Going to a pub a number of instances every week to fulfill buddies, media marketing consultant Gabriela Galetkova hopes Czech beer tradition — which is taking a success as bar visits dip — will probably be internationally recognised.
“I will not purchase beer to drink at house. For me, Czech beer tradition is about assembly folks in a typical Czech pub,” the 54-year-old instructed AFP in a Prague bar serving the trademark Pilsner lager with thick froth.
Whereas many beer drinkers within the central European nation are turning away from pubs, usually to save cash, Czech beer professionals are in search of itemizing by UNESCO among the many world’s cultural heritage as a doable enhance.
Czech beer tradition deserves a spot on the UN company’s intangible heritage lists owing to its “world popularity”, mentioned Tomas Slunecko, head of the Czech Beer and Malt Affiliation.
“Wherever you go in Europe or the world, folks ask you about Czech beer,” the previous diplomat instructed AFP.
If Czech beer tradition will get listed by UNESCO, it will likely be the world’s second after Belgium, listed in 2016 — which in keeping with Slunecko “actually boosted the popularity of native beer making, not solely inside Belgium but in addition overseas”.
The Czech tradition ministry already put it on the nationwide checklist in January — a obligatory situation for worldwide recognition — whereas Slunecko and others are embarking on selling their bid.
– Now not cheaper than water –
The Czech beer-making custom is over a thousand years previous and beer is omnipresent in Czech historical past and tradition, whereas native lagers have made Czech beer-makers well-known and impressed brewers worldwide.
The nation has greater than 550 breweries together with 500 small ones which have emerged throughout a growth over the previous twenty years.
Czech breweries make use of 65,000 folks, make round 20 million hectolitres of beer a yr and export roughly 1 / 4, primarily to different EU members akin to Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
However whereas the custom is wealthy and vibrant and the popularity stable, Czech drinkers are shirking their pub responsibility.
Beer consumption within the nation of 10.9 million retained a world-leading degree of 128 litres per individual in 2023 however is down from 143 litres a decade in the past, mentioned Slunecko.
Beer costs have doubled over the previous decade on tax hikes and better enter prices, and the favored tipple is now not cheaper than water in Prague pubs, the place a pint of Pilsner Urquell prices round CZK 70 ($3).
This has regularly led drinkers to show to supermarkets for cheaper bottled beer, business knowledge have proven.
The Covid-19 pandemic made issues worse because it shuttered pubs and closed borders for months, sending extra drinkers to their front room sofas and decreasing the variety of overseas vacationers who drink a hefty portion of the beer offered in Czech pubs.
The Czech Chamber of Commerce mentioned that 15 p.c of native venues closed and one other 15 p.c modified fingers as a result of pandemic.
Many small cities and villages now lack a spot to go for a pint.
“The share of beer consumed in pubs and at house was once 50-50. At current pubs solely make up 30 p.c,” Slunecko mentioned.
Many Czechs additionally go for a more healthy life-style or desire to fulfill their buddies on-line, he added.
“The decline is a development that we are able to see elsewhere in Europe,” mentioned Slunecko.
– ‘Social community’ –
Assembly folks is the primary cause why Czechs go to pubs, mentioned sociologist Jiri Vinopal, citing his steady analysis operating since 2004.
“Czech beer tradition is one thing that helps folks join and retains society collectively, create an identification, whether or not domestically or on the nationwide degree,” he added.
Slunecko mentioned girls drinkers might assist finish the downtrend as an growing quantity now go to pubs, attracted by their rising customary, number of drinks on provide and high quality meals.
“It is about high quality changing amount. I feel the aesthetic atmosphere and the broad provide is a technique to win drinkers again,” Slunecko mentioned, likening pubs to “a social community”.
“A pub is a nice place to fulfill. And there is nothing mistaken about ingesting beer,” he mentioned.
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