Beer in The Czech Republic

Beer in the Czech Republic (Czech: pivo) has a long and storied history. The first brewery is known to have existed in 1118. The city of Brno had the right to brew beer from the 12th century, and the two cities most associated with Czech beer, Plzeň and České Budějovice (Pilsen and Budweis in German), had breweries in the 13th century.

Hops have been grown in the region for a long time, and were used in beer making and exported from here since the twelfth century. The Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.

The most famous Czech beer brands (and the most exported ones) are Pilsner Urquell, which was the world's first pilsner and pale lager beer, and Budweiser Budvar (in some countries trademarked as Budějovický Budvar or Czechvar). Other well known brands include: Velkopopovický Kozel, Gambrinus, Radegast, Staropramen, Krušovice, Starobrno, Bernard and Svijany.