Heineken-brewed brands enjoy unprecedented success at Tábor Beer Festival

The 20^th jubilee year of the Tábor Beer Festival ended Friday, 5 February. Beers brewed in Brno, Krušovice, Velké and Krásné Březno qualified to the finals twelve times, scooping eight medals in total. The figures stand testimony that their high quality is appreciated by consumers and beer experts alike. Alois Srb of Revel, the event organiser, confirms that this year’s achievement of the Heineken-brewed brands is unprecedented in the history of the festival as well as any other major contests.

Alois Srb adds: ‘In the 20 years of the Tábor Beer Festival, there has been nothing to match the achievement of Heineken Česká republika. Neither has there been such achievement in any other major contests. In addition to the 8 medal winners, another 4 beers went through to the final rounds. All entries from Heineken were of above standard quality.’ It needs to be said, that the competition was fierce this year as the final statistics show that a total of 420 beers from 92 breweries were included in the tasting.

On Tuesday, 2 February, Zlatopramen and Krušovice won a gold and silver medal respectively in the ‘Pale Beer’ category. In addition, Březňák secured an excellent fourth place while Louny, also from the Heineken Česká republika portfolio, made it to the final ten, taking a seventh place. With 42 entries, this opening category of the Tábor Beer Festival was highly competitive.

The second day of the festival, 3 February, brought success to Březňák tmavý výčepní, another gold medallist. Starobrno Černé, also brewed by Heineken Česká republika, came second, winning a silver medal in the category of popular dark beers. Another silver medal on the second contest day went to Starobrno Medium, which consistently achieves excellent results among pale lagers. In addition, Hostan Hradní was awarded a bronze medal in the same category.

On Thursday, 4 February, our success was crowned by Březňák 14%, which was rated, as in the previous year, the second best beer in the ‘Special Pale Beers’ category. Today, Friday, 5 February, the organisers declared Zlatopramen světlý výčepní the third best beer across all categories. The seventh award for Heineken was secured by Březňák 14% in the ‘Special Pale Beers’ category while Zlatopramen světlý výčepní gained the last, i.e. the eighth, medal on 5 February in a category where all medallists compete. After having claimed gold in its category of pale beers, Zlatopramen světlý výčepní was presented with the bronze ‘Extra Beer Seal’.

Lieven Van der Borght, Heineken CEO in the Czech Republic, comments on the success: ‘We are genuinely pleased that our beers are consistently recognised in tasting contests for beer experts for their premium quality and excellent taste, which makes them popular with consumers.’ Mr Van der Borght adds that ‘Eight medals from Tábor is a great start to the year of contests and we believe that this year will be as successful as 2009 when our beers earned 27 awards in tasting contests in both the Czech Republic and abroad.’

Held from 2 to 5 February, the jubilee 20^th year of the Tábor Beer Festival attracted entries from Slovakia, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Poland. Ondřej Koucký, Quality Assurance Manager at Heineken Česká republika, rates the contest quality as follows: ‘We take great pride in our achievements from this expert tasting event since it is officially verified by Bureau Veritas, a world renowned inspection and certification company, and the Czech Agriculture & Food Inspection Authority. Its quality is also evidenced by the ever-growing interest from both Czech and foreign brewers. In other contests, the competition is not as fierce as here and there are fewer entries. Making it twelve times to the finals and winning eight medals is no mean achievement,’ he adds with a smile.

The contest, one of the largest in the country, attracted 67 breweries last year. The brands brewed by Heineken Česká republika also received 8 awards then, demonstrating the outstanding quality of Krušovice, Březňák and Starobrno beers.