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Calling american Budwieser similar to the Czech one is really bold.

Hi Jen - excellent presentation. My wife was one of the lawyers working on behalf of Czech Bud, and she has some fascinating insights (I am an expat American living in prague, and a bit of a beer geek so this high on my radar! ). To make an extremely long and convoluted story short, it will come as no surprise that the Americans were total b*stards when it came to enforcement of the mutual exclusion agreement. One of many such tales is how a group of Czech workers doing a job at the Czech embassy in Washington removed some bottles of Czech bud and took them off site (presumably to their flat or hotel) where they were “discovered” by American authorities and this was used as grounds to demonstrate the Czechs had broken the agreement. Well you can probably imagine which of the two sides - a government owned enterprise versus a global behemoth - had the greater firepower. This case like many others had no real merit but was thrown up to impoverish and distract the Czechs. Basic bullying. They are not nice people. And I am so happy you mentioned the rice! :) I took a tour to the ceske budejovice brewery a few years back (pre covid) of mostly Americans and I think they all swore off the AB Budcrap… :-) (and Mlada was great! ) Love to raise a pivo or two of this awesome national treasure with u guys!

“why is American beer so similar to making love in a boat ?” - Cause both are f*cking close to water!

Funny story.. especially as I'm from St. Louis. I never really drank much beer before I went to Prague when I was younger and I loved Budweiser there... so when I came home I went to one of my favorite pubs.. which happens to be quite dimly lit and though I should now try an American Budweiser... after all its made right here in St. Louis. When the waitress brought me the drink, I told her 'no no the beer' thinking she had brought me some sort of fizzy water.. as it looked far too pale to be Budweiser! Also.. side story.. I'm a member of the local Sokol/Czech Hall here and it pains me to tell you a member there was one of the ones who went there to sue on behalf of the AmeriBud ... hmm thats a good name for it.. and it also pains me every time I go to the Czech Hall and they have all these AmeriBud signs there. The never listen to me when I tell them they should take all that down and have more actual Czech stuff. I'll keep trying though! Another great video there... I'll probably have a Czechvar when I got home. Na zdravi!

To jsou příběhy. Jestli nedostaneš občanství, tak nevím kdo. Děkuji Jen. Hodně zdaru přeji.

Hi Jen, it was lovely talking to you and Honza at the brewery. I was waiting for this topic in great anticipation and your video certainly did not disappoint - you made me, a Budvar employee, feel very proud :) Thank you so much for doing such a great job explaining Czech cultural phenomena :)

Jen já si myslím, že byste měla začít točit edukativní videa pro české školy v angličtině. Jste strašně dobrá!

First of all Jen - you are true outlaw for smuggeling the beer :D hats of to you... Second - I am pretty sure you are the first one who compared a legal battles to "whack a mole" and it works perfectly :) Great job (...again)

Pro zajímavost: Správce dominikánského kláštera v Českých Budějovicích, Ing. Míchal, před lety dohledal dokument, ve kterém Ferdinand I., král římský a český, po návštěvě Českých Budějovic a ochutnání místního piva, v roce 1547 písemně pozval na svůj dvůr budějovického sládka, aby mu vařil pivo „nach Budweiser Art“. Tento dokument je považován za nejstarší známý písemný doklad o použití označení „Budweiser“ pro pivo z Českých Budějovic. To je o 74 let dříve, než „otcové poutníci“ v Americe sklidili první úrodu.

5:27 - WOW, that pronunciation of Přemysl 😍

Díky. Konečně mi někdo dal argument, proč by stát měl vlastnit pivovar.

I am a Czech living in the USA and make an hour trip to our biggest grocery store Wegmans to buy Budvar. Love the beer. To me less bitter than Pilsner Urquel. You did a great job explaining!!!!

Luxusní Jen, opět to máte naprosto skvěle připravené. A upřímně, detaily toho sporu jsem neznal, že jde primárně o konflikt trademark vs GI. Mně osobně Budvar nefrčí, je moc sladkej a bolí z něj hlava, ale jak se nám ho snaží někdo ukrást, to mě samozřejmě vždy sejřilo :)))))

A little error at 9:27 - The red stamp is not a PGI, or Protected Geographical Indicator. It's the blue one. The red one is a PDO, or Protected Designation of Origin, which means it not only comes from a specific area, but that every step of the process is carried out in the specific area. That includes all the ingredients, which must come from the area as well. For the PGI, only one step needs to be carried out there.

Although I've already knew about the story of american Budweiser and Budvar, I learned some new things with your video. Thanks Jen! As a german I like the czech Budvar very much and I also had an american Budweiser to taste, which wasn't a good beer for me. Next time, when I will visit Czech Republic, I definitely want to see the Budvar brewery! ⚒

This episode is a masterpiece.

Hi Jen. Good video! I have just one thing and I hope you find it interesting (I worked for one of oldest brewery here and now sometimes I serve as a guide): The right to brew beer had been given to towns (yes, that´s why it is called town, not village, it comes from their rights) has nothing to do with just brewing the beer but with brewing to be sold. There was a bunch of rights given to towns - the right to have their own fair, the right to have their own executioner, the right to brew a beer for selling and a mile right that said that within 1 mile from the townwalls can´t be any competition to that (it was about 8 kilometers) and some other rights about salt and so on. The beer for selling had to be brewed inside the town, not outside the townwalls. And the right was given to house, not to person - (the system later was more complex). Anybody was allowed to brew beer just for himself but wasn´t allowed to give it to anybody or to sell it without the permission. Those right came to towns only from a king. Beer used to be fast day drink so it was also brewed in monasteries and (I don´t know exactly) there came the right from pope. I know that a Czech St. Vojtěch asked the pope if he could forbid that because in those times they didn´t know pasterization so when someone made some beer they drank till the end and people were drunk and not working. Thanks god that they brewed the beer just cold part of the year (since autumn to spring). Pope denied it. Later those questions were part of so called Svatováclavská smlouva (1517) cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svatov%C3%A1clavsk%C3%A1_smlouva It also settled some new rights for pubs and so on, that lasted almost till 18 century. The history of beer is very interesting. It changes within centuries. BTW: České Budějovice were king´s town, other towns in the area were owned by different nobilities so the king drank the beer from his town.

Pasáž "Neletíme do Itálie, abychom si dali latte ve Starbucksu, nebo do Francie na haburgr se sýrem." by si měli zapamatovat v Čechách podnikatelé se svými italskými restauracemi a pizzeriemi. Hlavně těmi v turistických centrech, protože i český občan občas ocení cizí kuchyni. Ovšem ta autentická je prostě autentická a kvůli tomu se hlavně cestuje na dovolené.

My brother and I once went out of our way to change planes in Prague for the sole purpose of seeking out an airport bar which served Budvar.

I've been championing the Pernstejn Brewery (Pardubický Pivovar) since first visiting Pardubice in 2014, Taxis being my favourite pivo. Without consultation the owner, Staropramen, has now closed the brewery as of this month. 150yrs of brewing finished.

Missouri beer, now with rice! Now that one made me laugh :-D

Interestingly, Budvar brings around 400 mio CZK each year to the shareholders=Czech state budget. I am glad it was not privatized. Keep up the good work in Ceske Budejovice. Tam by chtel zit kazdy.

I've been explaining the history to people in the US for a decade. My good friends call the US beverage- ButtWiper....

Interesting. I remember around a decade ago there were some talks between EU and Obama administration in D.C. about creating a single market of EU and the U.S. From European pespective there was a huge consern about U.S.'s food producers overcoming EU's food health standards by court decisions. So before enything was agried Obama got out, Trump got in and talks ended basicly by blink of an eye. The point I'm making is if there would be such a deal the U.S. would have to start recognizing these G.I.s meaning the most popular U.S.'s beer would have to rename itself.

Za mého mládí byl v českých hospodách oblíbený Gruzínský koňak, kterému jsme říkali a stále říkáme "gruziňák." Pak se najednou změnila etiketa na láhvi a na ní bylo Gruzínské brandy, protože ani SSSR si nemohl dovolit vyvážet potraviny s názvem chráněné značky. Uvnitř Ruska mezinárodní obchodní právo ignorují, což se zřejmě děje i v USA, ale při exportu to je pro exportéry problém. Tam by mělo platit pravidlo, že výrobek se nesmí jmenovat podle lokality z jiné země. Olomoucké tvarůžky se také nesmí vyrábět v USA... Avšak Američané na ně stejně asi nemají žaludek.

Konečně to přišlo!Já se na to těšil asi 20 let, než to někdo řekne!

Wow, thanks for a great documentary! I always wondered what the core of the legal issue between the Czech Budvar and the American Bud was. Now I have a clearer picture. Plus points for wrapping up the story with a clear defense of the brand produced in the place where the brand originated from.

I remember seeing a really old drawing of the Schlitz plant in Milwaukee and it had listed lager, pilsner and budweiser as types of beer available.

The Budvar factory looked like the factory from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, lol. Just with no Oompa Loompas inside :-)

Velmi pěkné video, hezké efekty a střihy, velmi poutavé povídání. Těším se na další!

Great video…. The Budvar brewery has a fantastic tour! Highly recommended.

Nejen že Budvar je státní, ale je stále "národním podnikem" a ne "státním podnikem". Má neexistující právní formu jen proto, aby nikdo nezpochybnil jeho kontinuitu. A tím pádem je tak nějak úplně mimo zákony.

Now I am not sure, what the beginning of US Bud truly is. 2-3 Years ago I read an article on this and it said, that Budvar exported to US for few years in 19th century, but due to some bad harvest it withdrew from US to at least provide it's beer to european customers and did not return the next year, when harvest was fine. Due to it being so good and having good reputation in the US, Mr. Bush began brewing his own version and as you said, he marketed the hell out of it.

it never stopped amazed me that US fought soooooo hard to "own" german word for czech crown town, its so hillarious to me as a czech😂 I bet germans laugh at it too..they can do beers too and must know american "budweisser" isnt real beer

Very well informed with a broad insight, especially the historical part. I met a lot of Americans who tend to believe there was nothing prior 1776. Sadly, most of my US friends still consider Bud the real Budweiser

Thank you Jen ,it's always nice to learn something from history.

Ve své podstatě krásný rozbor "práva" (nikoliv zákonů).... Nechcete studovat na právnické fakultě? Mě se ten výklad opravdu líbil!! Jste úžasná! Držím palce ve všech nástrahách v Česku (viz.: občanství, atd...). Byla by škoda o vás přijít!!!! :-D

This is definitely your best video! ♥ Maybe not the most interesting, maybe not the most important one, but definitely the best. Surely it is one of the best video on youtube, which I've ever seen.

Btw., sipping my 6th bottle of Budweiser Budvar, when I was in Pilsen, where the "Pilsner" is from - but that is not protected, any beer can call itself a "Pilsner" or "Pils" for short - I was quite appalled that the tourist marketing of the city is all about the beer and beer only. I went to the tourist information center to get a fridge magnet with the Škoda works in Pilsen, but they ladies behind the counter asked if I was serious (they thought that a Slovak is lost in Czechia) and told me to go to Mladá Boleslav. I told them that I am not interested in the cars, but I would like to have a fridge magnet with the Škoda works, located in Pilsen, famos manufacturer of many things, e.g. electric locomotives or streetcars (which run in Bratislava too and they are very good, we like them and the operator as well - ask Prague for comparison). The young ladies were confused and baffled. This experience was very disappointing, as they did not know about the industrial history of their own city! And that the marketing of the city was focused solely on the beer.... I left the tourist information center without a fridge magnet, because they had absolutely nothing besides the stupid (and awful) beer. And I do not like their beer anyway! Commercial sewage. There is only one beer, the King of beers. Cheers! Budweiser Budvar is truly the King of beers. Everything else is just "some beer".

Excellent as always!!!👍👍👍

Very nicely presented and reseearched. I learned quite a bit here. And even though I love the guys, you outdid the Honest Guide on this topic ;)

Amazing piece. As always. Let's have a cold one in Budejce next time.

Opět naprosto perfektní video. Moc Vám fandím.

This video is soo good!

Pěkné! Pro mě jako pro Čecha je více než výmluvné, že přesně ta piva od AB InBev, jak jsou na 7:51 - jsou ta piva, která bych nikdy nepil, protože nejsou dobrá. 😅

The US Bud thanks to the rice used doesn't taste very well. It's quite "watery" in comparison to the Czech Budweiser. I lived in the US for a while and tasted some of the Czech exported beer there. It was much different than the same beer but in the Czech Republic. I was doing some IT work for Pilsner Urquell and I asked one of the managers there ahout this. He said that based on estimated shelf time (beer sitting on a shelf or in a warehouse) they give it a different amount of pastuerization. The beer that gets consumed very quickly get little to no pastuerization and the beer that may "sit" around for a long time gets the "full lot". Pastuerization does change the taste of beer. So .... that is why Czech beer tastes differently in the US compared to how it tastes in the Czech Republic

if it concerns water here in the Czech Republic, then 250 km can be a big difference, for example here in the north we have alkaline water and a brewery would never have water sent from a further area, the advantage is precisely that they have their own source of water and you will never replace it with anything

This is a great video! Love it.

When I was little (before 1989) there used to be small cans of delicious red fish meat in groceries called "drcený losos" - literally "crushed salmon". At one point in the nineties the exact same thing in the exact same looking packaging was suddenly called "solená treska" or "salted cod". And when you looked closer there were smaller letters under that saying "dříve drcený losos" or "used to be crushed salmon". No difference in the product itself whatsoever. From other similar examples we used to have Rum but now it is Tuzemák, because it never actually was rum and I am sure there are many others. I just remember the not-really-salmon one because I found it funny how they felt the need to explicitly admit on the box "we used to lie this is salmon, it is actually cod". I had no idea however that the USA now has the exact same respect for G.I.s as the Soviet block countries used to have. So thanks for making this video, I found it riveting despite the fact that I do not care about beer at all (shocking for a Czech, I know, a bit like meeting an American who is not fat maybe?).

5:27 wow, the Ř sound is amazing

Hi Jen, by the way - you used logo of Baťa somewhere in this vid. Maybe would be nice idea for some future video to go through the history of this company, while it´s pretty interesting story.

Great video. Well researched and well done!

Again, absolutely fantastic video. The script, the realization, it is just perfect. It's amazing how you always study the given topic. You are truly one of my TOP KZfaqrs. Every video of yours is simply wonderful.

"We Americans who are lucky enough to travel to Europe LOVE GIs" ... As well as us Europeans travelling to US just to experience Quarter Pounder with Cheese 😂

Fantastic presentation - thank you - very insightful indeed - BTW you would make an excellent judge too!!

Excellent video. It surpassed my expectations wirh all the details about various aspects of the row. Also not only the content, but form as well with the animations etc. is great.

I really love your videos. they are so funny, but not all the time straight to your face funny, but subtle way funny but packed with it. You are doing a great job I have to say! Ia m happy it seems to work out really well for your channel :)

Velmi podařený díl. Možná by jsi mohla vysvětlit lidem, jak "odcizila" Amerika česku kontaktní čočky.

Výborný! Díky!

The first time I drank "Czechvar" beer, I thought, this DOES taste like Bud- except it's actually GOOD!

I think when Mr Anheuser and Mr Busch first invented Budweiser, they meant it to be a style of beer rather than an exclusive trademark. When the Cxech Republic joined the EU, a lot of non-Czech beers that used to call themselves Pils stopped calling themselves Pils because just as there's a city in the Czech Republic called Budjevice, there's also a place in Czech Republic called Plzn (known in German as Pils). Also, you have to remember, American Budweiser is brewed under licence, so the Yank Bud we get in the UK is brewed under licence in the UK, but the Czech Bud, is made in Budweis. Also, in the UK, we do get the Yank Bud as well, but I do remember a time in the 1990s when Anheuser Busch released a lager simply called B. Anheuser-Busch were anticipating losing the Budweiser trademark because of the end of the Cold War. They managed to keep it in the UK... but so did the Czechs!

I remember my buddy back in 1989 going on and on about Czech Budweiser when we were stationed in Germany. I thought he was crazy. I was blown away when I saw this video in my feed.

Dík, opět skvělé, vrtalo mi to hlavou už asi 25 let od té doby, kdy jsem ještě jako teenager poprvé slyšel starej countryovej flák Joea Diffieho "Cold Budweiser and a Sweet Tater" a bláhově se domníval, že v něm opěvuje český pivo...

Mám slzy v očích a to pivo vůbec nepiju. Děkuji ti za toto video! ♥♥♥

Nechtěla by jste Miladino popisování vaření piva dát do zvláštního videa?

We already knew about this, it's the first thing you kearn when you are married to a Czech! 😂😂

pls, note the Czech style of humor, even here (1999 Budvar commercial) : kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gNlho8Zzt5m7daM.html

Jako Budějčák tleskám, škoda že jsem Vás nepotkal

Wonderful, you are in Ceske Budejovice, my town! I love it here, so of course, I liked this video, although I knew all about the Budvar/Budweiser wars.

Jen, thank you for the great story in this video! :-) The editing is top notch! Also, where can I find the beautiful music at the end?

Budweiser není jediné ukradené místní označení piva. To samé je i Michelob - podle obce Měcholupy u Žatce (Michelob bei Saaz), kde rodina Dreherů vařila špičkové pivo.

I think the Pilsner Urquell and “Czechvar” we get here in the US is dumbed down for the American palate as well… guess I just have to travel to CZ more!

Smutné, že mi tu zmizel příspěvek. A to jsem to nemyslela urážlivě.😔

Wery well done, thank you for spreading the message for us. Na Zdraví!

Jen, you are getting better and better, another great vid. 👍

What a great video! Top notch as ever.

I love Budejce! a very beautiful town square.

In Sweden American bud is sold as Budweiser and the beer from Chechia is sold as Budvar Budejovicky. I'm not sure how Anheuser Busch was able to win the legal battle here when they lost in other countries.

Another great video, Jen. :-) "People buy stories', how well put. Easily abused, though, as you yourself warn. You should warn all the Prague sellers of trdelniks that, though they might call them trdelniks, they will get into legal trouble if they call them Skalica trdelniks. The EU and our governments had decided concerning this recipe and trademark years ago: The only authentic Skalica trdelniks are made in Skalica in Slovakia, based on authentic local recipes past down for the last several centuries. There are also, like with the Bud and Budvar situation, also flip-sides (largelly past ones now), involving wannabe conmen: Back in the 1990s, a company in the Slovak village of Becherov tried to create a copy of Czech herbal liquor Becherovka, with a slightly different logo, label and bottle design. Yeah, a liquor brand equivalent of a mockbuster ! Lawsuits from Czech Becherovka, and criticisms from actual Slovak liquor companies, such as the famous Demanovka, led to the eventual shutdown and closure of the mock-Becherovka. Back in the commie era, a state-run company in Czechoslovakia produced ersatz-rum, labeled openly as such, under the trading name Tuzemsky rum ("Domestic rum"). Once Czechia and Slovakia entered the EU, the modern incarnation of the producer had to rebrand the product with the punny name "Tuzemsky um" ("Domestic wit"). You also cannot call a sparkling wine from our countries as champagne, that would be illegal. So we have sumive vina ("sparkling wine") and sekty ("sects", in the spirits for drinking sense), but we can also have our own authentic Skalica trdelniks, sheep cheese ostiepoks, etc. :-)

In the first place, I find the American Budweiser unsavory and not only me, so even if it was normally sold here, I suppose that hardly anyone would buy it.

Missouri Beer Now with Rice - LOL !!! . Im Czech-American ... slightly more Czech and I learn so much from you.

After moving from Hluboká nad Vltavou to Budějce, I lived across the street from Masné krámy. One day while walking out of my flat, I bumped into Vaclav Havel and crew walking out of the pub, hopping in their cars and driving off...........I've seen many interesting folks wonder out of Masné Krámy, my only thoughts were, "Well, you don't see that everyday"..............

Great video as always!

Good job Jen! I love when you dive deep into a history and make these fun & educative videos. Could you please make a trip to Olomouc city and make similar educative video about unique cheese called "Olomoucké tvarůžky" and explain to entire world why this cheese has fat content only 0.5% ...and also describe unique smell, taste and how well it goes with Czech beer? Please, don't forget investigate why they don't export them to North America! Thanks!

Spring 2016... traveled to České Budějovice. Had this beer in the old town square on tap. FANTATASTIC! No comparison to the American version. A lagers go, I found this to be the best lager I've ever tasted. Best Pils I ever tasted is Pilsner Urquell. Had that in Pilsen on tap. Just wow! My favorite beer ever. Then again, I prefer Pilsners and lagers. On a side note... the European version of Guinness is far better than what you get in America. Wow! Loved it.

BTW: there is one more geografical name Anheuser-Busch appropriated - Michelob, which is german name for Měcholupy.

Thank you, excellent blog. Btw. American courts have just ruled in favor of use of "Gruyères" trademark in the US, regardless of it being registered as a GI in Switzerland and part of France. They claimed Americans perceive it as a generic term for a type of cheese (like "Swiss" cheese) 🤷

GI's are wild. My region of Slovenia produces some mid-level quality sausage, nothing to stand out, but it has a GI, so it's special

OMG, you are more Czech/European than myself - I was born in Czechoslovakia though! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thank you for your clever teaching! 💖

To zeměpisné označení je známka České pivo, které nijak se sporem Budvar vs. Bidweiser nesouvisí (používá ho většina českých pivovarů). Trademark, o který ve sporu jde, řeší, zda má Budvar původ až založením akciové společnosti nebo už udělením práva pivovárečného ve 12. století, když to hodně zjednoduším.

Super as allways... finally someone expained to me what is the story about and who stole the name.....

Thanke you for good explanation.

By the way here in Czech republic there are a lot of people who do not really like Budvar. It is considered to be a "sweet" beer and it is too sweet for them.

Oddly enough, the Budweiser brewed in China is better than the US Bud. There is a 10 day beer festival on the beach in Qingdao that draws around 3 million visitors in a normal year. Bud has a huge tent every year with food, entertainment, and beer.

Amazing video!

American Budweiser is a slightly effervescent beverage made from fermented rice. People who like beer generally don’t drink that liquid.

America's favourite beer? Bud Light: Hold my beer....

A Very informative video! 😊

Budweiser from St Louis is anything BUT similar 🙂 but American Budweiser has the best commercials on the planet...at least used to but beer sucks .....they use rice ..CZECH Budweiser wayyy better