Pivár Bernard: Slovenské pivo sa už zásadne nelíši od českého

I drink daily. It depends on the brewery, the mood, and the weather. When we were on vacation, for example, it was, I don't know, maybe three, four, five beers a day. And it wasn't just beer. But otherwise, some days not at all.

I studied in Žilina, and at that time Slovak beer wasn't very good, except for Zlatý Bažant. Today, there is no dramatic difference between Czech and Slovak beer quality, but large breweries produce what is called 'europivo' – average quality due to cost-cutting. I personally dealt with negotiations with retail chains for years. Buyers are trained to psychologically break suppliers. Our strategy was to brew the best beer at the highest price, so we had room to cover margins. Sometimes chains delisted us because we refused annual 3% improvements. Getting into pubs is a game of money. Common practices include discounts and free kegs, but the basic practice is buying off pub owners – offering money to switch brands. This is essentially corruption, hidden under advertising contracts.

But I am a founding member, a member of the board, and I am there because it makes sense that corruption harms the whole society, not just the economy, but the entire perception of society.

When you keep commenting on politics and you find that with every election there are new people who steal just like the ones before them.

But you asked why I don't feel like commenting on politics. You know, a few years ago I started practicing yoga, and yoga gives me incomparably more sense than constantly arguing and attacking, because politics, unfortunately, in the stage or state of consciousness that the whole society is in, is just this. So I came to the conclusion that it made sense when I was young, I wanted to improve things, I even ran for Senate, but today I don't have those ambitions, I rather have ambitions to work on myself and get deeper to the essence of why we are here, and that gives me incomparably more sense than commenting on politics.