[QUOTE=Willytx;8585129]
Originally Posted by
Counsellor
Things from Europe I miss when in the States:
<snip>
- Czech Budweiser.
Original (Czech) Budweiser is sold in the US as Czechvar, in smaller bottles at twice the price. It's better than nothing. Sorry, I can't help with the Guinness.
Thanks. I'll have to look for it.
Actually, the Anheuser-Busch product is the "original Budweiser" if by "original" you mean the first to use the name.
The city in which the Budwar brewery operates (České Budějovice) was called "Budweis" in German and A-B used the location as the basis for the name ("Budweiser" meaning "from Budweis, or in the Budweis style") to make it seem as though their "Budweiser" product was similar to the old Bohemian beer (sort of like calling a beer "Munich Beer" as a brand name to make it seem like Bavarian beer)*. Only later (after 1900 as I recall, although the information is on the Internet somewhere) did the brewery in Bohemia begin using the same brand name.
The Bohemian variety tastes much better than the American version, in my opinion.
* They were still at it in the 1950s and 60s, when they brought out their "Busch" brand. It's original name was "Busch Bavarian".
Addendum: Oh where are the beers of yesteryear?
From my youth I recall Edelweiss, Blatz ("A case of good judgment"), and Atlas Prager ("Bitter-free lager: buy it by the case; no bitter after-taste") which like A-B's Budweiser did not come from the Czech city from which it took its name. And need we talk about the many Pilsner beers that never saw Plzeň?