In Pilsen, the second largest brewery with the second largest pub has grown

Plzeň - In Plzeň, the second largest brewery Beer Factory with the second largest restaurant has been built after Pilsner Urquell. It was established near the city center by local entrepreneurs in brewing and gastronomy. The annual capacity of the microbrewery is 2000 hectoliters and it will open on Tuesday. This was stated to ČTK by the owners Josef Krýsl and Viktor Starý. There are four other microbreweries in Plzeň.

The Plzeň microbreweries Purkmistr, Pašák, Raven, and Blahovar are successful with their beers. So far, the most is sold by the restaurant Purkmistr - Pivovarský dvůr, which, with over 1600 hectoliters, is approaching the annual capacity of Beer Factory. Plzeň’s Pilsner Urquell can produce over five million hectoliters annually. "We are trying to teach beer drinkers about different flavors. In Plzeň, they can already choose a lot," said Petr Míč from Purkmistr's marketing, which has expanded several times over the past ten years.

Krýsl, who has already built 64 very successful breweries around the world, initially wanted to have a larger industrial brewery in Chrást near Plzeň. However, a year ago he teamed up with a local restaurant operator and they found a suitable building near the square in downtown Plzeň. Its owner is 84-year-old emeritus professor of Princeton University Joseph Kohn, a significant world mathematician, and the stepbrother of director Miloš Forman.

Overall, the "Beer Factory" employs 15 people. There are eight types of their own beers on tap in the non-smoking restaurant. The most sold will be the Pilsner-type lager Beer Factory, which will cost 40 crowns for a half-liter, followed by top-fermented beers, guest beers from West Bohemia, and a hundred bottled beers from around the world.

The interior of the brewery and the restaurant is in an industrial style with iron, oak, and copper, and walls without paint. "Here, gastronomy is combined with beer and architecture together," said architect Ondřej Janout from the Plzeň firm Projectstudio8. After the launch of Beer Factory, the owners would like to sell the concept as a franchise.