Imagine that you are in a small family brewery in the heart of the Czech Moravian highlands. In its cellars, about 11 000 hl of beer FERMENTS and MATURES.  

SLOWLY, like the traditional technology requires, at a temperature of 1­ - 2 °C, it WAITS for several weeks to months FOR ITS CUSTOMERS. When its time draws near, the beer is filtered at the same temperature through a bergmehl filter and awaits the last step before distribution ­ the final treatment. 

When at the Bernard Family Brewery we were deciding what this step should look like, we had two options to choose from. PASTEURISATION­ meaning the standard and simple route ­ or the second, far more complicated route, but one which guaranteed the unique features of the beer ­"MICROFILTRATION". 

During pasteurisation, the beer is heated to a temperature of over 80 °C, which eliminates all microorganisms present in the beer. This drastic treatment, when the beer is given a shock by being "torn" from the calm of the lager cellar, guarantees a longer lifetime for the beer, but damages its taste and colour. 

At the Bernard Family Brewery, we therefore decided to use the second, original alternative. It is more demanding, but certainly more honest towards consumers. At the end of the process, while the beer retains its temperature of 2 °C, we filter it through a special microbe filter, in which all the microorganisms are trapped.

Thus the beer does not change in flavour or aroma and you really get what we took care of for so long in the lager cellar.