Two weeks ago LaTreace Harris, better known in the beer world as the Beery Godmother, blessed us with her presence and we brewed some dark lager together along with the DC Beer crew and members of the Womxn’s Brew Culture Club.
It has been a year (or more) that I’ve been trying to get my beverage research firm, Lost Lagers, to brew a batch of beer with Harris. Fittingly, she decided we brew a dark lager so naturally we had to use a “lost” lager recipe from a brewery that no longer exists. In this case, the recipe for the dark lager comes from a Czech brewery, Pivovar Kout na Šumavě. Because Kout means Corner in Czech, we are calling the beer Corner Czech.
When we confirmed a date, I sent Harris a list of local breweries I thought would be a good fit to work with. Out of the dozen breweries, she picked Right Proper so I reached out to Right Proper Brewpub Shaw’s owner, Leah Cheston, and brewer Josh Chapman. He recently began his new brewing outfit, Upweller Beer, bringing back old favorites like How ‘Bout It, his bloody butcher corn lager and Salts, a mixed fermentation wheat ale with Eastern Shore oysters.
Originally I had little idea as to what we’d all brew together and Harris said that she didn’t want to brew IPA, so I took that to heart. Chapman was thrilled with the idea of brewing lager, and Harris agreed, messaging that some styles that came to mind immediately were Dortmunder, Dunkel, or Czech dark lager. I felt emboldened to send some recipes I’d received, one from the 1920s (a Dortmunder) and one from 2012 (Czech dark lager) that likely originated long before that. Both what we’d love brewing as Lost Lagers projects.
The dark lager that we settled on is a beer that Pivovar Kout na Šumavě brewed from about 2006 to 2020. Jeff Alworth had a nice write up for more context on the brewery at closing, but to remember it before its contemporary closing, read Evan Rail’s modern detailing of their history.
The two dark lagers the Czech brewery produced were known, at least according to the now-closed Shelton Brothers Inc. simply as Koutska 14 and Koutska 18. We chose a somewhat different path and settled on a 12 Plato which is more in our wheelhouse (and the beer we wanted to make).
When the Koutska 14 Czech dark lager was imported through Shelton, it was described thusly:
Koutska 14º represents a Bohemian style that could be described by non-Czechs as an Amber or Märzen, but the brewery refers to it simply as their “Tmavý” (“Dark”). Actually a deep reddish-brown, this specialty lager offers up plenty of malt, caramel, and fruit flavors, balanced, like all great Czech beers, by just the right amount of local, Noble hop.
What I think so many American brewers miss with Czech dark lager is that it’s not as dark as the darkest beer you likely make. It is dark, simply meaning it’s not pale.
The beer that Right Proper will release will be not pale, as it should be. Port City Brewing Company’s Tmavé Pivo, or Jack’s Abbey Craft Lagers Bohemian Dusk are two beers that will set you straight on where the color of a Czech Dark Lager should be. You will of course have to pour the cans into your glass but once you do so you’ll see that Czech dark isn’t all that dark.
Harder to find, and I’m unsure if it’s available in DC proper, but at German Gourmet in Falls Church, Virginia, there’s a bottle of Bakalář Dark Lager from Pivovar Rakovnik. Tradiční pivovar v Rakovníku (or Pivovar Rakovnik in English) is the outlier, not just as an import, but as it is 3.8% ABV. It is open fermented; you can find open fermented Czech dark lagers from two smaller American breweries: Dovetail in Chicago, and Notch in Salem, Massachusetts.
Juleidy Peña, brewer at Notch, makes a Černé Pivo (in Czech Cerne means black) which is open fermented and 4.5% ABV. Dovetail writes “Our Pilsner in a sweater” as they describe their open fermented Czech Dark Lager dreamed up and brewed by Jenny Pfafflin. That beer is 5.3% ABV.
I recently was having pizza at my Lost Lagers colleague Peter Jones’ house. Michael Tonsmeire, co-owner of Sapwood Cellars stopped by with his Prophecy of the Clock Czech dark lager, which is on the stronger side at 5.8% ABV. We put his Prophecy of the Clock side by side with Bakalář Dark Lager. He and I agreed that Bakalář Dark Lager to Sapwood’s Prophecy of the Clock was an apples to oranges comparison.
In typical fashion, Czech dark lager will be hopped with 100% Czech Saaz, or Žatecký poloraný červeňák as it’s written in Czech. And just as the Sapwood Cellars Czech dark lager had some differences from the old style coming from Czechia, we decided to put a wee bit of a spin on the Right Proper version in that we used some Polish hops to round out the early-hopping, contributing a subtle bitterness that will balance the coffee, cocoa, and pumpernickel flavors fans of Czech dark lager will be familiar with.
I got my hands on some Lubelski and Marynka hops from Poland and their aroma was excellent. So in addition to adding the Polish hops as mash hops, we had Czech Saaz at the 60, 30, 15, and whirlpool stages. We decided a dry hopping with the Polish hops would improve the beer and so Chapman did just that. You might think it strange seeing a Czech style lager with dry hopping, but one of the products you can find at German Gourmet is Bakalář Dry Hopped Lager from Pivovar Rakovnik. Or as they brand it in Czechia, Světlý ležák za studena chmelený.
You will find Corner Czech next month at the Right Proper Brewpub Shaw and potentially outside of DC as well. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know when we plan to have a release party.
Featured image, L-R: Josh Chapman, Brandy Holder, Jacob Berg, LaTreace Harris, Jordan Harvey, Lauren Carey, Erika Goedrich, Amber Farris, Michael Stein
