Svijanská Kněžna 13%
Pivovar Svijany

 

Bought at a Globus Supermarket in Olomouc (Moravia, Czech Republic).
-Pitch black color with some red Hints. Leaves lots of foam traces. Small foam head but enough. Looks fascinating.
-Roast, chocolate and coffee smell.
-Same taste and smell. Some chocolate. And also some salmon. It is very Good.
-Small bitter taste.
I recommend it very very much. It is not a common style in Czech Republic but I think they have done a superb job.

 

One of the best representatives of the Czech Republic, which had a chance to taste. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of beer, very dense and full-bodied taste, after which even some time preserved a slightly bitter aftertaste, clearly a bright representative of the Czech brewing !!!

 

 

 

 

500ml Bottle from Prague Airport (60Czk):
Mahogany brown with a large, 2 fingers tall, foamy beige head with good retention & some lacing on the sides too.

Sweet with some sugar and chocolate coming through alongside some floral notes, background fruits and light hops. Some earthy notes, raisin and a little treacle coming through too.

Sweet although not as sweet as the aroma, slightly more subdued with more of an earthy flavour. Some raisin, hints of chocolate, caramel & dark malts with an almost nutty taste.

Smooth with about low to medium carbonation & an almost creamy body, the beer also has hints of spice through it.

A mellow and light taste that was easy enough to drink but didn't really do enough to grab my attention or have me want to desperately take another drink. It was nice & the taste was well balanced but it just seemed like one big blur & I doubt it will be a memorable one.

 

Picked up in Prague a day ago, enjoying in Israel.

Pours a large fizzy slight creamy 2+ finger head that fades at a med pace, then just stops with a big fluffy head that never seems to leave, and leaves huge sticky pillows of lacing, semi clear ruby mahogany red color.

NOse is loaded with sweet candy like malts, toffee, little nutty, bits of dark raisin and dried plums, little biscuit chewy like malt, I want to think there is some dark wheat like aromas almost Dunkel like, but hard to tell, almost molasses candy like aromas too, little peanut brittle too.

Taste starts with more of the sweet darker malts with toffee, bit of a nutty flavor, candy like again with a bit of a molasses candy and caramel candies, as well as light creamy wheat,again dark wheat, and a cereal with bananas in it. Bit of fruit, beside the banana, with light raisin again, molasses candied raisin, and bit of candied fig maybe, also a light buttery biscuit. Some bitterness too, little grassy hop with a slight earthy tone, slight bready yeasty touch towards the end. Finish brings more spicy hop like bitterness, little earthy, hint of an alcohol taste, more candy with some sweetness but drier, more toffee, etc.

Mouth is med bod, nice fluffy carb.

Overall pretty nice, good dark brown style beer, almost like a nice sweet dunkel, good reddish to brown like dark malts, good wheat, nice light kick of hops, and candy flavors are nice without getting too sweet. Best of the bottles I brought back from PRague so far, but still not quite the level of many I had on tap while there.

 

 

 

 

On-tap at Baráčnická Rychta, Prague, Czech Republic

A: The beer is very dark amber in color (close to near black) and poured with a two finger high beige head.
S: There are moderate aromas of sweet malts in the nose.
T: The taste has a lot of sweetness with flavors of caramel.
M: It feels light-bodied, a bit thin and watery on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
D: The beer isn't too difficult to drink, although I don't think I could have more than one of these at a time with all of the sweetness.

Had this beer on tap at Pivo Klub in Prague. Served in a tall mug, cool.

A-very dark mahogany body and a thick mocha-like head.

S-chocolate and floral

T-chocolate, slight roast, the hop bite at the end is pleasant and nicely cleanses the palate.

M-medium

D-incredibly smooth and drinkable. Maybe one of my favorite beers in Europe.

So apparently this beer won the Pivo gold medal in The Czech Republic in 2009. It pours out of a .5l bottle a ruddy brown color with a good sized, almost pink head and some lacing. The nose is a mixture of fruit, malt and grains with a whiff of alcohol. It has a good, medium bodied mouth feel and the taste, like the smell is a subtle,pleasant mixture of sweet malted flavors, a bit of fruit and a slightly bitter finish. A small amount of hops can be detected as well giving it a little bight. All in all a more complex dark lager than I've come to find in the Czech Rep., and one that I would definitely try again.

The color is almost black, with a decent beige head, not so bad.
Malt smell, with toasted malts, quite light, but pleasant.
At the taste is a quite godd dark czech beer, but not too much. A light taste of malt, dark malts and caramel.
Ok, but there are better and more interesting examples of the style.
Normal body, quite short aftertaste.
Drinkable.

Tried on a daily basis 15 miles down the road from the source. While frequent research would suggest that there are billions of Czech beer styles, it is my humble opinion that there are, in reality, more like two. These are light and dark, of course. Pivovar Svijany is however a cut above the rest, even if it does fall into this same category. I have not tried a beer of theirs that I did not enjoy, and in a land of generally "mellow" beers, their willingness to throw in some extra hops goes a long way in my book. Svijanska Knezsa is no exception and provides a very drinkable and delicious beer. Further, as a Czech Micro Brew, it faces the megabrew competition from both the East and Great Britain. Try one if you get a chance!