Being in the Czech Republic, a country renowned for both its lager producing pedigree and the quantity of ale consumed by its citizens, it should be no surprise to find my nostrils filled with the lingering odour of beer as I make my way towards the Smíchov district on the eastern side of the Vltava River, which cuts right through the heart of Prague.
However, this isn’t the same smell of pints that you find on the breath of the city’s abundant rowdy stag parties or embedded in the fabric of furnishings in the Old Town’s traditional watering holes, but a heady scent of hops and spent malt emanating from the sprawling industrial complex that makes up the iconic Staropramen Brewery.
The area too, is a far cry from the picturesque towers and ornate bridges of the Old Town just a short tram ride away. Here, the cathedral spires that are dotted throughout the most touristy areas are replaced with lofty chimneys and the colourful facades that encircle Prague’s quaint, bustling squares are instead exchanged for street after street of pastel yellow warehouses and office buildings.
The only inkling that this complex produces one of the country’s most popular beer exports are the enclosed yards stacked with kegs and the occasional logo plastered across a wall. That, and the ever-present smell of malting, milling, mashing, and fermentation.
Despite the fairly non-descript appearance of its home, Staropramen is the second largest brewery in the Czech Republic, exporting to 38 countries across the world.
Contrary to what some people may think, Staropramen’ does not mean ‘Star of Prague’ – although the breweries position as global ambassadors for of Prague’s brewing tradition would mean that it undoubtedly is – but takes its name from the old mineral water spring in Smichov where the beer is brewed, Staro meaning old in Czech, and pramen meaning ‘spring’.
It’s in Smichov that Staropramen was first brewed by Jan Kohout and Vilem Pick back in 1871 at the Ostravar Brewery, using Czech Saaz hops (from the Zatec hop-growing region), alongside Bohemian and Bavarian malts. The brewery was built to take advantage of the popularity of ‘Pilsner’ style beers that were first brewed in the town of Pilsen in 1842 and were becoming increasingly ubiquitous in pubs throughout Europe.
A far cry from the dreary, industrial neighbourhoods that surrounds it, stepping inside is almost like wandering into a dark, beer-focussed version of Disneyworld’s Main Street: the reception area is dressed to look like a cobbled Prague street from the time of the brewery’s inception, with faux store fronts and vintage signs smattered with historic Staropramen advertising.
This should give you an idea of what lies ahead of you on the tour – It is not a walk around a working brewery, but a stroll though a set of exhibitions detailed almost solely on a glamourised history of the brand. These take you through the history of Staropramen from its founding in 1869 to the present day, including the modernisation of the beer production process.
From the outset, the tour is fully automated, with lights and voiceovers guiding me through a series of different rooms where multimedia terminals and displays give you information about the brewery. While this feels like a rather efficient way of giving tours – without the need of a live person to Shepard guests through the museum – it does mean that you are often moved onto the next area before you have had a good chance to absorb your surroundings by the dimming of lights. Thankfully for me, there were only 5 other guests on my ‘tour’ so I had amble opportunity to read all the signs and supporting information, but I can imagine this is an impossible task when the group is large.
Thankfully, the first room you enter – decked out in old newspaper clippings of Prague – doesn’t require much reading or attention. The lights dim and a short video begins to play, outlining the history I mentioned above and detailing nationalised following the second world war before becoming public again after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc with the help of foreign investors in 1989.
Extensive modernization took place between the period of 1933 to 1937 lead by master brewer Josef Paspa, one of the most influential people in Staropramen’s history. The fermentation rooms with cooling vessels and large wooden barrels were replaced with modern steel tanks and in 1933, thanks to its increased volume of 800,000 hl, the brewery became the biggest brewery in Czechoslovakia.
The next stop allows you to see inside Paspa’s officer, led by a holographic projection of the man himself who acts as tour guide throughout the rest of the tour, detailing how, under his leadership, Staropramen grew to become what it is today, as well as a top-level walkthrough of the brewing process. It’s a nifty and engaging way to present information, but it has the same issues that I previously mentioned, giving me the feeling that I am just being ushered along a fairground ride rather than seeing an actual brewery, and the darkness of the room gives me little chance to see the exhibits.
In the penultimate room, you can see the results of Paspa’s improvements: A small, tiled space filled with large, cylindrical copper tanks connected by pipes that jut off in all directions. This is the site of the original brewery and It is in these vessels that the pale malts were heated and stirred (mashed) in boiling water to release the sugars that go on to be fermented into alcohol, a very important step in the brewing process and one that is explained through screens that fill the walls, bringing a jarringly modern touch to the historic surroundings.
If you’re hoping to see the real factory and bottling plant, a small-scale replica of the bottling line is as close as you will get in the last room of the tour. A glowing red button will set this set this in motion in what seems like a fairly pointless demonstration. However, this is par for the course in this final section, where the room is mostly filled with trinkets and items from the original brewery: an old Tatra truck (there’s more on Tatra in my Ostrava guide), some dusty historic bottles and stacks and stacks of branded crates that seem to be used entirely to fill space.
Thankfully, this all leads on to the main reason that most people choose to take a brewery tour: Beer tasting.
It takes place in the in the charming Staropramen bar, whose design is a modern take on the rich tradition of Czech pubs with beer served in custom-made handmade glasses by Czech glassmakers. Serving traditional Czech cuisine, as well more continental European dishes, this large restaurant is a member of the Potrefená Husa restaurant chain, which you can find all over Prague and the Czech Republic.
The beer tasting is included with a valid tour ticket and will involve either four or six (depending on which type of entry ticket you purchase) 0.2 litre glasses of beer in a flight of some of Staropramen’s most popular brews. Unfortunately, this isn’t a guided tasting, but you will be given a brief explanation of the beers as they are brought over to your table, with a crib sheet detailing the ingredients and original brew date. While I only opted for the smaller tasting, here are the four beers that I sampled:
Staropramen
This premium pale lager is the beer with the oldest recipe in the brewery. It has been brewed unchanged since 1871. Bohemian and Bavarian malt and hops from the Žatec region are used.
Staropramen Nefiltrovaný
First introduced to the market in 2011 and envisioned as a Czech version of wheat beer, its unique taste comes from a hint of coriander. Czech malt and wheat malt are both used for this beer alongside some added apple extract.
Staropramen Granát
First brewed in 1884, Granat was created by head brewer Michael Trnka during his 28-year reign in charge of the brewery and was Staropramen’s first semi-dark beer. Its ruby-red colouring comes from the combination of light, Bavarian and caramel malt and it is still brewed using the original 1884 recipe.
Staropramen Černý Ležák
This dark beer is a relatively new one in the Staropramen oeuvre, first brewed in 1997. It uses four different types of malt: Bohemian malt, Bavarian malt, caramelised malt and coloured malt
With that last sip of my final beer, my Staropramen experience came to an end. All in all, I spent a total of an hour in the visitor centre – about 35 minutes to complete the tour, and another 20 – 25 minutes in the bar sampling beers. It’s worth noting that this bar and restaurant are open to the public, so even if you don’t want to drag yourself around the museum, you are able to visit and try the beer without purchasing a ticket. Even with that in mind, there are much better pubs with much better beer all over Prague, so this is one for Staropramen enthusiasts only.
StaroPramen Tour Information
During the Staropramen Brewery Tour, visitors can get a glimpse into the history of Prague’s most famous beer, from its creation in 1869 until the present. You will be able to visit the original brewery with its historic mash tuns and fermentation vessels and finally ending the at the visitor centre’s contemporary bar for a beer tasting.
- Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday between 10am and 6pm (October - April). The visitor centre is closed on Sunday and Monday.
- Tours take place in English, German, Russian and Czech.
- Price: Entry for adults along with a tasting of 4 types of beer is 299 CZK or 369 CZK for 6 types of beer. It is 249 CZK for a tour and one drink. Children under 7 can enter for free and it costs 99 CZK for children up to 13 years old.
- Duration: The self-guided Staropramen brewery tour last’s approximately 50 minutes, after which you will get the opportunity to sample either four or six 0.2l beers. More beers can be bought from the bar if you wish, at an extra cost.
- Beer tasting is included in the tour, provided you buy the relevant ticket, and you may choose to try either 4 or 6 taster-sized glasses or one full sized drink. This is only available to people aged 18 or older.
How to Get to the Staropramen Visitor Centre
You will find the Staropramen visitor centre within the sprawling brewery complex on the edge of Prague’s Anděl neighbourhood. You will find the brewery on Nádražní street, and the closest tram stop is Na Knížecí. This is only one stop from the Anděl metro station and can be reached via trams 6, 20, 14, or 12. You will find the entrance of the visitor center on Pivovarská Street, which is perpendicular to Nádražní Street.
If you need information on how to get from Prague’s Airport to the Old Town, see this blog post.
Should you Take a Staropramen Brewery Tour?
Overall, the tour is informative about the history of the brewery, but that is all that it has to offer. I will precede what I’m going to outline next by saying that if you have a deep affinity for the Staropramen brand or have an interest in the history of Czech beer and brewing, then you will probably get something out of this tour.
However, for everyone else, I would say that a tour of the Staropramen visitor centre isn’t worth your time and the tour is likely to disappoint even the most ardent beer enthusiasts.
After all, this isn’t really a tour of the Staropramen brewery, but rather a visitor centre made up of a few small rooms and exhibitions in the form of a rather diminutive museum. The only glimpse you will catch of the actual, working brewery is what you will see while wandering the streets around the sprawling Smíchov-based complex in search of the visitor centre’s entrance.
Having said that, for the casual beer drinker, all the information is easily understood, and the tour doesn’t go overboard with brewing jargon. It’s presented in an engaging way too, narrated by videos and holograms of Joesef Paspa who acts as your tour guide throughout. The main issue with this comes from the fact that the tour is timed, meaning that, if you want to have a more detailed look at the exhibitions, the lights fade out when it’s time to move on and you will need to hurry to the next room.
As someone that has taken dozens of brewery tours around the world, it is safe to say that Staropramen’s tour was one of the most disappointing that I have undertaken. There is no real insight into the way the modern brewery works and no interaction with anyone that works for Staropramen other than the staff at the bar where the tour ends.
A tasting at this bar is probably the most enjoyable part of this experience, in which you can sample a flight of four or six of the company’s most popular beers. However, even here there is no real interaction with beer professionals: You will have someone quickly list the beers that are in front of you and then leave you to drink them alone. This is not a guided tasting, and you will be given no real information about what you are drinking. Some people will say that the bar here serves the best Staropramen in the city, but you will get a better overall drinking experience in one of Prague’s many wonderful, traditional pubs.
Alternative Brewery Tours in Prague
Although Staropramen is Prague’s largest and most well-known brewery, the Czech capital has over 25 working breweries – that’s one brewery for every 50,000 people – varying from small producers and brewpubs that go back centuries, to contemporary craft breweries that have been established much more recently and opt to brew more modern, experimental styles alongside traditional Czech lagers.
All of this makes Prague the perfect place to sample a wide range of beers from different breweries and what could be better way to experience a city’s beer scene than venturing off the tourist path and connecting with local beer professionals over a cold one? With so many options, It’s always better to take the advice of someone in the know and a guided tour is the perfect way to do this.
I recently took a fantastic food tour of Prague with Prague City Adventures who also offer beer tours. Alternatively, Prague Brewery & Beer Tours specialise in touring microbreweries and all-inclusive beer trips around Prague.
If you would like to see the birthplace of Pilsner Style beer, I highly recommend taking a day trip to Pilsen where you can visit the Pilsner Urquell Brewery via a private tour from Prague.
Where to Stay in Prague
There are some hotels and rental apartments located around the Staropramen brewery in the Anděl and Smíchov neighbourhoods. However, I wouldn’t recommend staying in Smíchov as it is not one of the city’s nicest areas, instead opt for the Old Town or New Town to ensure that you are closer to other attractions.
Budget
Sophie's Hostel
Prague has a large number of hostels, and these can vary from accommodation with downright grimy, bunk-filled dorms to the more luxurious hostels with modern furnishings and private rooms. Thankfully, Sophie’s is the latter and easily one of the best hostel experiences in Prague. The beds are comfortable, the bathrooms are clean, and the on-site bar plays host to events, meaning it is always busy and a good place to meet fellow travellers.
Mid-Range
Miss Sophie's Downtown
Managed by the same company as Sophie’s Hostel, there are several stylish, boutique hotels dotted around the city that come under Miss Sophie’s brand. I stayed at Miss Sophie’s downtown, located just a 2-minute walk from Prague’s main railway station and a short hop from both the Old Town and New Town, on my first trip to Prague and loved its stylish rooms, modern rooms and laid back bar that sits beside the reception area.
Luxury
Andaz Prague
The luxurious Andaz Prague is located on Senovážné Square, in the heart of the historical center of Prague and just a short walk from the popular to Wenceslas and Old Town Squares. This stylish concept hotel by Hyatt features an in-house wellness spa, the Mez cocktail bar, and avant-garde Czech bistronomy with Japanese Izakaya influences at their ZEM restaurant.
