The Czech love-affair with beer goes beyond just drinking it - they bathe in it, have festivals in its honour, and then find new ways of drinking it. Evan Rail toasts the finest ways to appreciate a Czech brew

The Czech Republic is the home of the first Pilsner, the first Budweiser, and - somewhat unsurprisingly - takes first place for the world's per-capita beer consumption: more than 281 pints annually for every man, woman and child in the country. After seven years of sipping his way around, Evan Rail offers his tips on the best of Czech beer culture.

1. Beer baths

There are a few things for which the Czech region of West Bohemia is particularly famous: great lagers, for one, and a storied spa culture, particularly in the gingerbread spa towns of Karlovy Vary (formerly Carlsbad) and Marianske lazne (aka Marienbad). Combine the two and you get the beer bath: a therapeutic dip in a special bathing brew supervised by a licensed balneologist. To create the Czech Republic's first beer spa, the Chodovar family brewery installed a half-dozen large tubs in the cellar in early 2006. Though there is a hotel on site, if you set out early enough, you can enjoy your relaxing, semi-sticky beer dip, eat a beery lunch at the brewery restaurant and easily make it back to Prague in time for happy hour.

chodovar.cz

2. Beer festivals

Though largely under-promoted, scores of beer festivals - called pivni slavnosti - light up weekend nights around the country. The majority are annual Friday-Saturday rock festivals on brewery grounds, so-called "open door" days that usually come just once a year. As such, only that particular brewery's beer is usually available. But other festivals from Prague to the far corners of the country invite multiple breweries, often smaller producers, to show off their wares, and include entertainment ranging from mechanical bull rides to puppet shows. My favorite: the Krkonosske pivni slavnosti, a festival of independent brewers from the Krkonose mountain region, taking place every year on the second weekend in August.

kpivnislavnosti.cz

3. Brewery hotels

Eliminating the need for a designated driver, the Czech lands are home to 16 brewpubs with guest rooms on the premises. Though it actually lies near the Polish and Slovak borders, the hilltop citadel town of Stramberk is so lovely it seems like it should be in Tuscany. However, the coffee-like, astonishingly good Troobacz - one of the country's best dark lagers - could only come from the Czech Republic. With inexpensive, well-furnished guest rooms just steps from the cellar, this brewery-hotel offers an extra incentive to stick around and try one more.

truba.cz

4. Unpasteurised Urquell

With a name that means "original source," Pilsner Urquell has staked its claim as the world's first Pilsner, and it remains one of the country's favourite producers. However, even many locals don't know that there are actually two varieties of Pilsner Urquell available on draught here: the regular kind sold throughout Europe, and a special, unpasteurised version sold only in the Czech Republic at special "tank" pubs which forego kegs for high-volume tanks. Without pasteurisation, the rich malt body is far sweeter and the bitter Saaz hops are decidedly sharper and more fragrant. Try it for yourself at a tank pub like Malostranska Pivnice (Cihelna 3, Prague 1–Malá Strana), just down the hill from Prague Castle.

malostranskapivnice.cz

5. Between Buds

The Czech Republic town of Ceske Budejovice - Budweis in German - is celebrated as the home of the original Budweiser beer, though there are in fact two original breweries there (Budweiser Budvar and Budweiser Burgerbrau), both of which are involved in legal battles with Anheuser-Busch over the rights to the name. If the only criterion were the quality of the beer, the Czechs probably would have won years ago. To decide for yourself who deserves the name, take an English-language tour through the modern Budweiser Budvar brewery, then relax with another cold one on the scenic South Bohemian town's Baroque main square.

budvar.cz

6. Strong brews

Not content with the standard 5% alcohol of the average lager, Czech brewers have begun branching out in new directions, creating the chest-pounding equivalents of bocks, double bocks and barley wines, albeit on their own terms. The champion here is U Medvidku's X-33, a remarkably complex lager of 12.6% alcohol, produced in numbered bottles and cellared for the best part of a year. Cloudy, deep amber with a thick, mousse-like head and the taste of leather, honey, almond and oak in the mouth, it is less a beer than a unique dessert wine by another name.

umedvidku.cz

7. Tram pub

According to the Czech beer group Sdruzeni Pratel Piva, the best new pub for 2006 is the bizarre tram-theme Prvni Pivni Tramway or "First Beer Tramway" located at the end station of Prague's 11 tram. Smoky, dark, narrow and covered with semi-obscene frescoes, Prvni Pivni Tramway serves Primátor Hefeweizen, Gambrinus and Pilsner Urquell, with a fourth tap connected to an oddball keg from one of the country's regional brewers. There is no website, but it's impossible to miss if you take the 11 tram from metro station I.P. Pavlova it to the end station at Sporilov (approximately 17 minutes).

8. Lots of bottle

Though the Czech lands are home to more than 100 breweries, only about 25 are available on draught in the capital. To check out the remainder, look through the 200-plus bottles at Prague's first specialty beer shop: Pivni Galerie, or "Beer Gallery", hidden in a quiet residential neighborhood just out of the center. Owners Petr Vanek and Olga Vankova probably know more about Czech beers than any hundred beer journalists: if they don't have it in stock, it probably doesn't exist.

pivnigalerie.cz

9. Glassworks brewery

In the ski-jumping, North Bohemian town of Harrachov, the Novosad Glassworks have housed a brewpub since 2002, partly to satisfy employee demand. Glass-blowers toil in year-round temperatures around 120 fahrenheit, and being Czechs, they consume a lot of low-alcohol beer during their shifts, and plenty more after work. All brews here are unpasteurised and unfiltered, made with local spring water drawn from an exclusive forest well. Beers have between one and three full months of lagering, and the result is absolutely delicious. Tours of the glassworks are available, and you can watch glass-blowers work up a thirst from the brewpub's mezzanine.

sklarnaharrachov.cz

10. Beer gardens

To me, Prague is most beautiful on its long summer nights, when the scent of chestnut and linden trees fills the air and friendly groups gather in the city's shady beer gardens. On nights like this, my favorite destination is Letna, the verdant bluff overlooking the Old Town from the north. There's plenty of park-bench seating, and half-litres of Gambrinus beer from a kiosk cost the equivalent of 70 pence. The sunset views over the city's tile rooftops, the soaring spires of Prague castle and the flowing Vltava river, of course, are priceless.

· Evan Rail's Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic is available in bookshops or from CAMRA at shop.camra.org.uk. You can also buy it at the Guardian Bookshop.