a brewery in Plzeň employed Josef Groll, a German brewer who was experienced in the Bavarian lager method of making beer. Beer in Pilsen at the time was not of very good quality and they needed to compete. Groll developed a golden Pilsner beer, the first light coloured lager beer ever brewed. It became an immediate success, and was exported all over the Austrian Empire. A special train of beer travelled from Plzeň to Vienna every morning. Exports of Czech beer reached Paris and the United States by 1874. Today, beers made at Plzeňský Prazdroj are Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Primus. Beer in Prague Much of the brewing history of the Czech capital is connected to the various monasteries in the city, with brewing first recorded at the Benedictine Břevnov Monastery in 993 AD. It is also recorded that in 1088 AD, King Vratislav II granted a tithe of hops to the Canons of Vyšehrad Cathedral in order to brew beer. Today the Prague brewing scene is quite diverse, with Staropramen being the only industrial brewery. There is a total of 40 breweries and brewpubs, the oldest among them being U Fleků, which was founded in 1499 and has been brewing beer ever since. Most of the other breweries and brewpubs have been established in the city post-1989 and especially, post-2000. Beer in Žatec The tradition of brewing beer in Žatec spans over 700 years. Žatecký Pivovar has been owned by Carlsberg Group since 2014. Previously, it was wholly owned by Kordoni Holding Limited based out of Nicosia in Cyprus. Saaz hops, a "noble" variety of hops which accounts for more than of total 2009 hop production in the Czech Republic owes its name to the German spelling of Žatec. Beer in Brno and South Moravia South Moravia is known for winemaking and there are only few large breweries, namely Starobrno in Brno and Černá hora, although since the 2000s Akciový Pivovar Dalešice, Pegas and Richard have been gaining country wide popularity, despite smaller production. Categories of beer Most beer brewed in the Czech Republic is lager. Czech beers vary in colour from pale (Světlé), through amber (Polotmavé) and dark (Tmavé) to black (Černé) and in strength from 3–9% ABV. Top fermented wheat beer (Pšeničné pivo) is also available. In the Czech Republic, it is still customary to label the strength of beer by the so-called degree scale (in Czech: