"Czech Republic" news and stories

Photo: St. Pauli Girl.

Earlier this year, model and actress Katarina Van Derham was named the 2009 St. Pauli Girl spokesmodel via an online vote. Van Derham has roles on shows including "Entourage," "Monk" and "CSI," and has graced the covers of dozens of magazines. But for brew fans, Van Derham's gig filling in as the famous St. Pauli Girl icon may be their first encounter with the actress.

Beyond getting to know Katarina's very pretty face, we were interested in finding out about her beer knowledge. Van Derham is a native of Slovakia and speaks five languages, including English, Slovak, Czech, Russian and Polish. Eastern Europeans are world-renowned for their love of beer and beer-centric culture. Does she have the knowledge to back up her esteemed position?

We gave her a five-question beer quiz to see just how up-to-speed she was. ...

Mama's Little Yella Pils Photo: Oscar Blues.

Crisp, floral Czech pilsners can typically lord their pedigree over their American counterparts -- the champagne to most stateside macro-breweries' bathwater (Miller Lite calls itself a "true pilsner beer.")

"Mass-market pilsners are liquid Muzak," says Marty Jones, the "lead singer and idea man" for Lyons, Colorado's Oskar Blues. To rebut the bland, watery brews littering the marketplace, Oskar Blues -- the first microbrewery to can craft beer -- has unveiled Mama's Little Yella Pils. "We're restoring a little honor to the concept," Jones says of Mama's, which re-creates a classic Czech pilsner with American craft-beer flair.

Instead of relying on cheap adjuncts like rice or corn, Mama's is constructed with 100 percent malt and a generous dose of spicy Saaz hops. But brewing a pilsner is an exercise in restrained elegance, unlike brutish IPAs and boozy stouts potent enough to incapacitate Paul Bunyan.