MIKE RICCETTI
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  • The best of Houston dining
    • Best Values
    • Breakfast
    • Chinese
    • Cocktails
    • Fajitas
    • Hamburgers
    • The Heights
    • Italian
    • Indian / Pakistani
    • Mexican
    • Middle Eastern
    • Pizzerias
    • Sandwiches
    • Splurge-Worthy
    • Steakhouses
    • Sushi
    • Tacos
    • Tex-Mex
    • To Take Visitors
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The best new restaurants to open in 2023
    • Houston's Italian restaurant history
    • Restaurants open for lunch (or brunch) on Saturday
    • Restaurants open for Sunday dinner
    • Restaurants open for lunch on Monday
    • Restaurants open for dinner on Monday
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2022
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2021
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Italian restaurant history
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    • Booze basics
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  • Wine
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MIKE RICCETTI

Mostly food and drink...

...and mostly set in Houston

Praga pilsner, pivo doing its (near) namesake proud

1/6/2018

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​I have made it a point to tell friends that I really haven’t had beer in my refrigerator for over a couple of years now.  And, that has been true, with a handful of exceptions along the way, like when I have been gifted a nice Belgian ale or the six-pack I received at Christmas.  As much as I enjoy beer, I have been avoiding keeping it at home in an effort to reduce my caloric intact.  That’s worked somewhat even if my waistline hasn’t shown the results of this minimal effort.  But, I do have a few beers in my refrigerator now, though these would be long gone – happily consumed – if I wasn’t still battling a flu bug.
 
These beers are the Praga Premium Pils.  I bought them to tailgate before a December Texans game with a buddy who is also a big fan of Czechoslovak pils beers.  Praga is from the famous brewing town of České Budějovice, Budweis in German, and is brewed at the oldest of their breweries, Samson, that has been in operation since 1795.  This heritage and skill shows through this excellent example of the style.
Featuring a deep golden color typical of the Bohemian pilsners, and supple expected bitter aromas from the style Saaz hops, then medium body with a dry taste a long, refreshing finish with a complexity of slight flavors including nuts and toast. It’s very well made, refreshing and tasting like a top, fresh Czechoslovak pils should taste like.  Though Praga is more specifically a Bohemian pilsner, with Bohemia being the home to the style that originated in the town of Pilzen with Pilsner Urquell, very similar, and typically terrific pilsner beers are made in the regions of Moravia and Slovakia, the latter now an independent country.  I’ve been fortunate over the years through some travel and the travels of family to visit extended family there and bringing back beer gifts, to sample a number of pilsners soon from the source, the pilsners have been uniformly excellent.  Actually, all of the beers.
 
For the tailgate, I purchased the funner-sized half-liter cans of Praga, which only came in a twelve-pack at the big Spec’s on Smith Street, and for only $12.99 or so.  Unfortunately, the tailgate fare, kolaches from the Kolache Factory, were terrible, though the Praga did help wash them down.  The twelve-pack size was better suited for the tailgate in case we were thirstier than usual or had anyone else joining us.  The cans have the added benefit of protecting the beer much better than the green-colored bottles that Prage Premium Pils is also sold in.
 
If you are a fan of Czechoslovak style pilsners, do yourself a favor and pick up some cans of Praga Premium Pils, if the beers are in decent shape, you will be happily rewarded.
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    Mike Riccetti is a longtime Houston-based food writer and former editor for Zagat, and not incidentally the author of three editions of Houston Dining on the Cheap.

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