Koutska 10
Pivovar Kout na Šumavě • Czech Republic
Kout na Sumavé, a small town in the Bohemian Forest near the German border, was a prosperous center for beer production until it’s local brewery was shut down in 1969. a local businessman bought the brewery building in 2003, took two years to clean and renovate it, and in 2006 brought in a master-brewer to create a new line of traditional Czech beers. The company has struggled to survive, but the undeniable integrity and quality of it’s products has gradually earned Kout followers and awards, in its home country and abroad.
Koutska 10º is, we think, as drinkable a beer as you can find anywhere. Savoring it’s delicate yet full balance of rich round malt and flowery finish of Nobel hops, you can be forgiven for not wanting to stop at one. Or four. Or ten. The 10º was named the “Best Czech Session Beer” in the summer of 2012.
This is traditional Czech beer, made the old way – according to 200-year-old recipes – with its own well water and all-local barley and hops, using either double or triple decoction mash. It’s also open-fermented and unpasteurized-subsequently it has had to be shipped in cold containers, door-to-door, from Kout na Sumavé to Shelton Brothers, to preserve it’s unique quality as a “real lager”.