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Czech president: US beer is ‘filthy water’
The Drinking Business ^

Posted on 11/24/2014 8:20:22 PM PST by wetphoenix

Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic, has branded American beer as “filthy water” during a business summit in Kazakhstan but US brewers needn’t pay too much attention.

During the trip, Kazakhstan’s long-running president, Nursultan Nazarbaev (who has run the country since 1989), asked Zeman (pictured above) which beer he thought was the best in the world.

According to Reuters Zeman replied that, “Czech beer is the best in the world. No American company that offers filthy water instead of beer can compete with us.”

Zeman is used to controversial and often profane statements, the 70-year-old even calling Russian protest band “Pussy Riot”, “c***s” live on Czech radio.

Meanwhile, earlier this month on the 25th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia he was pelted with eggs after claiming the police did not use violence to suppress the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 (Zeman himself was a member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party from 1968-1970).

His approval ratings have fallen from 58% to 37% in little over a month and last week some 71% of Czechs polled said they thought his public statements were harming the country’s image.

The Czechs are indeed Europe’s biggest beer drinkers with a per capita consumption of 148.6 litres.

The comments may cause some offence to Americans but they also come as other headlines from the US claim that Americans are drinking more craft beer than Budweiser (a US brand that had an extremely long legal wrangle with Czech brand Budweiser Budvar).

The Wall Street Journal reported that even Budweiser’s brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev even admits that around 44% of 21-27-year-olds in the US today have never tasted the brew.

Budweiser’s market dominance has been on the wane since it peaked in 1988 at 50 million barrels. It had declined to 16m last year with Bud Light and Coors Light displacing it to the top two spots in 2001 and 2011 respectively.

However, craft beer has also been on the rise and, all-together, now produces 16.1m barrels and holds a 7% share of the overall market in the US, with volumes growing 18% in the first seven months of this year compared to last and commanding an export market worth US$73m.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: beer; communists; czech; zeman
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To: wetphoenix

I agree.

Most American beer is like having sex in a canoe.
F’n near water.


21 posted on 11/24/2014 8:29:08 PM PST by llevrok (I fear the US government more than I do al Qaeda)
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To: wetphoenix

I’m sure he hasn’t tried some of our excellent microbrews.

Can’t say I can critize him for calling the pussy riots c***s. They want to shock by being vulgar, fine we can return the favor.


22 posted on 11/24/2014 8:29:58 PM PST by aquila48
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To: wetphoenix

The craft beer selection in the USA is second to none. Maybe 10 - 20 top notch beers in CR compared to thousands here.


23 posted on 11/24/2014 8:30:03 PM PST by deadrock (I am someone else.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

I use to like Sam Adams but it is queer beer so much for that NE liberal shi*.


24 posted on 11/24/2014 8:30:47 PM PST by boomop1
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To: technically right

Not to mention “Blue Ribbon “...


25 posted on 11/24/2014 8:31:47 PM PST by aquila48
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To: wetphoenix

Than try this next time.

26 posted on 11/24/2014 8:31:54 PM PST by Mat_Helm
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To: wetphoenix

I hate beer snobs.


27 posted on 11/24/2014 8:32:01 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: wetphoenix

Especially commie beer snobs.


28 posted on 11/24/2014 8:32:24 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Bettyprob

“Nothing like a beer thread to bring out the ol’ beer snobs, waxing poetic about their oh-so-sophisticated palates. “

I thought I was the only one that felt that way. :-)

The “craft” beer crowd,

.


29 posted on 11/24/2014 8:32:35 PM PST by Mears
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To: yarddog

Heineken!?!?!?! F that S! PABST BLUE RIBBON!


30 posted on 11/24/2014 8:32:44 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: wetphoenix

Ya, but we don’t have to wait for the horse race to end to get ours....


31 posted on 11/24/2014 8:32:50 PM PST by G Larry (Amnesty imposes SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL immigrants & minorities)
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To: Ray76

~Staropramen (from Prague) is great.~

Yep. But my favorite Czech is Pilsner Urquel.

IMO, Bavarian beer is still better. Nothing beats Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold but I have never seen it outside Germany.

Out of cheap mass-produced international brands I think Stella Artua is quite good too.


32 posted on 11/24/2014 8:35:29 PM PST by wetphoenix
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To: wetphoenix

He never tried ice cold PBR while in Vietnam.


33 posted on 11/24/2014 8:36:27 PM PST by laplata ( Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: wetphoenix

My fav is Odell 90 Shilling Ale.


34 posted on 11/24/2014 8:36:33 PM PST by G Larry (Amnesty imposes SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL immigrants & minorities)
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To: wetphoenix

Iron City uber alles!


35 posted on 11/24/2014 8:36:38 PM PST by twister881
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To: wetphoenix
No American company that offers filthy water instead of beer can compete with us …
InBev sure is not an American company. Neither is SABMiller (Miller and Coors), who also owns Pilsner Urquell (on record as the first Pilsner, right there in beautiful downtown Plzen too).
36 posted on 11/24/2014 8:37:12 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: wetphoenix

Make mine a Billy Beer!


37 posted on 11/24/2014 8:37:22 PM PST by twister881
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To: dfwgator

Yes that was it. The scariest character I remember ever seeing in a movie.


38 posted on 11/24/2014 8:37:23 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: aquila48

You betcha. Cut my teeth on Ribbon when I was in Junior High.

I remember one time when I was in High
School a bunch of us went up to the US 30 dragstrip in Merrillville one Sunday. The restroom was one of those cinder block affairs that had a rain gutter attached to the wall for a urinal. There was an old boy there whizzing away and he turned to me and asked if knew where all of that was going. I said, “No” And he replied, “It goes straight to Detroit and they put it in Strohs bottles. A million, uh, Amish, can’t be wrong”


39 posted on 11/24/2014 8:37:51 PM PST by technically right
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To: yarddog

I miss Dennis.


40 posted on 11/24/2014 8:37:53 PM PST by dfwgator
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