For six years, Budweiser Budvar has been a part of the exclusive club of European products entitled to use the PGI logo

For the past six years, Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager has been meeting strict requirements regarding its quality, brewing procedure and production place, which are specified for the Protected Geographical Indication “Českobudějovické pivo“ (“Budweiser Beer”). The labels of its premium lager have therefore born the logo with such a symbol since May 2004. The European Union acknowledged thus the uniqueness and exclusivity of Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager, ranking it into a prestigious club of the top-quality European foodstuff products. At the same time, the Protected Geographical Indication “Českobudějovické pivo“ (“Budweiser Beer”) was the first indication of its kind to have been granted to foodstuffs from the newly joined EU members in 2004 in Central and Eastern Europe. Budweiser Budvar then later provided the Czech Brewers and Maltsters Association with its experience from the process of registration during the obtaining of the same protected indication for the term of “České pivo“ (“Czech Beer”). The conditions for the Protected Geographical Indication “Českobudějovické pivo“ are even stricter than in the case of “České pivo“.

The terms for being granted the Protected Geographical Indication “Českobudějovické pivo“ are very stringent. A particular technological procedure, production place and precisely specified ingredients can only be used in brewing beer with such a logo, as follows:

Water: drawn solely from one particular source - exactly from over 300 metre deep artesian wells. These wells provide ecologically non-harmful water from a subterranean lake under a precisely specified area of the České Budějovice (Budweis) Basin. The age of the water hidden in upper cretaceous layers is estimated at 7 - 8 thousand years old. The water hardness ranges in low levels - 1 mval/l being the maximum and its mineral content is crucial for the typical and inimitable flavoured character of the produced beer. The water is particularly suitable for the process of brewing without any chemical adjustment.
Malt: can only come from barley grown in a geographically specifically defined area of Moravia, which meets the high quality criteria.
Hops: only the strain of “Žatecký poloraný červeňák“, purchased and batched solely in the form of pressed hop heads (in no case pellets or extracts) can be used for brewing. The hops must be raised in specified cadastral areas in the counties of Chomutov, Kladno, Louny, Pilsen – north, Rakovník and Rokycany.
Yeast: a special strain of yeast for lower fermentation (Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. uvarum) is used for brewing the beer labelled PGI “Českobudějovické pivo“. This strain was isolated directly in the brewery at the beginning of the 20th century and its qualities provide Budweiser Budvar beer with its distinctive aroma and flavour.
Using glucose or maltose syrups, corn or rice malts or other ingredients and additives such as hop extracts or the Tetrahop agent is therefore out of the question during the brewing of Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager.

Furthermore, the rule of brewing only in the place of origin makes it not possible to brew Budweiser Budvar beer under the licence elsewhere than in České Budějovice. “This fact may appear as a competition disadvantage, but we consider quality our top priority. Due to our original procedures, specific production conditions and brewing only in our brewery, the whole process is immediately under our control enabling us to guarantee the invariable and top quality of our beer, as opposed to under-licence producers. Our customers can therefore be certain anywhere worldwide that they have purchased the original product and not its imitation” says Budweiser Budvar’s brewmaster Adam Brož.

The National Agricultural and Foodstuff Inspectorate continuously checks whether all the ordained parameters are adhered to.

Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager bonds together the specific geographical conditions of České Budějovice, brewing skills, local people’s experience passed over for centuries, a strictly observed brewing procedure and top-quality ingredients, which all together results in its inimitable flavour with mild bitterness, appreciated by customers all over the world.

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