A couple of true hop heads in this photo.
Taken the first Saturday in September at the Hop Festival in Zatec, Czech
Republic home of Zatec (a.k.a. Saaz) hops. The festival had a midway,
two sound stages, and 19 or 20 breweries each serving a few beers.
The beers were typically different gravities of Bohemian Pilsner or a Dark
Lager. The Pilsners were listed as 10, 11, 12, 13, or higher degrees
where that just means the OG in Plato. Multiply by 4 to convert to SG,
e.g., 11 is 1.044. The Dark Lagers are typically fairly sweet.
The hop heads made their crowns from the fresh Zatec hops being cut from
a small patch growing right in the town square.
For more on the Zatec and the festival see some of the following URLs
http://www.docesna.cz/index.php?page=2&lang=en
http://english.mesto-zatec.cz/tips-to-visit/tips-to-visit.html
http://english.mesto-zatec.cz/hops-and-beer/hopsandbeer.html
http://www.beers.cz/hopmuseum/a_ch_mu.html
http://muzeum.chmelarstvi.cz/indexen.htm
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Steve Piatz piatz(a)cray.com
Cray Inc. 651-605-9049
1340 Mendota Heights Road cell: 651-428-1417
Mendota Heights, MN 55120