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A cautionary tale

The news is old, but still worth talking about it.

One winter afternoon, as I was on my way to a meeting with a few pints of Kout at U Slovanské Lípy, as I was walking across Havlíčkovo Nám. I noticed that Svět Piva, formerly known as U Radnice, had closed.

I wasn't surprised or sad. It was to be expected and it was deserved. Total lack of respect for beer, useless staff and an owner that, well, let's say he isn't the most sensible person around were the cause. After the local beer enthusiasts had enough of his attitude and his pub, this man tried to save the shop through the now famous (or infamous) discount sites. It turned out to be an even bigger disaster, one that caught the attention of the media and because a cautionary tale for the operators of these webpages, and probably accelerated the inevitable demise of the pub.

Fortunately, it didn't manage to stain the reputation of the čtvrtá pípa and multi tap pub phenomenon, but it should be a case study for all those that had decided to take this path. It's not about how many taps you have, but the condition of the beers that come out of them and the way they are stored and served as well as staff that at least pretends to give a semblance of a fuck about those beers and the blame won't be the critics' or the brewers'.

This comes because the other day the owner of Kaaba told me about a new place with six taps and a quite a few bottled beers. I passed by and I got the impression that it was very small, there aren't event ables! I still haven't visited it and I might end up surprised, but in a way it reminded me of what happened when Svět Piva added so many taps in a place that was smaller than Zlý Časy.

Na Zdraví!

PS: Last year, Svět Piva's owner set up a microbrewery in Buštěhrad a town near Prague. I had one of their beers last November, not bad, but nothing that will make me jump on a bus. Either way, let's hope this good man has learnt from his experience.

Comments

  1. It is said, that Buštěhrad brews from malt extract.. bad names behind building and operating this brewery...

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  2. I can't say I'm surprised. I've been told about other things behind some microbreweries...

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  3. Any more info about the new place with six taps? Address?

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  4. To Anonymous - there are awarding winning "craft" beers being brewed with malt extract, beers that have taken gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival included. The use of malt extract is not a definition of quality or otherwise. A skillful malt extract brewer can make beers just as good as an all grain brewer, it is mere snobbery that says otherwise.

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  5. Finally an end to always entertaining discussions on Discounts sites :-) I think this pub couldn't really harm other similar venues. It was just too big of an externality.

    I was also wondering about the new 6 taps place. Is it Pivo a parek at Korunni? http://bit.ly/tvrnpivo

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  6. Since I haven't been there yet, I don't want to say which place it is so, Pavel, sod off!!! It's Pivo a Parek :)

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  7. I just know my surroundings, sorry :-))

    I've already been there, looks promising, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

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    Replies
    1. I thought I'd give it some time to get the thing going at full steam or close to that.

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  8. Great news. U Radnice was a disaster and a potential threat to the reputation of multi tap pubs.

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