TOUR OF THE CHATEAU BREWERY

The first reference to the brewing of beer in Dětenice dates back to the year 1307 under the rule of Beneš of Dětenice and Valdštejn. Legend speaks of the rapacious knight Arthur, who came to the Czech lands from somewhere in the north and who took villages in the surroundings of Stará Boleslav along with his rabble. He always raided the village in question and killed all the men, women, and children, sparing only the young virgins. He would then stay in the village only as long as the supplies there held out. The virgins had to obey Arthur and his men's every wish and command and live the life of slaves. On every full moon, Arthur would choose the most beautiful virgin, who would then have to brew the miraculous beer of love for him according to his secret recipe. He would then cut out the poor virgin's tongue to make sure that nobody found out the recipe. The beer was left to lie until the next full moon and in this way the magical beer was taken care of, a beer which Arthur drank with his companions in copious quantities. Apparently this beer gave them a superhuman thirst for sex and forced them to carry out all their brutalities.

Arthur the knight was an extremely cruel and rough person, but that is not to say that others did not yearn for his drink of love. He survived many a battle victorious until, that is, he took his mercenaries across the Dětenice demesne in the Year of Our Lord 1307. Beneš of Dětenice and Valdštejn, the Lord of Dětenice castle, or stronghold as has been written at various times, went at Arthur with his warriors and their swords crossed on the site known as "Na horkách". Arthur the knight was inflicted with a bloody wound and was thrown into the Dětenice dungeon. Not a single one of his mob was left alive, murdered to a man.

The powerful Beneš of Dětenice knew of the magical drink and for this reason did not kill Arthur outright on the battlefield. He too wanted to own the recipe for this beer and had Arthur cruelly tortured until the rapacious knight revealed his secret recipe. Beneš then had Arthur buried alive for his cruelty. So it was that Beneš of Dětenice had his beautiful daughter, still a virgin, brew the magical beer of love in the Old Cellar beneath the ramparts of his residence. From that time onwards a virgin would brew beer according to the fabled recipe of the cruel knight Arthur on full moon and those who drank it would take on greater potency. Nobody knows whether this tale is true or not. Perhaps only the walls of the Old Cellar or the walls of Dětenice Chateau itself would be able to confirm or deny the story.

Count Clam-Gallas then built the brewhouse building with its lager cellars, fermenting room, and ice-house next to the Old Cellar in the year 1790, and so the production of beer was increased to 1000 hl per annum. Baron Wessenberg then had a malt house built in 1822. In 1866, during the Prussian Wars, a Prussian general charged into the chateau halls on a horse and beseeched that the brewery cellars be opened to his soldiers, apparently having heard of the powers of Dětenice beer, and Baron Wessenberg granted his wish. The Prussian general was so taken with the taste of the beer that he did not move from the brewery for an entire week, war or no war.

The final building modifications were mainly carried out on the malt house at the end of the 19th century under the Maltese Knights. It was also at this time that beer production rose to 8000 hl per annum. The Grand Prior of the Maltese Knights, Prince Othenio of Werdenberg and Voštice, served Dětenice beer at the table to Emperor Franz Joseph, whilst his successor, the Count of Hardek, even sent the beer to Spain for the Spanish Queen Sophia, who had fallen in love with Dětenice beer during her stays at the chateau here. Indeed the beer from the chateau brewery had the reputation of being like "whipped cream on a cake" at that time. Even today the most highly-prized bottles of beer among collectors of such items are the bottles from the Dětenice brewery that feature the Maltese Cross. The brewery was then bought over in 1903 by the Bloch brothers, the major industrialist owners of a sugar factory. Beer production rose further still to 12 000 hl per annum.

The brewery was then sold on to builder and entrepreneur Ing. Řehák in 1927 and he in turn leased it to brewer Čeněk Peták, who nursed the beer directly. In spite of this, the consumption of beer waned year-on-year, the young generation not following blindly in their fathers' beery-eyed footsteps. Output did not even come close to its pre-War level and stood at something around 6000 hl per annum. As Peták himself wrote, "perhaps the beautiful days will return again and Czech malt liquor will be the pearlstone behind the crash of goblets and will be given to the children as a gift, and then the brewers will smile too and cry out 'Good health!'" The dark, twelve-degree beer of love was brewed at the Dětenice brewery according to the recipe of Arthur the knight, whilst the Dětenice brewery was also represented at the first Pilsner Brewery for the production of Gambrinus beer, of which approximately 2000 hl were brewed per annum.

For centuries the Dětenice chateau beer was a jewel in the crown of Bohemian beers. Unfortunately, this was before the year 1948 and the dark times for Czech brewing. The breweries were nationalised and many of them closed altogether, a fate which awaited the Dětenice brewery in 1955.

From this time onwards the brewery was left to decay and was abandoned until the year 2000, when it was bought over by new owners. These new owners reintroduced the tradition production of beer according to the ancient and miraculous recipe of the rapacious knight Arthur, returning the brewery to its original state in the process. Now you can admire the wonderful historic cellars, including the commemorative Old Cellar with its Baroque vaulting that was re-added. This is now home to a Medieval tavern. You can witness the production of the fairytale beer of love with your own eyes, just as it was done in days gone by. Thanks to this, a unique historic method of beer-making in the modern age, you too can taste the beer that our forefathers drank.