Řezané, the two-tone beer that's a cut above

Czech beer is not all about crisp, light pils. Or even about dark ales. Sometimes it can be both. Řezané ('zhezaneh') is a two-tone beeer: a combination of different density light and dark, carefully poured so that they don't mingle in the glass but settle into two distinct layers.

I enjoyed some in my visit to the delightful Moravian city of Olomouc last autumn. A short train ride east, in the town of Velká Bystřice, is the Tvarg Brewery. Since 2020 they've been not only brewing a range of traditional and modern beer styles, but also making the area's famously stinky cheese, tvarůžky ('tvaroozhki') ‒ the perfect snack to go with their beers of any hue.

The word řezané means 'cut'. No half measures about this drink, then.

Tvarg do tours of the brewery and the cheese factory, and have a restaurant and bar where you can learn how to pour Czech beer. There's more to it than you might expect. But then you can drink it, along with some of that pungent cheese.

Creating a well-layered řezané needs a steady hand. You can supply your own joke here.

Cheers!