Day Twenty – Pilsner Urquell Brewery, Pilsen
Overlooking the towering funnels, the tour guide allows time for the boiling alcohol to hit your senses. Pacing the top of the gallery, the scent of the hops and the heat from the kettles envelop you as the sound of hundreds of gallons of beer drowns out the tour guide’s well rehearsed explanation of the room.
Pilsner Urquell beer brewery opened in 1842. Located in Pilsen, a small town barely 60 miles outside of Prague, the brewery created a new type of beer. Named after the town itself, Pilsner is a type of light lager that requires a three step process where the liquid is heated three times, adding a different ingredient each time.
Once the beer style took off, the brewery became a self-sustaining entity and quickly became the main economy of the area, even supporting the sleepy town with its own supply of water for the brewing process during a drought.
Nowadays, the brewery itself produces over 60,000 bottles an hour with under 30 workers sustaining the whole operation, and the town is nearly a living advertisement for the beer.
These kettles are where the hops are boiled into the beer, the last ingredient step of the three steps. Once you’ve seen your fill in this room, the tour guide descends into the dampened cellar where all the barrels are stored, where you have the chance to drink fresh, unpasteurized (or “green”) Pilsner Urquell.
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