Staropramen

Staropramen is Prague's hometown lager, brewed in the Smíchov district on the west bank of the Vltava since the brewery's founding in 1869. The name means "old spring," and the brand is the second-largest brewer in the Czech Republic — the beer you are most likely to meet on a Prague terrace that is not from Plzeň. It exports to dozens of countries, mostly across Europe and North America.

Shares in the Joint Stock Brewery in Smíchov went on sale in 1869, and the first beer flowed in 1871 once the brewery was built. The Staropramen name itself was registered in 1911, and by the 1930s the Smíchov brewery had grown into the largest in Czechoslovakia — a workhorse urban brewery feeding the capital's pubs.

After 1989 the brewery rode the consolidation wave: into the Prague Breweries group in 1992, then under Bass, then Interbrew and eventually Anheuser-Busch InBev, whose Central European business was sold in 2009 and renamed StarBev. Molson Coors bought StarBev in 2012 and has owned Staropramen since — a very modern ownership story for a very traditional Prague beer.

Bready, grainy pale malt with a moderate hop bite and a clean, balanced profile — smoother and less bitter than Pilsner Urquell. A crisp finish makes it an easy session lager in the Czech style.