Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Becherovka

Maybe the most famous pub in Prague, at least according to the tourist literature, is U Fleku. This pub supposedly used to be frequented by Jaroslav Hasek (like most of the older pubs in Prague, actually), and is a well-known brew pub as well. Their specialty is this very-rich, sweet dark beer. It isn't cheap, but neither is the pub, which is rarely frequented by locals anymore. The shot glasses in this photo have Becherovka in them, which is also passed around in this pub as if it were beer. It's not beer, though. I have photos elsewhere of the distillery for this herbal liquor, which usually has an alcohol content of about 38%, more powerful than most vodka or tequila, although there are some weaker, sweeter versions of it. In reality, though, the full-powered stuff is also pretty sweet.

The copper kettle in the foreground is, of course, for brewing, although I don't know which step in the brewing process it's used for. The barrel is for aging only, as Becherovka isn't naturally fermented, as far as I know. Both of these are in the Becherovka museum that's part of the original distillery in Karlovy Vary.

This is the famous Becherovka distillery where until recently Becherovka, the famous Karlovy Vary herbal liquor, was made. It's now a museum of sorts, although when I asked them if they intended to open the old production line to the public they just said "no." This response seemed really arrogant at the time, but on the other hand the process is supposed to be a trade secret, so maybe it made perfect sense. They do have some cooking vessels for people to see, though. I don't know if they were used for fermentation, though, since the process (to the extent that they let people know about it) involves the addition of pre-prepared grain alcohol (unless I misunderstood their explanation), rather than using the brewing process to ferment the ingredients, which sort of makes the term "distillery" misleading. Incidentally, this is also not the original building, as although this location is authentic, this building was constructed later, albeit still in the 19th Century.