Inspired by the success of Budvar’s unpasteurised Yeast Beer in the UK and a comment by Roger Protz that it would reach brewing perfection if only it were completely unfiltered Adam Broz, Budweiser Budvar’s brew-master, returned to the drawing board at the end of last year with brewer Ales Dvorak (the designer of Budvar’s dark lager) to see if they could brew a version that would achieve Protz-perfection . They have done it and this new treat for beer enthusiasts will be widely available in the UK from next month (February) completely superseding version number one..
By being completely unfiltered as well as unpasteurised Budvar’s revamped yeast beer raises the bar considerably. Being unfiltered means that it becomes a little hazy in appearance, a bit like a good wheat beer. Nowadays the hazy look being regarded as a bit cool and fashionable has led some brewers to induce it. Not so Budvar. Broz emphasises that the Budvar Yeast beer hazy-look is produced by a completely natural action of the yeast and is not the result of adding alien substances like pectin. Budvar’s yeast beer will now , he says, take drinkers a major step nearer to Budvar’s ultimate goal of making their beers taste in the bar as pristine as though they have just been drawn in the brewery cellars.
Now on sale throughout the Czech Republic the improved beer will be rolling out in the UK by mid-February. “We hope to have the first deliveries to our UK Yeast Beer outlets for Valentine’s Day” says Budvar UK’s sales director Joe Laventure.
In every other respect Budvar’s Yeast beer will continue to be brewed with the same care and patience as Original using the same top notch local ingredients in a 100 day brewing cycle. These include whole Saaz hops, malt from barley grown in the Hana valley in Moravia, a strain of yeast resident at the brewery since 1895 and a water of celebrated purity from an ice age lake located 30 metres under the brewery in Southern Bohemia.
According to Laventure there were plenty of sceptics in the UK who said, in effect, that Budvar’s unpasteurised Yeast beer would never catch on because of what they alleged were the almost insuperable difficulties involved in handling a living product. In the event they have been proved wrong. “Given the right distribution, top class technical support and good cellar management and you have a best seller on your hands” he said.
2013-02-25
Denis Cox, Public Relations Controller, Budweiser Budvar UK,
t 01903 859 511, m 07860 719 686, e denis.cox@budvaruk.com
Hamilton House, Mabledon Place,London,WC1H 9BB