The traditional Saaz spring running race Hopman half-marathon, which has a long-term support of Bohemia Hop, together with 10 km race could not take place this year in its usual form.
The organizers from Hopman triathlon, however, put together this race at least virtually where everyone could take part in this race alone on the official race track alongside the Ohre river from April 11 to May 1 and record the time on www.hopmantriatlon.cz. This time it was even possible to run both races and even try the track more times. Altogether 155 runners joined the race together with several employees of Bohemia Hop and CHMELARSTVI, cooperative Zatec and there were some very good results. Altogether it was a very good motivation for running in the actual restricted measures.
There was no starting fee for this race but the runners could send a financial contribution to a charity account of the town of Zatec: 107-4175780297/0100.
In March 2020, a regular conference "Application of the Czech Hops in Brewing" and the 2nd year of an accompanying beer competition Kazbek Cup 2020 were to be held. 37 breweries signed up for the second mentioned event with 43 samples in the categories of bottom fermented (24 samples) and top fermented (19 samples) beers. The annual organizer of this event is BOHEMIA HOP in cooperation with the Hop Research Institute.
During this meeting, Bohemia Hop wanted to present a new product Kazbek PE45 - Kazbek variety in the form of enriched pellets type 45 for dry hopping. Not only do these pellets have a higher content of alpha acids, but they also have a higher content of essential oils.
Although the conference and beer competition could not take place due to government regulations and measures (due to Covid-19 pandemic), we tested beers brewed from Kazbek variety from both pellets type 90 and 45. Our results were checked by accredited laboratories. The Pioneer Brewery also shared their practical experience with us.
Bohemia Hop has joined a project “Save the Pub” and became one of the proud partners of this event. The aim of this project is to connect pubs and restaurants with their customers and enable people to contribute to gastronomic operations in the current complicated situation and help them survive until they can resume their operations.
The initiative will run until current government measures are repealed and pubs and restaurants are reopened.
Hop growers in the Czech Republic started in the end of March the spring operations in the hop fields for the 2020 season.
The spring operations are starting with pruning, stringing and will be finishing with hop training in the beginning of May. The individual operations are spread in time depending on varieties, plant age and hop field location.
Despite the fact that the current situation has complicated the availability of seasonal labour for spring works, it now seems that the growers managed to secure seasonal labour from alternative sources for the individual operations. It is necessary to appreciate the work of the Hop Growers Union of the Czech Republic on this issue as well as interest of official authorities and Czech brewers, e.g. Pilsner Urquell and Czech beer and malt association. We would like to wish brewers as well as hop growers so that the situation with beer consumption returns to normal with this nearly summer weather as soon as possible.
You can follow the spring operations in the Czech hop fields on our Instagram account – bohemiahop_official – #bohemiahop
The most prestigious beer festival in the Czech Republic – Zlatá pivní pečeť – was held in February 2020 in České Budějovice. Bohemia Hop was again one of traditional partners. This year was exceptional in number of registered samples – which was 1409.
During the week, more than 450 judges evaluated the beer samples. Number of 271 breweries from 24 countries around the world took part in the World Beer Seal this year.
