Beer bytes for the day

It's Friday, and I've come across a couple of interesting beer-related pieces that I thought I'd share. First is some insight from an American, abroad in the Czech Republic, on drinking beer there.

When you go to the pub, your order "beer". Just beer. They only have two kinds. One is the standard 10-degree house beer, the brand of which varies from pub to pub. The other is the special 12-degree Pilsner Urquell. If you order beer, they will automatically bring the house standard. It is assumed that if you want pilsner, you will ask for it especailly. If you go to a pivnice (beer house), you never order. You go in, sit down, and they bring beer and plop it down. When your glass is 2/3 empty, they will plop down another whether you want it or not. The trick is that when you've finished drinking, you have to keep an eye on the waiter. If he sets down the beer before you say no, you own a beer. Even if you say no in time, he may try to convince you to have another anyway because he is like your beer mom who wants to make sure that you never go away empty.

Second is an article, sourced from Boston.com, discussing the newly created art world of beer tap handles.

Breweries have tried for decades to attract attention by making tap handles larger and more colorful, but the microbrewery movement has brought a proliferation of artsy and exotic ones. Some are full-fledged artwork, a small brewery's main advertising and a way to entice beer drinkers to sample a specific brand in the competitive craft market -- specialty brews typically made in small regional or local breweries -- which grew 11 percent in the first six months of this year.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.