Hello! Is there anybody out there?
I’ve been itching to resume writing for a while now, and I thought rebooting the Tram Beer Challenge after a ten-year-hiatus would be a good start.
For those who don’t remember (or can’t be arsed to follow the link), the rules are simple: take first tram to arrive at a given stop, get off that the sixth stop, go to the nearest or a nearby enough pub, have a pifko or two, go back to the same stop, take the first tram that shows up (this time to the fourth stop to avoid ending up where I began), go to the nearest or a nearby enough pub, have a pifko or two, rinse and repeat. All this without relying on online maps, let alone reviews, and, if there isn’t a direct line of sight between a stop and a pub, I will use my memory, instincts and curiosity.
Let’s go then!
It’s a nice, early spring day and, like the previous time, I’m starting at Karlovo náměstí. As I’m approaching the junction, trying to decide where I will stand, I see the 3 to sídliště Modřany reaching the stop and I trot to catch it. At first my hopes are not high, Podolí is not precisely known for its pub scene, at least not that I know of, but then I remember Na Staré Sokolvně, the “Tři Sestry pub”. And indeed, it’s right there, opposite the Kublov stop, where I have to get off.
Not a bad looking place, this pub is. It has a fairly sizeable beer garden, a proper one, with grass and a tree. Inside, there’s the výčep right at the entrance, a rather gloomy salónek, and, to the right a large room that looks much nicer.
It’s five on Thursday and there are very few people – a group and a couple of patrons in the big room, and a member of the staff working on a computer at what I assume is the štamgast table by the taps. I find a place to perch by the bar – something I try to do at every new pub, not only because I see how they do the beers, but it’s a good spot to gage the vibe – and order my first pivo.
On tap they have Pilsner Urquell tanková, Kozel černý, Volba Sladků, Birrel, Gambrinus světlé výčepní and Tři Sestry sváteční ležák kvasnicový nefiltr. I go for Gambáč. The last time I remember drinking it was almost five years ago, in the outskirts of Litoměřice, after an almost 20 km mostly uphill hike. That warm afternoon in June it tasted lovely, like a well-deserved reward. Today, well, it was good! In a flawlessly unremarkable way; like someone who comes to work to do the bare minimum, but does it so well that nobody can reproach them.
By the time I’m finishing the first beer, the local crowd that is in “ahoj” terms with the staff starts arriving and the pub becomes immediately lively – pan výčepní turns out to be a pretty fun bloke, too, who also knows the craft.
I’m tempted to get another Gambrinus, but I can’t not have the beer of the house. Aaand… Well, let me just say I should have stuck to good-old Gambáč. The Tři Sestry is murky like a NEIPA and tastes like waking up on a weekday 15 minutes before the alarm after a not particularly good night of sleep; a beer you drink slow, and not because you want to take detailed tasting notes.
That pivní stumble doesn’t ruin the experience, though. Na Staré Sokolovně felt like a pub that is part and parcel of local life, one that I wouldn’t mind returning to at a busier hour. Not a bad start for this reboot, now let’s see where the fortunes of MHD take me next…
Back to the centre it is, on the 17 direction Vozovna Kobylisy. I get off at Jiráskovo náměstí and consider for a moment going down to Náplavka, but it’s still too cold to have a beer outside, so I head in the opposite direction.
I’m about to enter the first place I see on Náplavní, when I notice a Bernard sign a bit further, on Záhořanského, and head there.
It’s called Richy Happy Bar. I’m greeted by a bartender who looks bored out of his tits and order a beer – Bernard 11, available in 0.5 and 0.4 l portions. I won’t say that the place is dead, but if it was a patient in hospital, unplugging the life support would certainly be considered. But I don’t mind it that much, the place is very colourful, with the walls covered in art, and it has the overall vibe of a bar that must be fun later in the evening. Impression that is reinforced when the bartender comes to life and talks to two girls (tourists) when they leave, telling them that on Friday evening there’ll be a DJ playing Afro-Trance (which sounds quite interesting), and then engages in a short convo, friendly with me.
You might be wondering about the beer. I’m not going to mince words, it was crap, I didn’t bother with a second one. It tasted like a textbook example of what Czechs call “trubkáč”, the beer left in the dispensing pipes from the evening before. The proper practice is to flush it before serving the day’s first půllitr. Maybe nobody explained that to the bartender, which doesn’t really surprise me, beer is not the reason to come to Richy Happy Bar.
Well, this hasn’t been bad at all. You can expect a second episode in a month or so, but I reckon I will have to start later so the pubs will busier.
Na Zdraví!
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