Belt’s Beer Garden: Czech Yourself

Nashville, Tennessee might be known for its whiskey but, if you know where to look, you can find some amazing beers and breweries down there as well. For example, if you’re a fan of Lagers and funk, Barrique Brewing & Blending is a must stop destination.

Barrique has been around for about five years or so now and specializes in unique - open fermented - lagers and blended/fruited sours which are all aged in barrels. I first visited them last summer and was quite impressed with their options, so when I saw a can up for grabs out by me, I jumped at the chance.

Today I have their Pivo Sládek 10⁰, a Czech-style Pale Lager that was brewed with Pilsner malt grown in Czechia. They double decocted the beer and then added some Sládek hops throughout the boil for a bit of bitterness. The final product has a 4.3% ABV and took them over two months to produce, as their label lists it having a NINE week production time - which is a very cool feature I have never seen on a label before.

This Lager poured a bright golden yellow color with some light cloudiness keeping it from being perfectly translucent. Topping the beer was about two fingers of dense, bright white head. The foam lingered on for quite some time before slowly dissipating down into a small accumulation around the entire glass. There was some moderate lacing as it disappeared.

On the nose there was a bit of a smoky undertone along with some charred wood characteristics. The hops added some light lemon zest and a skosh of bitterness while the grist offered up some bready qualities. The smoky quality seemed to fade as the beer settled and, after a few minutes, the aroma was mostly citrus and biscuity grains.

Each sip begins clean, crisp, and light. The flavors are quite subtle but mostly mimic those found in the smell.

There are bright notes of citrus and lemon zest early on that are followed closely by some more floral qualities, like that of jasmine and orange blossoms.

Those bready notes begin to pick up around the midway point but they mostly remain underneath the citrus and floral flavors that start off each swig.

Towards the backend the hop flavors pick up a tad, adding in some black pepper spice and a slight bitter twinge. The juicy lemon and orange flavors continue all the way through and really stop the peppery/bitter sting from doing too much.

It ends insanely clean, with just a touch of that hop bite lingering on for a moment. It’s so clean and so crushable. This is the perfect summer beer. Great for the lake, after mowing the lawn, or just sitting outside.

Barrique makes the best Lagers in Nashville and this is another quality example. If you like lighter and/or funkier and sour brews…you NEED to check out Barrique.