Queensland’s Burleigh Brewing has partnered with the Czech Republic’s famous Budvar Beer Co to produce Czech Mates – a Czech-style beer with ingredients from both Australia and the Czech Republic.
Budvar Beer Co is the Czech Republic’s state-owned brewer, located in South Bohemia, and is widely considered the original ‘Budweiser’.
Budvar’s origins date back to 1895, before being formally established in 1966 as part of a government decree.
Burleigh Brewing co-founder Peta Fielding expressed her pride over the historic collaboration.
“What an incredible honour to be chosen by Budvar to produce a beer worthy of both our names,” she said.
“Producing premium beer is ‘home turf’ for Burleigh Brewing so this partnership with Budvar feels like a perfect match. I can’t wait for everyone to try Czech Mates.”
The European brewmasters selected its Gold Coast counterparts for the beer out of respect for a shared passion for quality lagers, and high brewing standards.
“We’ve been brewing clean, world class lagers since day one and long before it was ‘cool’ again, so when Budvar came calling, we didn’t have to adapt, this is what we were already doing,” said Fielding.
While brewed locally at the Burleigh Heads facility, both Burleigh Brewing and Budvar’s specialist brewmasters worked together to oversee the process, using the Czech technique of double decoction mashing, where a portion of the mash is removed, boiled, and then returned to the main mash.
It is then matured for up to eight weeks, producing a smooth lager.
Fielding described Czech Mate as a blend of traditional Czech style brewing that uses both Czech and Australian ingredients.
Czech Mate is now a part of Burleigh Brewing’s core range celebrating both beer-loving cultures.
The Czech Republic is the world’s largest consumer of beer per capita, consuming 5.5, half litre bottles per week and an average of 143 litres per person annually.
For perspective, the second thirstiest country by volume is Namibia which consumes 108 litres per capita per year.
Australians comparatively consumer 82 litres, annually.