Time and space seem to work differently at Břevnov Monastery Brewery in Prague.
Founded by St. Adalbert in the year 993, the brewery was relaunched 10 years ago, after a “temporary” closure of 120 years or so. Although the monastery started out as a Romanesque construction with expansions in the Gothic era, the architecture today is pure 18th-century Baroque—think plump onion domes and plasterwork curlicues—because the monastery and its basilica were sacked by the Taborites in 1420 during the Hussite Wars and only rebuilt a few centuries later. The current brewery is housed in a former stáj—a stable or manger—because in 1953 the Communists knocked down the old brewery building to make room for the expansion of Patočkova street out front.
As such, it’s quite barnlike and narrow inside, made even more crowded by a Wild Goose canning line set up between the towering fermentation vessels. Cans have long been anathema in the Czech lands—for many locals, “beer” equals “draft beer”—but a new Czech company, Craft33, has started offering mobile canning services for the country’s small breweries. Today they’re putting Břevnov’s fresh-hop Lager, made with the recent Saaz harvest, into half-liter cans. Just a couple of years ago, those words would have made no sense to anyone who knows Czech beer.
The narrow space hums with activity, freshly filled cans going out the front while a brewer mashes in at the back, a crucifix keeping watch over his shoulder. The only constant is change.
Words + Photoby Evan Rail