I was sitting at a hotel bar and didn’t recognize any of the beers other than the yellow fizzy ones that I see advertised on TV. The bartender recommended Zatec. This being my first beer out of the Czech Republic, I didn’t know what to expect.

The 500 ml bottle has “Since 1004” on the label which led me to believe that these guys had to really know what they were doing, having been brewing for over 1000 years. Turns out, according to their website, they’ve “only” been brewing since 1801. That’s still longer than any of our U.S. breweries can claim. They say that the 1004 refers to when they started growing hops in the Zatec region.

The beer pours a dark brown and has a very creamy tan head. Lots of foam. The lacing was very apparent. The beer gave off a toasted malt aroma.

The malt flavor on the front of the sip turns into chocolate with a touch of toffee. There was little bitterness and I didn’t sense any hopiness at all. This beer has a medium body and was relatively dry. It has a moderate alcohol level at 5.7%.

If you like Guiness, you'll love Zatec.