An Exotic in Communist Times — How Pardubický Porter Inspired Generations of Czech Drinkers
For me, an American outsider who loves Czech beer, the death of Pardubický Porter marks an inflection point for Czech brewing, one of those dots on the timeline that will soon denote a “before” and an “after.” For the people who decided to close the brewery in Pardubice—Prague’s Pivovary Staropramen brewing group, part of Molson Coors—it’s an unfortunate casualty of difficult times. For foreign fans, it’s a great European Baltic Porter, though one that confusingly comes from a country that is separated from the Baltic coast by the 200-mile breadth of Poland. For many Czech drinkers, however, Pardubický Porter has long signified something else.