• Let’s get tanked with the one true Budweiser Budvar at The Oast House

Let’s get tanked with the one true Budweiser Budvar at The Oast House

16 May 2016 by Neil Sowerby

THIS is Jo Miller, almost cuddling the shiny copper tanks holding the beer she’s so passionate about. Oast House regulars seem to share that passion. They are currently getting through 500 litres a day of the stuff Czechs call “liquid bread”, far surpassing the two other British outlets, both in London, for Budvar ‘Tankove Pivo'.

It’s not the first tank beer being delivered direct in temperature controlled tanks from a Czech Republic brewery to a Manchester bar. At Albert’s Schloss they have Budvar’s arch-rival Pilsener Urquell and at Cottonopolis the underwhelming Heineken-owned Krusovice. Neither, like Budvar, benefits from 102 days’ brewing and conditioning in chilled ‘lager’ tanks, That’s seven times longer than most similar beers  – and the benefits show.

Beer sommelier Jo, a kind of UK brand ambassador for (to give it its full title) Budweiser Budvar, is right to eulogise about this patient quest for unpasteurised perfection through a fusion of Moravian malts and specially tailored Czech Saaz hops. 

Sorry, if this sounds like a promotion. It would not be my everyday tipple of choice – our own contemporary UK and US beer culture is quite beguiling in it infinity of hoppy options – but I enjoy the fresh, discreetly bitter creaminess of the Budvar Budweiser.

Ah, that much haggled over title, which comes from Budweis, German name for the Bohemian regional town of České Budějovice, where they have been brewing enthusiastically for 700 years (the Cech per capita consumption far exceeds our own and that of the Germans). 

The legal wrangle with American brewing giant Anheuser Busch and state-run Budweiser Budvar over who owns the right to the Budweiser name worldwide hasn’t been going on that long – it just seems like it. After a period of truce it looks like kicking off again. Dust off the Bud Lite sabers for Beer Wars: the sequel.

In taste terms there’s only one winner and it isn’t the thin offering from St Louis. As I accept Jo’s offer of a second pint of Budvar, my only quibble is with the Oast House’s Czech-style platter of meats, bread swirl and potato salad. Where are the beer-friendly gherkins? Jo shares my pickle pain. Our supping companion, Living Ventures’ beer guru Warren McCoubry, who sealed the bar’s Tankove Pivo' deal, promises to address the issue.

The Oast House, The Avenue Courtyard, Manchester M3 3AY.  The Budvar costs £5 a pint.


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