No lights, dark alleyways, spooky sounds, water rushing, historic ruins, and an abandoned closed up canoe shop... Finding this place at night is like a terrifying real-life version of Scooby Doo... only my meddling friends and I were lacking a mangy mutt to keep us safe while searching high and low for this historic brewery.
Personally, I was ready to give up on finding this brewery the first time our directions led in in completely the wrong terrifying direction, but my friends are persistent, and from what I can tell, don't give two shits about the possibility of being robbed, raped, beaten, murdered, whatever in the cold, dark, foreign streets of Český Krumlov. I guess in hindsight I may have been overreacting a tad, especially considering the 4 of us, myself in particular, were by far the shadiest looking characters we saw our entire time in the city.
My advice, go during the day and if you can, go during the warmer weather months.
When we did finally arrive (after an hour and a half of searching) we walked in to an empty, old, dingy bar with a majorly mucky smell. It smelled like a place that had flooded, gotten hot and mildew-y, and only been semi-swabbed, but whatever. We made the trek, finally found it, and sure as hell weren't leaving until we had one of every beer they offered, at least. Plus, it was still a pretty solid beer hall atmosphere (minus the fact that there weren't any other patrons there besides the bartenders friends).
That actually sounds more ambitious than it actually was since they only have 3 beer options: Light, dark, unfiltered.
Beers are under $2 for a giant size, so getting all three, especially if you're splitting between 4 people like we were, is nothing.
The beers were decent... all were super light, as we'd come to expect from all the beers we partook in while touring the Czech Republic, but each of had our own favorite so it worked out perfectly. As for service... well, let's just say that most people don't go to the Czech Republic for good service.
I wouldn't race to go back, but if you're in Český Krumlov there's no reason you shouldn't go here... besides that you might not be able to find it. The atmosphere is something that you won't find anywhere else in town and I think if you're visiting during warmer weather months or during the daytime when you can utilize the outdoor picnic tables and patios that the atmosphere will be much more enjoyable. read more