Beer review: Litovel Sváteční Speciál (6.0% The Czech Republic: Pivovar Litovel)

The Litovel Sváteční Speciál is a lager, more specifically a Czech Pilsner. It's brewed by Pivovar Litovel, a Czech brewery founded in 1893, although the brewing traditions allegedly reach all the way to 1291. The brewery produces about 22 638 100 litres annually. Litovel is the leading brand of the brewery, and therefore its beers are quite bulk in quality. However, the Sváteční Speciál is a special brew first produced in the brewery's 111th anniversary in 2004, so let's see if it manages offer something special.

Taste: The Litovel Sváteční Speciál is a medium-bodied beer with a round, sweet and malt-dominant body. It offers an aftertaste of medium-strength herbal hoppiness but not much else.

Overall, The Litovel Sváteční Speciál is, for some reason, a hard one to put my finger on. It does have potential, but then again it's missing any of the distinct flavors that make a beer great. It's average in every way, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed by it.

50 Average

Beer review: Budejovický Budvar (4.5% The Czech Republic: Budweiser Budvar Brewery)

The Budejovický Budvar is a lager, more specifically a Czech styled lager/pilsener (the beer is described as a lager but is really close to a pilsener taste-wise.) It's brewed by the Budweiser Budvar Brewery, one of the largest breweries in The Czech Republic. The brewery was founded in 1895 and has been disputing over the name "Budweiser" with other breweries, such as the Anheuser-Busch corporation. Today the company owns the right to use the name in Europe and thus the American Budweiser is called Bud around Europe. The beer is exported to more than 60 countries all over the world. It's worth mentioning that this is the Finnish supermarket version of the beer, containing only 4.5% alcohol because of the dumb alcohol laws in Finland.

Taste: The Budejovický Budvar is a light/medium-bodied lager with the typical qualities of a Czech lager/pilsener. The beer offers a slightly sweet and pleasant malty body and finishes with a Czech styled herbal grassy hoppiness.

Overall the Budejovický Budvar is a very pleasant Czech lager/pilsener with easy drinkability and a smooth and refreshing taste. This is a great alternative for the typical bulk lagers, and although it's not a masterpiece it's one step closer to saying goodbye to the piss-water sold as beer.

75 Good

Beer review: Holba Premium (5.2% The Czech Republic: Pivovar Holba)

Holba Premium is a lager, more specifically a Czech styled pilsener/lager produced by Pivovar Holba. The Czech Republic is one of the most highly regarded beer producing countries in the world. The quality of almost all of the beers coming from the country is above average, and therefore one can expect good quality when coming across a Czech beer. Holba is among the ten most popular beer brands in the Czech Republic and thus it is produced in bulk amounts.

Taste: Holba Premium is a medium-bodied Czech styled beer with a taste dominated by a slightly sweet maltiness. The aftertaste of the beer offer a bitterness typical to Czech beers. It is slightly bitter without being pungent and the beer finishes with a faintly herbal taste of hop.

Overall, Holba Premium is precisely what one can expect of it, based on it being from the Czech Republic but produced in mass quantities. It is an OK beer, without much personality but still...its a Czech and you can't really go wrong with that.

65 Above average