Fuggled Beer of the Year

So 9, erm 8, has become 3, but as ever there can be only one Fuggled Beer of the Year, a prize entirely devoid of monetary value or media hype. Our illustrious finalists therefore are:

• Pale: Coat Czech 12° - Selvedge Brewing, Charlottesville, VA
• BOAB: Sommerbier - Bierkeller, Columbia, SC
• Dark: Pro Seam Please - Selvedge Brewing, Charlottesville, VA

Ah...the glories of Czech style pale lager, the second best thing to actual Czech pale lager. When a brewery makes an absolute banger of a Czech style pale lager, they are always going to appear in my end of year review. This especially true when said Czech style pale lager is either a 10° or 12° - side note, it has started to seriously annoy me when breweries bring out a "Czech" or "Bohemian" pilsner with a starting gravity of 14° or above. For as long as Bohemians have been drinking pale lager, it has predominantly been 12° or below. Any way, I could wax lyrical for days when it comes to Selvedge Brewing's stunning Coat Czech that came out in the middle of spring this year. Absolutely reeking with Saaz hops, with a rock solid bitterness that scrapes the palate clean with every mouthful - again a reminder of our friend Mr Swiveller's maxim that "it can't be tasted in a sip". I think from the day the final půllitr flowed out of the Lukr taps, I have been bugging Selvedge about when it would be re-brewed, and I know when it is back I will drink lots of it, again.

There is part of me that wishes Bierkeller were closer to me than a 6 hour drive, but then I also love the fact that on the few times a year that Mrs V and I get to Columbia to visit family I have a place to go where I feel resolutely at home. I commented on some social media outlet recently that despite being British, I really only became comfortable in drinking spaces when I moved to Prague in 1999. Prior to that, I had been a guilty drinker, being a practicing Christian who liked a pint meant sneaking off to the pub for a couple of jars of Guinness or Caffrey's whilst hoping nobody you knew saw you, especially given you were studying theology with a view to being a minister of some kind. In Prague nobody knew me, nobody cared, and so I could find who I wanted to be - hence becoming an indifferent agnostic who feels most comfortable in central European beer halls. Any way back to the beer. Every time I sit in the beer hall at Bierkeller, usually with a maß in hand, I feel at ease, knowing that Scott and co get it, they know and value Central European beer culture and see no need to mess with perfection. Long may it continue.

I remember a former girlfriend of mine in Czechia telling me that Czechs consider dark beer as being "woman's beer" because it is sweeter, and er reputedly enhances the size of the bosom. Whether or not there is any truth in that folklore I don't know, what I do know is that I love a good Czech style dark lager, assuming of course that Pro Seam Please is a Czech style dark lager...Wait, what? Is there heresy about? No, not really, just the inherent complexity that is central Europe and the inability of stylistas to accept that reality. As I mentioned in the previous post, Pro Seam Please was inspired by the Fabián Tmavý 14° from the imperious Pivovar Hostomice, just an hour or so from Prague, so obviously it's a Czech style dark lager, right? Right? Well, according to Hostomice's own website, their 14° tmavé is "Tmavé speciální pivo bavorského typu" - that's "special dark beer in the Bavarian style", aka Munich Dunkel. Whatever you want to call it, it's a great beer and in common with Coat Czech, I am looking forward to its return.

So there we have it, three beers that would stand up to any competition in the lager brewing heartlands of Europe, from a pair of breweries that I would love to see do some kind of collaboration brew together such is their shared love of all things Central European (hint, hint). As it is, I can only choose one brew to be the Fuggled Beer of the Year, an award, as mentioned, bereft of monetary value - well, other than the cash I have spend on said beers throughout the year. For the first time in Fuggled Review of the Year history, we have a brewery holding on to that crown, though with a different beer. Where last year it was Tabolcloth, this year the winner is Selvedge and Coat Czech 12° pale lager. There is a very good reason why I recently sang Josh and Selvedge's praises in an article by Evan Rail on Vinepair, they are simply knocking it out of the park and Coat Czech is a home run.