Imported Lagers

A rift is spreading through the Czech beer industry as a number of smaller breweries cede from the Czech Beer and Malt Association with complaints that aggressive advertising from larger international brewery conglomerates has become detrimental to the international reputation of Czech beer.

K Brewery announced July 13 that five of its breweries, including Černá Hora, Platan and Ježek, were leaving the Czech Beer and Malt Association, joining two other breweries, Žatec and Chodovar, who quit the association in April.

“We regret that one of the members of the association launched the campaign titled ‘Czech beer,’ which from our point of view has significantly harmed the Czech brewing industry,” K Brewery spokeswoman Barbora Burešová told The Prague Post. “The same company has recently launched a new detrimental campaign for Birell, although it declared it would not repeat any campaign that could have similar consequences on the industry.”

Jan Veselý, director of the Czech Beer and Malt Association, said K Brewery’s announcement came as an unfortunate surprise, but emphasized the association’s inability to get involved in skirmishes among its members, saying, “We cannot fight on behalf of any member brewery against another.”

“We are sorry they are taking this course of action, because we believe the only way to change the current situation is to work actively against it. If everyone leaves, nothing will improve,” he added.

K Brewery has been careful not to accuse any particular brewery by name, but for those involved in Czech beer culture, there is little doubt to which association member Burešová referred.

Plzeňský Prazdroj, the Czech Republic’s largest brewery and maker of Pilsner Urquell, launched a campaign in March, calling for tightened restrictions on the official EU label of “Czech beer.” The campaign came on the heels of a report in daily Mladá fronta Dnes that revealed several Czech beers contain the hop-extract additive Tetrahop, which is not permitted under the EU label.

Beer industry representatives immediately cried foul on Pilsner’s campaign, as none of the beers that tested positive for Tetrahop carries the EU label. At the time, Veselý called the campaign “an aggressive marketing campaign by Pilsner Urquell, whose only aim is to increase the consumption of its brands of beer.”

Martin Keč, the director of Žatec Brewery, one of the first to leave the association, also took offense at Prazdroj’s ad campaign, calling it a “passive attack on other members, ultimately affecting the entire brewing industry in Bohemia.”

Plzeňský Prazdroj ended its Czech Beer campaign early as a result of industry-wide protest, but the company has denied any wrongdoing, according to company spokesman Jiří Mareček, who insisted “our company communicated a positive message.”

“This is why we were surprised by the criticism from other brewers, since we expected support from all Czech brewers that also follow traditional recipes. We believe that our current brand communication campaigns, highlighting the paramount importance of quality of our Czech beers to our consumers, fulfill our brand objectives,” he added.

The same day K Brewery announced its resignation from the association, more infighting erupted among Czech breweries as Stanislav Bernard, co-owner of Bernard Brewery, took issue with Prazdroj’s recent Birrell non-alcoholic beer campaign, which advertises “a taste above the rest.”

Bernard called Birell’s claim of taste superiority “lofty and unqualified” in an open letter to Doug Brodman, CEO of Plzeňský Prazdroj, challenging the larger brewery to a public taste test to determine which nonalcoholic beer is preferred by customers. Prazdroj refused the offer, but Bernard will continue its campaign.

The palpable increase of tension throughout the Czech brewing industry over the past six months has not been lost on Veselý, who says it’s a sign of the times.

“It’s true that the industry has gotten more controversial, and tension certainly exists, but I see the same situation everywhere in society. … The bottom line is that the association serves every brewery that wants to be served,” he said.

Some breweries have decided to remain in the Beer and Malt Association despite the furor surrounding Prazdroj. Zlatopramen, owned by Heineken since 2008, is one brewery that has no intention of leaving the association, said company spokeswoman Kateřina Eliášová.

“We consider it very important for the Czech brewing industry to be consistent regarding important issues like excise duty and responsible beer consumption, for example, for which the association provides a good platform,” she said.

Leaving the Beer and Malt Association is a bold move for small breweries in a market dominated by multinational corporations. But change is brewing among beer drinkers, according to Radek Vinček, spokesman for Žatec, who said smaller, traditional breweries such as Žatec “are beginning to feel growing support from consumers.”