When you say, "Bud," you've said a lot more than you know
Court Avenue here in Des Moines is our restaurant and bar district. Denise and I frequently go there to eat or hoist a few or both on special occasions. Hessen Haus, a German restaurant/bierstube (where I first discovered schwartzbier, btw) and The Spaghetti Works, run by a Midwestern chain of restaurants whose specialty is rather obvious from the name, are two of our favorite haunts there.
A few months ago Denise and some friends from work had lunch at a place just off Court Avenue called The Royal Mile. An Irish/English/Scottish restaurant and pub, it boasts the largest selection of beers in three states. She told me about it (knowing how much I would appreciate such a place), and I've wanted to check it out ever since.
I finally did on Saturday. Great place. Various Guinness products, Fuller's Porter, Newcastle, Old Speckled Hen, Young's Double Chocolate stout (they throw Cadbury chocolate bars into the vat while it's brewing!), John Courage, and perhaps twenty or thirty other imports are available on tap. What they don't have on tap, they have in bottles; this is the only bar I've ever visited which features one of my bottled favorites, Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout (so named because that style of stout was brewed for consumption of the Tsar and his court, and has an astronomical alcohol content in order to avoid freezing while being shipped over the Arctic Circle from England to Russia). Several excellent imports from elsewhere in Europe are also in stock, either bottled or on tap.
As my eye scanned the shelves upon shelves of single malt scotches, I happened to notice a bottle whose label read "Lonach." This intrigued me, since Lonach- a hill in the highlands of Scotland- is both the ancient rallying place and the battle cry of the Forbes clan, to which I (because my family name, "Waters," belongs to septs of both Clan Forbes and Clan Buchanan) am entitled to claim membership. I thought about giving it a try until I asked about the price, and was informed that it went for $21.00 a shot! Moderate though this might be for a premium single malt, it's a bit rich for my blood these days.
While I was savoring a couple of pints from the British Isles, a gentleman came in and sat next to me. Apparently he was new to the world of foreign beers, he wanted something that wouldn't be terribly alien to his American taste buds.
The bartender recommended one of the world's finest pilsners, Czechvar. Brewed in the Bohemian town of Ceské Budìjovice ("Budweis" in German; somebody or something from Budweis would be a Budweiser ) since 1265, this beer was known for centuries as Budajoviki Budweiser (or Budweiser Budvar- or simply "Budweiser"). It was once the official brewery for the Holy Roman Emperors (Charles V- like Harry Caray,-was apparently a Bud man!). Interestingly, Ceské Budìjovice is also the home of another ancient Bohemian beer, known as "Samson-" but through the ages as Budweiser Bürgerbräu. since it was originally owned and operated by the town itself.
Suitably confused? Well, it seems that the distinction between the names Budweiser Bürgerbräu- again, owned by the town from the beginning- and the privately-founded Budweiser Budvar is understood and unproblematic in modern Bohemia . This was not always the case, however; the two Bohemian breweries fought over the name until the the town took over Budweiser Budvar in 1775. But the two private breweries which produce the beers today, were not founded until 1894 and 1895- long after Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis took out an American trademark on the the name in the 1876. Moreover, Budweiser Budvar didn't begin prominently displaying the name on their product's bottle until the 1960's.
The result has been a longstanding international legal battle between the two breweries for the rights to the name "Budweiser." It's interesting, though, that it's Budweiser Budvar that has the dispute with Anheuser-Busch, since it's on Budweiser Bürgerbräu that the Anheuser-Busch product was allegedly modeled!
In any case, the courts of various nations in Europe have ruled that because of its ancient origins Budweiser Budvar has the exclusive right to the name "Budweiser," and that the American beer has to call itself something else within their borders. The opposite is the case, of course, in the United States. But in January of this year, Budweiser Budvar and Anheuser-Busch reached an agreement by which the St. Louis brewery would become the sole American distributer for the Bohemian beer, which- in order to avoid confusion, as well as being a concession to the American courts- would henceforth be known in the United States as Czechvar. The dispute in Europe and elsewhere in the world, however, continues.
Meanwhile, the gentleman on the stool next to mine at The Royal Mile pronounced Czechvar delicious. I could not help but notice, though, as the bartender explained the basics of the story to him, that in front of me was the familiar ceramic tap of another great European beer- Warsteiner. Beneath its coat of arms was displayed its slogan, in German: "Die Koenigen unter den Bieren-" which, being translated, is "The King of Beers."
Sometimes we Americans aren't nearly as original and inventive as we like to claim, nicht wahr?
A few months ago Denise and some friends from work had lunch at a place just off Court Avenue called The Royal Mile. An Irish/English/Scottish restaurant and pub, it boasts the largest selection of beers in three states. She told me about it (knowing how much I would appreciate such a place), and I've wanted to check it out ever since.
I finally did on Saturday. Great place. Various Guinness products, Fuller's Porter, Newcastle, Old Speckled Hen, Young's Double Chocolate stout (they throw Cadbury chocolate bars into the vat while it's brewing!), John Courage, and perhaps twenty or thirty other imports are available on tap. What they don't have on tap, they have in bottles; this is the only bar I've ever visited which features one of my bottled favorites, Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout (so named because that style of stout was brewed for consumption of the Tsar and his court, and has an astronomical alcohol content in order to avoid freezing while being shipped over the Arctic Circle from England to Russia). Several excellent imports from elsewhere in Europe are also in stock, either bottled or on tap.
As my eye scanned the shelves upon shelves of single malt scotches, I happened to notice a bottle whose label read "Lonach." This intrigued me, since Lonach- a hill in the highlands of Scotland- is both the ancient rallying place and the battle cry of the Forbes clan, to which I (because my family name, "Waters," belongs to septs of both Clan Forbes and Clan Buchanan) am entitled to claim membership. I thought about giving it a try until I asked about the price, and was informed that it went for $21.00 a shot! Moderate though this might be for a premium single malt, it's a bit rich for my blood these days.
While I was savoring a couple of pints from the British Isles, a gentleman came in and sat next to me. Apparently he was new to the world of foreign beers, he wanted something that wouldn't be terribly alien to his American taste buds.
The bartender recommended one of the world's finest pilsners, Czechvar. Brewed in the Bohemian town of Ceské Budìjovice ("Budweis" in German; somebody or something from Budweis would be a Budweiser ) since 1265, this beer was known for centuries as Budajoviki Budweiser (or Budweiser Budvar- or simply "Budweiser"). It was once the official brewery for the Holy Roman Emperors (Charles V- like Harry Caray,-was apparently a Bud man!). Interestingly, Ceské Budìjovice is also the home of another ancient Bohemian beer, known as "Samson-" but through the ages as Budweiser Bürgerbräu. since it was originally owned and operated by the town itself.
Suitably confused? Well, it seems that the distinction between the names Budweiser Bürgerbräu- again, owned by the town from the beginning- and the privately-founded Budweiser Budvar is understood and unproblematic in modern Bohemia . This was not always the case, however; the two Bohemian breweries fought over the name until the the town took over Budweiser Budvar in 1775. But the two private breweries which produce the beers today, were not founded until 1894 and 1895- long after Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis took out an American trademark on the the name in the 1876. Moreover, Budweiser Budvar didn't begin prominently displaying the name on their product's bottle until the 1960's.
The result has been a longstanding international legal battle between the two breweries for the rights to the name "Budweiser." It's interesting, though, that it's Budweiser Budvar that has the dispute with Anheuser-Busch, since it's on Budweiser Bürgerbräu that the Anheuser-Busch product was allegedly modeled!
In any case, the courts of various nations in Europe have ruled that because of its ancient origins Budweiser Budvar has the exclusive right to the name "Budweiser," and that the American beer has to call itself something else within their borders. The opposite is the case, of course, in the United States. But in January of this year, Budweiser Budvar and Anheuser-Busch reached an agreement by which the St. Louis brewery would become the sole American distributer for the Bohemian beer, which- in order to avoid confusion, as well as being a concession to the American courts- would henceforth be known in the United States as Czechvar. The dispute in Europe and elsewhere in the world, however, continues.
Meanwhile, the gentleman on the stool next to mine at The Royal Mile pronounced Czechvar delicious. I could not help but notice, though, as the bartender explained the basics of the story to him, that in front of me was the familiar ceramic tap of another great European beer- Warsteiner. Beneath its coat of arms was displayed its slogan, in German: "Die Koenigen unter den Bieren-" which, being translated, is "The King of Beers."
Sometimes we Americans aren't nearly as original and inventive as we like to claim, nicht wahr?
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