5 places you probably didn't know could get you drunk

A journey through France might feel like taking a walk through a well-sorted liquor store, from the northeastern Champagne to Burgundy and Sancerre in the middle of the country. Next is the village of Cognac and finally Châteauneuf-du Pape in the South. The country is full of famous place names that many outside of France probably only know from the wine store.

Why Pilsner got off to a bad start

One brand of beer that has managed international stardom is from the Czech village of Plzeň. Today, the so-called Pilsner enjoys a strong reputation and might just be the most favored brand of beer in the world. However, the early Pilsner wasn't even worth drinking.

When beer brewing began in the late 13th-century, there was no focus on high quality work. Undrinkable - that was what most of the residents of Plzeň thought about the mixture. In 1838, their disgust even motivated them to pour several barrels of the stuff into the gutter.

The rebirth of Pilsner

In 1842, Josef Groll, a master brewer from Bavaria, was called in to solve this problem. In a newly built brewery, he used a new technique as well as blond malt and profited from the extraordinary soft water in the Plzeň region. The new beer had a brighter, more or less golden color, and its characteristic humulus-rich taste as well as the snow-white froth became a sensation at that time.

From Plzeň to the world

Not long after that, the brewery of Plzeň succeeded in supplying their beer not only to the imperial court of Vienna, but also to the high society in Paris. From there, the beer finally started its conquest of the whole world. Today, Pilsner is an inspiration for more than two thirds of the world's beers.