HB&B Blog — Czech Republic

Something I struggle with is when people tell me they don’t like Czech lagers because they taste like diacetyl. For the uninitiated, diacetyl is a substance created by yeast during fermentation that, when a beer is conditioned correctly, the yeast will naturally “clean up”. When it’s present in beer it’s generally considered a fault and tastes a little like buttered popcorn. You may taste it in trace amounts in a cask beer that’s been on a little too long, or a beer that’s been contaminated during packaging. Around 3 in 10 people can’t actually taste it at all. Lucky sods....

It is officially 'taps aff' weather. As I write this [in the August heatwave, but feel free to apply it to the current September one - Ed], London is experiencing the kind of damp, muggy heat that oppresses you into a state of near-helplessness. There is nothing you can do about it, and no reason, nor ability, to resist temptation. You must drink lager now, and hope and pray that a thunderstorm of biblical proportions will finally break this hot spell, allowing your brain and body to once again function within some semblance of their normal parameters. The good news...