Craft brewers are incredibly generous people. This generosity is manifest in a myriad of ways. As an example, take their efforts in support of charitable initiatives. While the data are rather dated, in 2016, American craft breweries donated an astonishing $73.4 million to charities. Many of these dollars benefited organizations in their own communities and, by extension, local residents. In 2019, 95 craft breweries in the state of Minnesota who responded to a survey, reported contributing $874,310 to 3,000 community and charitable organizations.

In the 10+ years I have been studying the craft brewing industry I have also found craft brewers very generous of their time when I have asked them for an interview or tour of their brewery. This does not surprise me. Craft brewers are passionate about their profession and are very happy to make the time to share that passion with you.

Recently I experienced an unprecedented example of craft brewer generosity. I was in the city of Košice in Slovakia to participate in a Summer Institute at the Technical University of Košice (TUKE). Prior to my visit my friend and colleague, Oto Hudec (who is on the faculty at TUKE) had connected me with Peter Škripko, the owner of Pivovar Hostinec, one of two breweries in the city. Peter offered to give me a tour of both his brewery and the city, including a visit to some of his favorite craft beer bars.

Peter and I had arranged to meet after lunch on a Wednesday afternoon. During lunch, Oto got a telephone call from Peter, asking if I would be comfortable touring the city by bike rather than by foot. This would allow Peter to provide me with a geographically more expansive tour of the city. When Oto asked me about the possibility of touring by bike, I must admit that I hesitated. You see, I had not ridden a bicycle since I was teenager, over 40 years ago. Despite my hesitation, I agreed to undertake the tour by bike. After all, riding a bike must be just like “riding a bike” – if I had done it before, I could surely do it again.

Peter picked me up in his car outside the restaurant where I had lunch and drove me to his brewery. Her fixed me up with one of the brewery’s bikes and after some adjustment to the saddle we were ready to go.

As with many European cities I have visited, Košice is bike-friendly, with ample bike paths. Peter proved to be a fantastic tour guide. This was the city of his birth, and he knew a great deal about its history. He also knew the best places to get a craft beer, and we had numerous refreshment stops during our 8km+ ride.

Our penultimate stop before arriving back at the brewery was Camelot Restaurant, also owned by Peter. At Camelot, under Peter’s watchful eye, I had the opportunity at trying my hand at pouring (tapping) some Pilsner Urquell. Pilsner Urquell, of course, is famous as being the original pilsner beer, having been first brewed by brewmaster Josef Groll in 1842 in the city of  Plzeň in the Czech Republic.

Peter knows a thing or two about Pilsner Urquell. In 2011, he won the national competition to become Slovakia’s Pilsner Urquell Master Bartender. The competition tested not only Peter’s ability to pour and serve a glass of Pilsner Urquell, but also his ability to communicate effectively with customers, and his knowledge of the history of the famous beer. Winning the national competition made Peter eligible to represent Slovakia in the international bartender competition, where he placed an impressive third.

There are three ways in which Pilsner Urquell can be served – Hladinka, Šnyt, and Mlíko. The standard pour is the Hladinka, which has “three fingers” of foam atop the lager. The Šnyt (pronounced ‘shnit’), is two parts beer, three parts foam and one part empty space at the top of the glass. The Mlíko is a glass of foam, with just a small amount of beer at the bottom. Each pour type is created to pair with different foods. The Hladinka pairs well with rich foods like duck, theŠnyt with hearty food like goulash or a burger, and the Mlíko with dessert.

Peter and his bartenders demonstrated the different pours to me and then gave me the opportunity to try my hand. You can judge how successful I was by the video posted here

The following day I met up with Peter again, this time at his brewery. We were going on another tour. This time it was on foot, however, and involved going no further than the cellars of the brewery where Hostinec’s fermentation tanks are housed. Once there, I spent a glorious couple of hours with Peter talking about our common passion for the liquid nectar, while sampling at least a dozen different beers straight from the fermentation tanks.

As I said in my introduction to this blog entry, craft brewers are generally very generous individuals. But Peter Škripko took that generosity to a whole new level when he spent a significant chunk of time with me on my visit to Košice. Thank you, Peter, for being such a generous host.