Hop Museum

Bohemia has been famous for centuries as the source of some of Europe’s best hops, and particularly for the Saaz Noble variety, grown around Zatek, a market town of about 20,000 inhabitants some 70 km north-west of Prague. The hop museum is located in a three-storey building of the late 19th century designed for the storage and packaging of hops. Displays show how hops were grown and processed from the middle ages onwards. One section deals with the trellises and poles used to support growing hops the first evidence of which dates from the early 16th century. Other sections show how hops were dried in various kinds of oast house, and how they were stored and packaged before being delivered to brewers. Some vehicles used in association with old methods of picking hops by hand are displayed, together with examples of the machines developed for use in harvesting. The museum holds collections of handbooks giving advice on growing hops, and recipes detailing how they should be used in brewing. A festival associated with the hop harvest takes place every year in the town square outside the museum.

The location is part of the 'Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops' World Heritage Site.