Kathy tours the Krusovice brewery...

This week Kathy went on a tour of the Krusovice factory that is about 45 minutes outside of Prague. We passed it on the way to Karlovy Vary a couple of weeks ago. Krusovice is not as big or well known as some of the other Czech beers like Pilsner Urquel, Staropramen or Gambrinus, but it is a very good beer.

Kathy said that this old Czech brand was recently bought by Heinekin and the factory went from being outdated and inefficient to a model for the industry. You can see many more pictures of the modern Krusovice factory at their web site here.


Also from the Krusovice web site: A copy of the first written document concerning the establishment of the brewery decorates one of the staterooms in the original Malt House. The document dates back to 1581. Jiří Birka from Násile offered to sell the brewery to Emperor Rudolf II in 1581. We can read in the Property List that in Krušovice "17 reside in the town, the town fort and plough court are well built, nearby lies the brewery, the brewing kettle is made from stone so it may be cooked upon immediately." Two years later, the Emperor bought the brewery and it became part of the Křivoklát Estate. He grew fond of the Krušovice beer, taking a personal interest to ensure that the brewery had a sufficient supply of quality raw materials and that production continually increased. Even though the brewery was devastated by mercenaries during the Thirty Year War and partially burnt, the production of the beer was always quickly re-established.

A.J.Valdštejn bought the Krušovice Farm from the Czech Crown in 1685 and conducted a thorough maintenance on the property. After he died in 1731, his daughter Marie brought the entire property as a part of her dowry when she married into the Furstenberk Family. The brewery underwent major reconstruction during the time when it belonged to this family. For the next 200 years, the Furnstenberk Family equipped the brewery with the most modern facilities available. The brewery belonged to the family until 1945. After 1945, the Krušovice Brewery was part of many state-owned companies until 1991. Production reached a quarter of million hectolitres a year. But most of this beer was consumed in the areas nearby Rakovnik, Kladno and Slaný so other customers were not familiar with the beer. The Krušovice Brewery became a privatised company in 1991 when it broke its alliance with Central Bohemia Breweries, State Company Velké Popovice.

The brewery was fully privatised in 1993, part of an alliance with the multinational financial and industrial company Dr. Oetker. From 1993 major reconstruction commenced. The construction of large dimensioned CK tanks, new filling lines for bottles, barrels and cans, highly efficient waste water cleaners and new brewing facilities have helped to lift the brewery from its origins as a regional brewery to part of the group of the most modern producers of brandname beers in the Czech Republic. 1997 saw the brewery sell for the first time over 1 million hectoliters of beer. Natural spring water is drawn from the protected Křivoklát area and Moravian malt and hops are gathered from the Žatec area to become the founding ingredients of our beer. The age old recipes have improved over the passage of time through the work of generations of Krušovice Brewing Masters and with the most modern technology available today the way is wide open for the high quality product. The Královský Krušovice Brewery is presently placed 5th amongst producers of beer in the Czech Republic. Krušovice beer is available on tap in thousands of pubs and prestigious restaurants alike throughout Bohemia and Moravia. Several significant sites have been that chosen to serve our beer have helped to achieve success in the brand beer domestic market. These sites combine high standards with a pleasant environment in which to sit and enjoy a glass of beer. Quality service and aesthetic decorations help to create the image of 'a Czech beer fit for Kings'.

Heineken acquires Krušovice Brewery in Czech Republic

Last year Krusovice was bought by Heinekin

Date: 14 June 2007
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Publisher: Heineken N.V.

Amsterdam, 14 June 2007 - Heineken N.V. announced today the acquisition of Krušovice Brewery in the Czech Republic from Radeberger Gruppe KG. As a result of this transaction, the market share of Heineken in the Czech Republic will increase to 8%, with total volumes of over 1.6 million hectolitres, improving Heineken’s position in the market to number three.

The transaction, which will be funded from existing cash resources, is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2008 and value enhancing in 2010. The proposed acquisition will be submitted to the relevant competition authorities and is expected to be completed by 1 September 2007. Under the terms of the transaction, the acquisition price is not disclosed.

The Royal Brewery of Krušovice was founded in 1517, is situated around 70 km west of Prague and employs 300 staff. The brewery has a portfolio in the premium segment of the market, with the main Krušovice brand, one of the oldest Czech beer brands, and five variants, Svetle, Musketyr, Imperial, Cerne and Jubilejní. The state of the art Krušovice Brewery is profitable. In 2006, sales volumes were 700,000 hectolitres. Production capacity is 1 million hectoliters with the possibility to expand. The domestic market share is almost 3%.

Kathy and "le Sabrage" (Using a sword to take the top off a bottle of champagne)...

Kathy had what she described as one of her best days in Prague yesterday. She went on one of the "Let's Go" tours with several of her friends from ISP. This one was called "Surprising Spring Walk" and covered some hidden places in Mala Strana including the Palffy Palace (music school) and Royal Gardens.

It also included a stop at the restaurant U Maliru (literally,"At the Painters") which is described on-line as "A landmark restaurant with a history spanning 460 years, appreciated by kings, diplomats and politicians alike. Fine French cuisine among the restored frescoes or in the summer garden with a view of a picturesque little square on the Lesser Side. When the famous gourmet King Rudolf II sent his spies to investigate Czech pubs, a superb kitchen was indicated by one star, an excellent one by two. The only restaurant with three stars was this one."

U Maliru's sommelier, Dita Skrivankova, demonstrated a technique called "le Sabrage", where the top of a bottle of champagne is removed with a sword, sabre or knife. This tradition was initiated in France in 1812 by Napolean and used to celebrate victories in battle. She then let several of the women try the technique themselves.




Here is Dita Skrivankova with her "weapon".


Kathy tries out Sabrage on her own.


Here is a demonstration of the "le Sabrage" technique by a French-sounding guy on YouTube.

Kathy visits two museums...

Kathy visited two museums with a friend yesterday. After meeting at the friend's house they walked the 20 minutes to the first museum - the Museum of Czech Cubism, which is housed in the House at the Black Madonna (great name).

As the web site praha.eu says:

Prague is the Mecca of Cubism lovers. This is not only because some of the Prague pre war art collectors were in favour of this style but mainly due to the fact that Prague is the only city with so many cubist buildings. The worlds unique buildings were build within four years from 1911 until the beginning of the First World War


Here is a picture that kathy snapped on the walk to the museum. It took her through nice neighborhoods that she hadn't been in before.





Kathy in the Museum of Czech Cubism.



















Looking down the stairwell at the Museum of Czech Cubism (I need to give Kathy the camera more often).



After the Cubsim museum they went to the Kinsky Palac (built from 1755-1765) which has the permanent exhibition "Landscape in Czech Art from 17th – 20th centuries" and includes:

Czech Baroque landscape (Karel Skréta, Jan Rudolf Bys, Jan Jakub and Frantisek Antonín Hartmann),

19th century landscape (the landscapist movement lead by Max Haushofer, Antonín Chittussi, Antonín Slavícek, Julius Marák),

20th century landscape (Pravoslav Kotík, Bedrich Piskac, Stanislav Kolíbal, Milos Sejn).

Kathy's friends head back to the US...

I should have posted this yesterday, but I got sidetracked by Saudi witches and inflatable Czech students. Kathy's friends, Kim and Chris, winger their way back tot he US on wednesday morning after having been in Europe a week and a half, including stops in Salzburg and Vienna in addition to time here in Prague.

They were perfect guests and a joy to have around. I wish I could have shared in drinking the wonderful Czech beer with them but it is Lent and, alas, I have given up the devil's brew for the duration.

Here are Chris and Kim enjoying a mug of Prague's finest.

Kathy joined them in Vienna for a couple of days and one of the highlights was a trip to the naschtmarkt where you can buy some unique food (like wasabi nuts) and gift items.

The Three Amigos.

Visiting friends...

Two fo Kathy's friends, Chris and Kim, are here for a visit. Chris arrived Saturday morning and Kim arrived early this morning. Both arrived on early flights - but everything worked out OK.

We all went for coffee this morning while Noah was at Sunday school - no, not to Starbucks. Then the girls went off for siteseeing and Noah and I returned home.

Chris and Kim leave on the train tomorrow morning for Salzburg, Austria and then go to Vienna on Thursday. Kathy is taking the train from Prague to Vienna on Friday morning to spend the weekend with them. This will be Kathy's third visit to Vienna. So next weekend the guys will be alone - time for a movie and video games!

Japanese Tea Ceremony...

This week Kathy participated in a real Japanese tea ceremony that was put on by several of the Japanese moms from ISP. While normally a four hour event with a full meal, this was a scaled down version - just 45 minutes and dessert.

From Wikipedia:

The Japanese tea ceremony (茶道, chadō, or sadō, or chanoyu - "the way of tea") is a traditional ritual based on Taoism (Daoism) and influenced by Zen Buddhism in which powdered green tea, or matcha (抹茶), is ceremonially prepared by a skilled practitioner and served to a small group of guests in a tranquil setting.

Cha-no-yu (literally "hot water for tea") usually refers to either a single ceremony or ritual, while cha-ji or chakai (literally "tea meeting") refers to a full tea ceremony with kaiseki (a light meal), usucha (thin tea) and koicha (thick tea), lasting approximately four hours.

Since a tea practitioner must be familiar with the production and types of tea, with kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging, ceramics, incense and a wide range of other disciplines and traditional arts in addition to his or her school's tea practices, the study of the tea ceremony takes many years and often lasts a lifetime. [3] Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony requires knowledge of the prescribed gestures and phrases, the proper way to take tea and sweets, and general deportment in the tea room.


Tea equipment is called dōgu (道具, literally tools). A wide range of dōgu is necessary for even the most basic tea ceremony. A full list of all available tea implements and supplies and their various styles and variations could fill a several-hundred-page book, and thousands of such volumes exist. All the tools for tea ceremony are handled with exquisite care. They are scrupulously cleaned before and after each use and before storing. Some components are handled only with gloved hands.

"The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice . . . yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible."
— Lafcadio Hearn

November 11th, 1995...

It was twelve years ago yesterday, Saturday, November 11th, 1995, that Kathy and I had our first date. We went to La Cucheracha on Dale Street in St. Paul. It was a magical evening but things wouldn't all go smoothly (see tomorrow's post).

Family visit to Prague...

We have Kathy's parents, sister and brother-in-law visiting Prague. They arrived on Tuesday and will be here for two weeks. None of them have been here before and we are excited about showing them around. The weather has been poor for a few days - lots of rain - but is supposed to clear tomorrow. There are also side trips to Vienna and Berlin.

Our 11th anniversary...

Today is our 11th wedding anniversary and I can't let that pass without note. Last year on our 10th anniversary we spent the first night in our new house in Prague. Today wasn't so dramatic - just a rainy fall day with us well entrenched in our new house and new city. We went to Coffee Heaven (the Prague equivalent of Starbucks) after dropping Noah off at school for a relaxing coffee before I went to work and Kathy went to the bank to make some changes in some automatic bill payments.

Thinking about our 11 years together it struck me that on the one hand the time seems to have flown by, while on the other my life is so drastically different now than we before I met Kathy that it seems like forever ago that we were married. Interesting how it feels both near and far off.

I'm not sure where we will be on our 15th, 20th or 25th anniversary (I could guess, but will leave that for some other time) but wherever it is will be a continuation of the adventure that is currently 11 years old. It's been quite a trip and I look forward to what the future holds.

Surprise party...

This is more than a week old, but I would be remiss in not posting about it. Years ago Kathy had thrown a surprise 40th birthday party for me and I have been waiting ("biding my time" as Monte Burns would say) for the opportunity to repay the favor.

I started planning a surprise party for her 50th birthday about last Christmas. Even though her birthday was in early June I knew that she would realy like to see a lot of her friends together while back in Minnesota, so I scheduled her party for the 1st of July (the day after I got in from Prague).



As you can imagine it is a little tougher from 6,000 miles away. But I recruited a good friend of hers (Cindi) to help with the arrangements at the restaurant and sent emails to people she still knows at the various places she has worked over the years to collect a list of attendees.

In the end, although she suspected something might be up, I think she was surprised. I think that she suspected that a party for Noah (see next post) was going to be a surprise party for her as well. Anyway, it was good to see so many of Kathy's friends in one place and a good time was had by all.



Although they are fun, I think I will get her to agree that we won't do any more surprise parties.

Surprise party...

I had a surprise party for Kathy's 50th birthday this evening at DeGidsoe's on West 7th street in St. Paul. Her birthday was actually a month ago (June 1st) but all ofher family and most of her friends are here, not in Prague, so I had to wait until we got back to MN.

Kathy threw me a surprise 40th birthday party back in 1998 at our old house in Arden Hills, so this is really just getting her back. We had about 45 there tonight and it was a good time. Despite the fact that Kathy suspected that something was in the works, she didn't suspect the visit to DeGideo's to obstentibly have dinner to celebate her parents 51st anniversary, which was yesterday. So she was officially surprised.

I will post picture later and provide a little more detail.

Trip to Poland..

On Monday Kathy made a day trip to Poland - actually just a little town not far from the Czech border - to shop for pottery. Pottery is a specialty of the area and you can get a lot of the same patterns that you can in the US, just at much cheaper prices. It's sbout 3 hours each way so Kathy and her friends left about 9:00 in the morning and got back about 8:30 in the evening. Kathy found some nice pieces, but hers was more of a scouting trip for us to go back later and get some things to take back with us. On the way to Poland they went through the Czech city of Liberec, which has a big waterpark. We're thinking of taking a weekend and spending one night in Poland for shopping and then the next night at the waterpark. It's the only sure way to get Noah to put up with an afternoon of shopping.

Happy Mother's Day...

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh




Happy Mother's Day to all of the special women in my life.

My wife, Kathy, for 10 great years of marriage and for giving me Noah, my big, little guy.

My mom, Joy, for giving me and my sisters life. I know this will be a very difficult Mother's Day you, but always know that we love and support you.

My mother-in-law, Gert, for giving me Kathy and for being the exact opposite of the stereotypical mother-in-law.

My other mother-in-law, Donna, for giving me Debbie. It has been a long time since we lost Debbie, but I will never forget my time with her. Thank you and Gerry for being the special grandparents for Noah.

My sisters, for all the nieces and nephews - as Father Romauld would say, they are all 'saints, scholars, ladies and gentlemen".