Goodbye Munich, Prague here we come!

In the early evening hours of Day 3, the 2019 Cohort stopped in Pilsen, CZ to visit the Purkmistr brewery and restaurant. Management gave a tour of their brewery in the basement and then the Cohort had a traditional Czech dinner.

Purkmistr is a microbrewery that adheres to the traditional Czech method of brewing beer. The beer is brewed by mashing with the main fermentation taking place in open tanks in the cellars. Once the yeast sinks to the bottom, the beer is pumped into lagering tanks to mature. The beer is unfiltered and unpasteurized.

The traditional Czech meal included an order of the Purkmistr beer tester sets: each set containing six 0.1 liter samples of their various beers. Many of the Cohort found favorites and ordered a full serving of the brew.

At Purkmistr, we came across our next culture clash: the proper way to eat a Czech dumpling. A couple members of the Cohort picked up the bread-shaped dumplings with their hands to sop up juice and sauces on their plates. This made the eyes of our trip manager, Eliska, go big, but she handled our faux pas much better than our German waiter two days earlier.

Obviously, the Cohort will have to learn another set of table etiquette rules to see us through the remainder of the trip.

After dinner, the Cohort boarded the bus to our final destination: Prague.