The first

A beer to celebrate the centennial the Czechoslovak Republic didn’t live to see sounds a little like a Švejk satire – but only when you’re not a brewer. One of the most respected Czech craft breweries, Pivovar Matuška from Broumy, at the invitation of one of the most respected breweries in general, Pilsner Urquell, brewed the First Beer to celebrate the First Republic. 1600 hectoliters in Pilsen and 40 hectoliters in Broumy. “We tried to combine the basis of Pilsner Urquell, i.e. the original malt from Pilsen and a three-step process of preparing wort with the taste, bitterness and aroma of American hops. All of this with the help of the bottom fermenting yeast,” writes Adam Matuška. And we, in Prague’s Smíchov, put the labels on it. We took the inspiration from one of the designs of the Czechoslovak flag by Jaroslav Benda from 1919. Even though the front label is without text, the blue Roman number one with a dot – “the first” – originates in the original red and white flag of the Czech Kingdom. And we closed it with three different tricolor bottle caps. Cheers to the republic!