Happy Hour

Happy hour takes place every Friday in the department starting at 5:30 after the Geophysical Sciences Friday seminar. It provides an informal setting to allow graduates, senior undergraduates and faculty members to mix and chat with those members of the department who they don't necessarily see in the normal working day.

Happy Hour was previously run by Ali Gemmell and Ben Kilner but their tenure came to an end at the end of last term, after which I took over with Ben Fox. From the beginning of Hilary 2004, we introduced imported beers from all over the world as we take our regulars on a whistle-stop tour of the planet's more far-flung breweries. Each week we now provide one beer from our guest cellar and I'll bring you details of each one in due time.

This week's beer of the World:

Zatec, Czech Republic, 330ml, 4.6% abv.

This week Happy Hour is proud to bring out our new selection of beers from around the World. When our latest selection arrived from our suppliers this morning, everyone agreed that the coming weeks will take 'Beers of the World' to a new level. This week's offering from our new cellar is Zatec 11 degrees.

The Zatec brewery has been brewing beer in the small town with the same name in the region of Zatec, better known by its German name of Saaz since 1004. Originally the brewery served the castle of the town and is still built into medieval walls. The region of Zatec was annexed by the Germans during World War Two, becoming part of the Sudatenland and then suffered during the communist era that followed. With the fall of communism, most of the Czech breweries were privatised and, since 2001 when the zatec brewery was taken over by British entrepreneur Rolf Munding, modernisation of equipment and techniques has produced a fine beer widely appreciated.

Zatec has had to compete with much more famous Czech brands such as Budweiser Budvar and Staupromen but has firmly established itself in its native country and is beginning to export into Britain. The advantage this beer has on almost all others is the quality of the hops grown in the region, which I am told is absolutely first class. If Zatec manages to establish itself in this country in the next 5 to 10 years like many people are tipping, this is a great opportunity to be among the first people to sample what is truely a world-class beer.

Served from 5:30 on Friday of 3rd week (Friday 14th May).

Other weeks "Beers of the World"

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