Dark lager from Budweiser Budvar won a silver medal in the USA

Dark lager from Budweiser Budvar won a silver medal in the “New York International Beer Competition” in the “European Style Dark” category. The panel evaluated 400 samples of beer and cider from 12 countries. The overview of the awarded beers can be found here. The collection of international medals awarded to the Budvar lager was thus extended to seven. So far, the “World's Best Lager” title of 2007 and the gold medal in the “Monde Selection” competition of 2010 have been the biggest successes. Besides that, the dark lager won the poll of the Czech Beer Friends Association in the “Dark Beer of the Year” category.

“Our dark lager has been awarded a second medal in the US during the past year. We are very happy, since the success in the competitions is significantly instrumental in spreading the awareness of the “Czechvar brand”, especially among the expert public and consumers seeking extraordinary types of beer. Every little thing is important in the American market, which is the toughest in the world. The medals help us in developing the distribution network, thus also contributing to the sales increase,” says Budweiser Budvar’s Export Sales Department manager Renata Pánková. Dark lager has been produced in Budweiser Budvar since 2004 and has been exported since 2005. In the US and in several other countries, it is sold under the CZECHVAR brand. Dark CZECHVAR has been exported to the US since 2012, the “United States Beverage” company being the distributor, focussing on the import and distribution of premium and so-called “craft beer” brands. Dark CZECHVAR lager in bottles and non-returnable KEY-KEG barrels is currently being exported to the US, the main product in the US market being CZECHVAR Pale Lager. The total sales of the CZECHVAR brand in the United States increased by a quarter in the 2013-2015.

The CZECHVAR brand was created for the North American market in 2000, as Budweiser Budvar cannot use its traditional trademarks of “Budweiser Budvar”, “Budweiser”, “Budweis” and “Bud” in the territory north of Panama under the trademark contract of 1939. Therefore,   only the abbreviation of “B.B.N.P.”, consisting of the initial letters of the brewery’s full name in Czech (Budějovický Budvar, národní podnik), is mentioned on the CZECHVAR beer labels instead of the producer’s name.