Lager.Net

Pilsner Urquell's brewery began as a collective facility operated by several of Plzen's independent brewers, who designed it specifically to brew the new lager style. The brewery was built on the bank of the Radbuza River, near a well and directly above a sandstone foundation that was easily carved with tunnels for cold storage, or lagering, of this new breed of beer. A 29-year-old lager brewer from Bavaria, Josef Groll, was named master brewer of the new enterprise. Originally known as the Mestansky Pivovar (Citizens' Brewery), the brewery was later renamed Plzensky Prazdroj, meaning "original source of Pilsener" in Czech.

The Plzen brewery first sold Josef Groll's clear, light-colored lager in 1842. The beer acquired the name Pilsner Urquell , in honor of the language of the ruling Austrian Empire. Though certainly distinctive, Pilsner Urquell was far from the first beer to be lagered. Bavarians had been brewing lagers at least as far back as the 1400s, when their method of storing beer in the cool caves of the Bavarian mountains inadvertently selected for lager yeast, which thrived at the low temperatures. These Bavarian lagers were mostly dark beers, however, and any light-colored ales that were available were probably cloudy.

The timing was right for Pilsner Urquell to sell the lager that was to become the model for so many others. The lagering process so recently arrived to Plzen produced a smoother and mellower beer than any Bohemia's brewers had created before; clearly, the cooperative effort resulted in a dramatic turn-around for Plzen's beer quality. New and improved kilning methods also contributed to the success of Pilsner Urquell by enabling maltsters of the period to produce a pale malt that lent an unusually light wort. As if to cinch the beer's popularity, its clear, golden appearance looked especially handsome in the well-known Bohemian crystal that was just becoming popular in Europe and the United States.

Word of Pilsner Urquell quickly raced through Europe, and before long the brewery made "Pilsener Beer" a registered trademark. The beer was finally exported to America in 1871. In 1898, following numerous breaches of the Pilsener trademark by imitators, the brewery took further precautions by also trademarking the name "Pilsner Urquell". Interestingly, Anheuser-Busch applied for trademark of the Budweiser name in 1907, even though Czechs had long known of "Budweiser" as the beer from the Czech city of Czeske Budejovice, or "Budweiss" in German. Anheuser-Busch's "Michelob" brand is also named for a Czech town, Michelovice. (Anheuser-Busch's right to sell beers in Europe and Asia under the Budweiser trademark is being hotly disputed in the courts.)