker tape on a big day in Lower Manhattan.

But it’s become a major, and at times, heated debate in Europe, where such beers as Carlsberg, Grolsch, Heineken, Pilsner Urquell and Stella Artois are brewed at more than one site. The key issues are consumer confidence and producer honesty.

I have visited the Grolsch breweries in the Netherlands on several occasions, and I have a high regard for the company’s pilsner in the famous swing-top bottle. A draft version of the beer is brewed in Britain by Interbrew, the Belgian giant best known for Stella Artois. I consider the British-brewed Grolsch to be a vastly inferior beer, with an aroma and flavor that smack of brief lagering and a high level of adjuncts. Yet TV commercials show the bottled version while the voiceover—English, with a charming Dutch accent—stresses the care that goes into the brewing process and the long lagering time involved.

Are consumers being fooled into thinking they are getting a genuine Dutch beer when the draft version is made in a brewery in the English Midlands?

Simply Economics?

The debate came to a head in May when the Czech brewer Budweiser Budvar staged a forum in London on brewing at source. Budvar—marketed as Czechvar in the United States—makes much of the fact that the beer is brewed only in its place of origin in Budweis City in the Czech Republic. As one of the platform speakers, I supported Budvar’s position and pointed out that it makes a mockery of the name Pilsner Urquell, which means “original source of pilsner,” if that other classic Czech beer is now brewed in Poland and, reputedly, in Russia as well.

I was opposed by Mark McJennett, the marketing director of a large regional brewery, Shepherd Neame. As well as making delectably hoppy bitters, Shepherd Neame brews under license Holsten, Hürlimann, Kingfisher and Oranjeboom lagers that originate respectively in Germany, Switzerland, India and the Netherlands. McJennett’s argument was that it makes no sense to make a beer in India and transport it all the way to Britain, but his case weakens the closer you get to Britain, with Oranjeboom’s Breda brewery just a short sea journey to Britain.

His case was destroyed by—of all companies—Heineken. Rob Marijnen, managing director of Heineken UK, has just launched a new version of the Dutch lager in Britain. It’s 5.4 percent alcohol by volume and it replaces the weak, bland 3.4 percent beer the Brits have suffered for years, brewed under license by Whitbread. Marijnen said the new Heineken is brewed in the Netherlands, and it was more economical for him to bring it from Rotterdam to Hull and then transport it round Britain than to brew under license.

So now British drinkers are getting a genuine Dutch version of Heineken while a beer labeled Holsten Export is made not in Germany but in a brewery in the county of Kent in southeast England. As an old English expression has it, “You pays your money and you makes your choice.”

“Material Girl” Judge

The British media has worked itself up into a sweat over the news that pop icon Madonna likes real ale and her favorite tipple is Timothy Taylor’s Landlord Bitter. Madonna now lives in London and says her film producer husband Guy Ritchie introduced her to the delights of cask-conditioned beer in a Soho pub called the Dog and Duck.

Timothy Taylor in Yorkshire in the far north of England is naturally delighted. Managing director Charles Dent says he will change the message on his delivery trucks from the less-than-PC “Brewed for Men of the North” to “Brewed for Men of the North—and Now Enjoyed by Madonna.”

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is also understandably elated and has invited Madonna to be a judge at this year’s Champion Beer of Britain competition. As a regular judge myself, I could be sitting next to the lady. I’d better brush up on modern pop; I lost interest when the Beatles split.

Pilsner Pedigree

Pilsner is no doubt the pan-global beer style, but its pedigree lies squarely in Bohemia.

Plzen was established in western Bohemia at a strategic site, proximal to several economically important rivers and trading arteries. Founder King Wenceslas II, in 1295, initially granted the right to brew beer to Plzen’s citizens, who quickly coalesced to form a cooperative brewing venture.

In 1307, Plzen formed its first brewery and not long afterward, realized its first strides toward commercial brewing. With the aid of subsequently formed guilds, the brewing industry strengthened, and the economic and artistic importance of brewing became ensconced in Bohemian culture. King Wenceslas II was so instrumental in maintaining and furthering the art of brewing that he was honored as the patron saint of brewing by the Bohemian guild.

Over the next several centuries, beer gained importance in European culture. Beer was economically significant as a source of revenue, socially vital as an escape, and valuable as food and as a way to preserve water. And while it could be assumed that beer quality was somewhat improved from earlier products, it would be some time before the evolution from dark, turbid brews to the later tidy, light-colored beers would be complete.

Science And Serendipity

After a tumultuous period of pillage and plague in the 17th century temporarily stymied brewing progress in Europe, things settled down and set the stage for the birth of modern brewing. In the middle of the 18th century, some tools and techniques that we might consider elementary today were implemented in brewing protocols, and the Czechs were on the point.

They were purportedly the first to utilize the thermometer to maximize mash conditions. They made the hydrometer a standard brewing tool. The Czechs also took advantage of the new malting technology to create mellow, light-colored malt. Although these were welcome additions to brewing, Czech beer was still top fermented and less refined than the German brews of the day. The final piece would soon be added to the puzzle.

The brewery known today as Pilsner Urquell (Plzensky Prozdroj) was built specifically to emulate the famous lager bier of Germany. A Bavarian brewer, Josef Groll, was hired to oversee the operation. Using a bottom-fermenting yeast smuggled to Plzen from Bavaria, Groll introduced the brewery’s first pilsner in 1842. The brewing world was stunned by the new beer, even more so when it was served in the avant-garde drinking vessels of the day—glass. Eventually, brewers all over Europe produced a competitive beer—export in Dortmund, helles in Munich, and pils all over Germany. Today, breweries in virtually every corner of the world make a version based at least loosely on the original pilsner.