January 21

Obviously, one of the reasons to visit Czechia is the beer; there will be more posts about pivo, to be sure. The home of pilsner (in Pilsen, of course), it has a centuries-old tradition of brewing. That history has seen its ups, downs and utter mysteries (best regaled by Evan Rail in his guidebook, Good Beer Guide: Prague and the Czech Republic, which is unfortunately out of print currently but may be available around the web second hand).

One of the slightly off-the-radar beer locations those in-the-know types will mention is Únětický pivovar, which can be reached easily by taxi or Uber from Prague (about a 20 minute ride). With a unique and hopeful history of its own, the brewery is a humble, welcoming woodland spot with a beautiful outdoor area for drinking and relaxing, as well as a cool restaurant. Our visit was relatively short (which I will most certainly remedy on the next visit), and I never even took a picture of the beers because, frankly, it was simply too convivial and relaxing to think about photography while sipping a tasty 12º pivo in such a warm, comfortable setting. Pickled cheese and a liter later, and the only reason we left: to meet Evan at one of my favorite pubs in the world and his local in town, Hostomická nalévárna, for some lovely pints of dark Fabián Tmavý 14° from Pivovar Hostomice.

I promise, next trip I’ll be sure to include photos of the beer… but given the beautiful setting, company and accompaniment, frames of foam is often last on the list.