Great places to have a pint

At home I like to drink whisky. In bars I usually drink beers.

Here's a few places that I felt was worth the trip by itself

Prague:

1. U Zlateho Tygra (The Golden Tiger)
Located in the city center. In the area where thousands of tourists pass every day, but they probably pass without noticing. The front and entrance is very anonymous, and even if you open the door you might still wonder if you're at the right place. Flip the curtain aside then you know you are!

Here Pilsner Urquell is served. Not the usual stuff by keg, but from tanks. Unpasteurized. This is beer from heaven. Beer as it should be. Fresh and tasty. How come we can send people to the moon and so few places in the world have beer like this. Worth the trip to Prague wherever you are from!

This is where Havel took Bill Clinton when he was on a state visit. You sit at long wooden tables on benches and wheneever you're out of beer a new glass (full!) is placed in front of you (politely!). No time needed queueing for a new beer

2. Pivovarsky Dum (Home brew)
A mile or two southeast of the city center. A microbrew restaurant with a wide selection of own brews, from czech classics like pale lager and dark lager to more exotic sour cherry, nettle, coffee or banana beer, but also a weiss. Monthly special brews and traditional czech food

The beer is cheap, magnificient and having your own tube of 4 liter of beers at the table is a great way to share. Tasting sets possible. My favourite is the pale lager

http://www.gastroinfo.cz/pivodum/

Scotland:

3. Bon Accord, Glasgow
Real Ale. Brittains own style of ale. Less alcohol, less carbondioxide, more flavour. And the taste of "freshness" (like The Golden Tiger in Prague). Once you get acquainted with the taste of fresh beer, you'll love it. It takes a great deal of work to serve the perfect real ale. The serving system must be 100% clean (the reason your average draught lager sometimes tastes a little sour isn't always the brewery's fault).

Bon Accord knows how to serve a real ale and maintain their systems. They got several real ales on tap these days, and a great selection of whiskies. The real ales will change as the casks gets emptied, but expect Deuchar's IPA to be a regular. At 3.8% I find this a nice refreshing session ale, not the most intense IPA, but a good representative of what's popular from scottish brewers these days. It's particular vulnerable to be served from a good clean system so be careful where you order this. It's a great ale after a session of whisky dramming. The low ABV actually makes it possible to freshen up while having a pint. Nothing's like sobering up while getting pished :-)

http://www.bonaccordweb.co.uk/

Have a look at Ralfy's two vlogs about Bon Accord at http://www.whiskyreviews.blogspot.com/

4. Port Charlotte Hotel, Islay
With great food and a selection of around 100 Islay and Jura malts, this isn't the worst place to be for a whisky entusiast. Port Charlotte and the hotel with it, is a stunning scenic place on the shores of Loch Indaal on Islay.
Expect to find Islay Ales on the taps, the local micro brewery. Its a very little microbrewery, located in Bridgend

http://www.portcharlottehotel.co.uk/

http://www.islayales.com/

Now I could really drink a Saligo Ale right now!. I wish I was on Islay



Germany:

5. Hansens Brauerei, Flensburg
This is a small gem, very close to the danish border. A Restaurant with traditional german food, and their own brew. A pilsner, a schwarzbier and a season brew. Fresh bier again :-)
Don't forget to visit one of the neighbouring pubs to try the other local brew, Flensburg Pilsner. A much bigger brewery of regional size, but they brew a classic german lager and a very nice Weissbier

http://www.hansensbrauerei.de/

Denmark:

6. Hugo's Kælder, Køge
One of the best pubs I came across in Denmark, if not the best. Friendly staff, wee whiskyselection. A good selection of beers on tap, ranging from real ale, danish microbrew, american microbrew and so on. And they got a huge temperature differentiated fridge stocked with hundreds of different beers.

http://www.hugos.dk/

USA:


7. Panamint Spring Resorts, California

Isolated, Scenic and a huge selection of american microbrew. Get away from it all here, 30-50 miles to any neighbours, located at the mountains about Panamint Valley, in the outskirts of Death Valley National Park in California

Fantastic view

Fantastic selection

http://www.deathvalley.com/psr/

Belgium

Well, I didnt forget Belgium, but have no recent personal experience there and no place particular to mention. The country itself is worth the trip, and there's great beers to be found every where. I really need to go again

I've put up all my favourites bars and restaurant on a google map, just at the right side of this blogpost