czech

Hammer Head keeps Malt Whisky in Czech

Filed under: Spirits

Think of single malt whisky and Scotland usually comes to mind. Maybe Ireland, Japan if you're really with the times. But the Czech Republic?

That's where Hammer Head Malt Whisky hails from, made at the Pradlo Distillery that was built in what was then western Czechoslovakia in 1928. A thoroughly Czech product, Hammer Head – so named for the noisy iron mill used in its production – is made using Czech barely, Czech spring water and aged in Czech oak barrels.

A limited number of barrels were laid down in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet dominion over Eastern Europe. 20 years of aging later, the Bohemian whisky is now available from World of Whiskies, the extensive British travel retail chain, for £34.99.

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Tags: czech, Czech Republic, czechoslovakia, hammer head, pradlo, pradlo distillery, single malt, single malt whisky, whisky

Is Prague Ready for the Blob?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

I've seen some pretty strange architectural renderings but the one above definitely ranks high on the wackiness scale. It's the Czech National Library by Jan Kaplicky, a new major building project set to go up in Prague. But is it too modern for the beautiful old city? The Guardian reports that the Mayor doesn't like it, the current President of the Republic doesn't like it, and the director of Prague's National Gallery believes it is too strong for the historic quarter in which the library will be situated.

The new plan for the library was the result of an international design competition in which 350 entries competed to built the £50m structure. Kaplicky's winning design is a 48 meter tall globular structure that has been likened to both a jellyfish and an octopus. Above ground are public spaces, reading rooms, and other public spaces while the 10 million books will be located down below and available via an automated retrieval system.

So far, the public seems to be on his side. In October, Kaplicky went on Czech television to debate the merits of the building wit the Mayor of Prague. And 12,000 people have signed a petition saying it should be built. Before Christmas Kaplicky presented the design to the Deputies and he is determined to get the project pushed through.

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Tags: czech, jan kaplicky, national library, prague