Publication of an application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2009/C 38/10)

This publication confers the right to object to the application pursuant to Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (1). Statements of objection must reach the Commission within six months from the date of this publication.

SUMMARY

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

‘BŘEZNICKÝ LEŽÁK’

EC No: CZ-PGI-0005-0398-19.10.2004

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

This summary sets out the main elements of the product specification for information purposes.

1.   Responsible department in the Member State:

2.   Group:

This application derogates from Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 on account of the fact that there is only one producer in the area. The requirements laid down in Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1898/2006 are fulfilled since the applicant is the only producer in the defined area and, as a result of using the local water with its characteristic properties, ‘Březnický ležák’ differs from beers brewed in neighbouring areas (see 4.6).

3.   Type of product:

Class 2.1: Beer

4.   Specification:

(Summary of requirements under Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006)

4.1.   Name: ‘Březnický ležák’

4.2.   Description: ‘Březnický ležák’ is a moderately to medium fermented beer characterised by a delicate but distinctively bitter taste, a full body, a rich golden colour of 8-12,5 EBC, a high level of crispness with a clean hoppy aroma and no extraneous flavours, a pH of 4,41-4,74, a clarity of 0,30-0,52 EBC, an alcohol content of 4,69-5,53 and an original wort extract of 11,00-12,99 %.

Raw materials:

Basic ingredients:

malt produced from brewing barley, which must comply with the following parameters:

granulated hops of the Žatecký poloraný červeňák variety, hop extract, sugar produced from sugar-beet, and water from artesian and bored wells are used. Other ingredients: brewer's yeast, ascorbic acid. The water must be from the municipality of Březnice.

4.3.   Geographical area: Municipality of Březnice.

4.4.   Proof of origin: Records of supplies and suppliers of all ingredients are kept by the producer and preserved for the purposes of subsequent checks. Records are also kept of the purchasers of the finished products. A check on compliance with the specification is performed and recorded in respect of every batch of beer. The check is carried out by brewery staff and, as required, by an external laboratory and of course the competent monitoring body, Státní zemědělská a potravinářská inspekce (Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority).

The water used to produce the beer is checked in an accredited external laboratory. Microbiological, biological and chemical analyses are carried out. The registered wells from which the water comes are a renowned water source.

Each batch is monitored for quality and compliance with the specification throughout the production process: the quality of the malt, compliance with the parameters applied to boiled wort, progress in the fermentation room, the parameters applicable in the lagering tanks and the filtration results are all checked.

4.5.   Method of production: ‘Březnický ležák’ is produced using traditional technology. The basic ingredients are barley malt (for properties, see 4.2), prepared hops (see 4.2), hop extract, beet sugar, water, brewer's yeast and ascorbic acid. Production method:

Production of malt: the malt may be bought in or produced in the brewery and production follows the classic method: soaking of the barley (in steep tanks for a period of 72 hours until the degree of moisture reaches 45-46 %), germination (on malting floors for 6-7 days, temperature in the mass 12-22 °C), drying (in a kiln for 2 × 24 hours at a temperature of 25-85 °C), cleaning and storage.

Preparation of malt: weighing, crushing.

Brew house (the starting ingredients are crushed malt and water, the brew house is simple and classic in design with two vessels, and an 8-9 hour two-mash decoction method is used): mixing (for 20 minutes at a water temperature of 37 °C, further heating to 52 °C for 20 minutes), mashing (two-mash decoction method): 1st mash put in the kettle (breakdown of proteins 15 minutes at 62-64 °C, saccharification 30 minutes at 72-74 °C, boiling 20 minutes, siphoning off into the tun, raising the temperature to 65 °C), 2nd mash put in the kettle (saccharification 30 minutes at 72-74 °C, boiling 25 minutes, mashing out around 200 minutes at a temperature of 75 °C in the tun), lautering (rest 30 minutes); sparging, draining off the first wort, main wort, sparge water, total of around 130 minutes; emergence of the cooked wort, hop boiling (addition of hops and sugar, 90-120 minutes, hopping in 3 stages: 1. at start of run-off of first wort, 2. entire wort, at start of hop boiling, 3. 20 minutes prior to end of hop boiling).

Cooling of the hopped wort: separation and removal of the spent grain (in a whirlpool), cooling of the wort (to a fermenting temperature of 6-9 °C).

Fermentation room (fermentation in open tanks for 7-9 days at 6-11,5 °C while the bottom-fermenting brewer's yeast is active): brewing yeast culture is added to the hopped wort (0,5 litre of yeast to 1 hectolitre of wort), pitching, primary fermentation (ambient temperature 10 °C).

Lagering cellar: addition of stabilisers, CO2 saturation, clarification, secondary fermentation (closed lagering tanks, 45-70 days, cellar temperature of 2-4 °C).

Filtering of beer: filtration (diatomeous candle filter), secondary filtration (sterilising sheet filter).

Bright beer tanks: antioxidants and carbon dioxide are added.

Racking (into bottles or kegs), packaging, storage, dispatch.

Racking into bottles (0,5 litre and 0,335 litre bottles): washing of bottles in a bottle washer, monitoring of cleanliness of bottles, filling of bottles, pasteurisation, labelling, packaging (placing in crates or cardboard boxes), storage, dispatch.

Racking into kegs (30 litre and 50 litre kegs): flash pasteurisation, filling of kegs, packaging, dispatch.

Beer production must reach the stage of secondary fermentation, filtering and transfer to bright beer tanks in the defined area. Racking, packaging, storage and dispatch may be carried out elsewhere.

4.6.   Link: The earliest written reference to the brewery in Březnice dates from 1506. A new baroque brewery was built in the 18th century, and was subsequently reconstructed and extended. In 1945 it became the property of the Czechoslovak State. The development of uranium mining in the vicinity around 1960 led to the greatest growth of the brewery in its history. With the decline of uranium mining, beer production fell and the brewery was destined to be closed down. In 1989, however, the Výzkumný ústav pivovarský a sladařský (Research Institute of Brewing and Malting) took over the running of the brewery, rebuilding it and reviving production of the traditional Březnice beer, which has been carried on since 1999 by the only current producer — the company Pivovar Herold Březnice, a.s.

Top-quality spring water pumped from protected artesian and bored wells within the municipality of Březnice is used for producing ‘Březnický ležák’ and Březnice beer generally. The wells are currently 14-16 metres deep and the boreholes 37,5 and 61 metres deep. They are established in granodiorites in the Central Bohemian Pluton, a highly differentiated and varied body. In geological terms the area surrounding Březnice is made up of grey-blue medium-grain biotite and amphibolic-biotite granodiorite. The boundary between the Central Bohemian Pluton and the metabasites of the Jílovské Belt lies nearby. The wells and boreholes are supplied with fissure water and water from the zone of weathering and near-surface fissuration both from the Central Bohemian Pluton and, to some extent, from the metabasites of the Jílovské Belt. Groundwater circulation through fissures in granodiorites is fairly active as a result of the substantial degree of fissuration and it is only partly supplemented by the percolation of atmospheric precipitation since the fissures are not sealed. The climatic conditions in the area around Březnice can be classified as moderately warm with precipitation slightly below normal. The characteristic taste of the beer and the beneficial dietary effects deriving from the same technological process depend not only on the ingredients but also on the composition of the water (main components, trace elements and percentage ratios). It is practically impossible to find another area where, using the same technology but without water from the defined area, beer of the same quality and taste could be produced.

The designation of origin ‘Březnický ležák’ was entered under No 148 in the register of designations of origin of the Czech Republic on 2 April 1984.

4.7.   Inspection body:

4.8.   Labelling: —

(1)  OJ L 93, 31.3.2006, p. 12.