In his speech opening Czech Beer Day, Libor Sečka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom noted that “177 years ago there was a major innovation in beer making which has now become popular worldwide. This innovation is called “Pilsner”. Even today the Czech Republic paves the way in new thinking, ideas and inventions in so many area’s such as: nanotechnologies, lasers and, artificial intelligence (to name just a few). Brewing however remains the national treasure and even today there are certain brewers who keep coming up with making something new in their product. Today, the British consumer can get to know these new tastes thanks to Czech Beer Day.”

The event was organised with the support of the Czech Embassy as part of its project of economic diplomacy in collaboration with the London office’s of Czech Trade and, Czech Tourism.

The 12 Czech breweries present on the day all highlighted that for them quality is the most important aspect to their beer. There were some well known and other new brands to the UK for the first time.  Attending breweries included Budvar, the renewed Jarošov brewery, the regional Holba brewery, Czech specialists for craft brewing:  Matuška and, Muflon and, the Prague based microbrewery, Jihoměstský. A first at Czech Beer Day was the premier of Red Flamengo beer; unique in that it is the first beer to include Astaxanthin, an antioxidant gathered from seaweed, which was created in cooperation between Jihoměstký Brewery and Alga Life Nutrition.

This year’s event also included a live cooking show by the company, Retigo and, Czech gastronomic specialities such as fish cakes made by the Od Helenky company. The visitors were also introduced to Moravian wines from the vineyards of Jedlička, Stávek and, B/V Wines. This year the technology firm, Your Pass and, the creative agency Little Greta also introduced themselves to the business guests. An added bonus to the day was the raffle.

Czech Beer Day at the Embassy was the climax of a larger Czech Beer Week, in which London bars and restaurants served Czech beer, brewed by Czech master brewers using their unique technology. The popularity of Czech beers in the United Kingdom is growing and with it so are the imports of it. In 2018 Czech Republic exports of beer to the United Kingdom was over 26.5 Million Czech Crowns in comparison to 18 Million in the previous year.