Question on Czech Beer

1

Hello-

I have just found a volume of “unofficial” samizdat stories and essays from the old regime (in translation, I only read English and French). In one, a boy is bringing home a pitcher of beer to his father. It is referred to as “12%” (Jiri Grusa, “Uncle Anton’s Coat”). I have seen this descriptive before. In the United States, we label beers at a percentage of alcohol, i.e., a 5.2% Lager is a normal alcohol level, and anything over 7% is generally referred to as “strong ale”, 10% or more can be “barley wines”, etc. A 12% would be an enormously strong beer; I cannot believe this would be just an every day thirst quencher. What does that percentage mean? Have I missed something in translation? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, I hate having loose ends in my reading.

Thanks,
my article

2

Helo and welcome to the forum.

Are you sure it’s not 12 (little circle for degrees) plato rather than 12%. 12 degree plato would be roughly a 5% ABV beer similar to a czech pilsner like Pilsner Urquell.

3 Likes
3

Like in europe. They use plato. Marking. On their beer label. And recipy. So 12 plato. Could be the final gravity. Reading.

4

Me did ask a german friend of mine. He says. 12 is the plato reading.

5

If you have a keypad on your keyboard hold down the alt and enter 0176 for a °. Or copy and paste the this one °. I used to keep a file for oddball characters like that just to c&p but a Windows 10 disaster lost that for me.

2 Likes
6

You meant the original gravity? So 12 x 4 is 48… The original Gravity was 1.048… ( close enough). Sneezles61