Bohemia and Beer            

Bohemia, an historic kingdom born in medieval times, is a major region of what is now the Czech Republic. From this land of forests and castles, the genetics and the cultural character of a subgroup of the Slavic people began to take shape in the dark ages. The seeds eventually bore fruit in modern times with such world-renowned musicians as Dvořák, Smetana, and Janáček, and the key scientific contributions of “the father of genetics”, Gregor Mendel.

But something else was brewing Bohemia in those dark ages, something that eventually would bring light where there was only darkness. Yes, I speak of BEER.

Starting with the innovation of using hops (evidence of cultivation in the year 859), through the Renaissance, when Bohemian beer became prized throughout Europe, and culminating in the invention of the “Pilsener” process in 1842, the land of Bohemia has been associated with beer. The Pilsener process, by the way, created the first clear, golden beer, and thus Bohemians truly did bring forth clarity and light to the world's consumers of the golden elixir.

Through circumstances that can only be described as amazing, the descendants of those medieval Bohemians, found their way to Astoria, Queens, and established this social hall and beer garden.

On October 1st, 1910, the cornerstone of the Bohemia Hall and Beer Garden was laid. Today, it is the oldest beer garden in the city of immigrants, New York City. You, as guest at the Bohemia Hall and Beer Garden, are a benefactor to this odd and fortuitous set of circumstances.         

Raise your glass to one of the wonders of the world. Na zdraví!