Day 6, August 1, 2012

“It is summer and the People are thirsty, so we must make beer!”

Today was a busy day. I’m very tired right now, but it’s a good kind of tired. For the first half of the morning class, we painted a poster representing where we come from. I did a camping scene. The posters are strung up in the hallway and look very festive.

In the afternoon, we went on a field trip to the local brewery, or “pivovar” in Czech. The tour was interesting, especially the description of the yeast. “Yeast cultures are like women. They are good hard workers, but when they don’t get sex, they get hot and move to the cool side of the tank. Then they make a daughter. As they eat the sugar, they make alcohol, and since they are in the alcohol, they get drunk and settle to the bottom. And what does a good husband do to drunk wife? He takes care of her. He scoops her out of the alcohol and pours cold water on her so that she can work again.”

I’ve never been on a Surly Beer tour, so I can’t compare, but the tasting room was par excellence. Our tasting was paid for in the field trip, but it was unlimited beer and they had 24 different kinds to try. My favorite was “Chipper” a grapefruit/beer combo. The Primovar brewery makes 80 kegs/hour.

Late night with the ladies from Ukraine and Argentina

Making posters

Posters from all the nations

Our kitchen, where we can prepare dinner

Another view of the kitchen – the thing in the corner is not what it looks like – it’s a garbage disposal!

The two brewers

hardworking yeast cultures

The tasting room

Care package from Dick filled with tasty goodies!