Dva Kohouti hides behind an arch on Sokolovská 55 in Karlín, where a working microbrewery, a taproom and a cobbled courtyard share one yard. It is the project of Adam Matuška, founder of the Pivovar Matuška brewery, so the address doubles as the closest thing Prague has to a Matuška tap.
The taproom suits drinkers who want fresh lager brewed on the spot and a courtyard to drink it in. It works less well for anyone after a quiet seated bar, since the model is standing room, shared benches and no reservations, which keeps the yard loud when it is full.
The space is the draw. The Infatuation, reviewing the Karlín taproom, describes a brewery fused with a buzzing bar and a cobblestoned beer garden tucked inside an old courtyard, surrounded by office buildings and a branch of Lokál. The setting turns a round into a longer afternoon.
The beer is built around one house pour. They brew the lager on site, and the taps always carry at least one house-brewed lager alongside seasonal specials and selections from Pivovar Matuška, which is the connection that put the place on every Prague beer map. The list stays entirely Czech.
The people behind it explain the standard. Dva Kohouti pairs Adam Matuška with Lukáš Svoboda, the beer caretaker for the Lokál franchise, a partnership the name nods to with a Czech proverb about two roosters in one yard. The result is lager poured with the care Lokál is known for.
What to order is clear. Start with the house lager, which is the beer the place exists to make, and ask what Matuška special is on if a hoppier pour is the goal, since Matuška built its name as one of the first Czech breweries to brew an IPA. The board rewards a second round to compare the two.
Prices sit in the mid range for Prague craft, which buys beer that has travelled no further than the next room. For drinkers who care about freshness, a lager poured a few metres from where it was brewed is the case the taproom makes without trying.
Best time to go is a warm afternoon, when the courtyard opens up and the yard fills with an after-work Karlín crowd. There are no reservations, so an early arrival on a sunny day is the way to claim a bench before the standing crowd takes the rest.
The crowd is a Karlín after-work mix that swells in warm weather. The Infatuation and Prague City Tourism both flag the courtyard as the draw, and reviewers note that the yard fills fast on sunny afternoons because there are no reservations and the standing crowd takes the rest. The steer that repeats is to come early and claim a bench.
The taproom fits a clear kind of visit. It suits a fresh-lager session in the courtyard, an after-work round with a Karlín crowd, and any drinker who wants to taste a Matuska special at the source. It is a weaker pick for anyone after a quiet seated bar or a guaranteed table, since the model is standing room and shared benches.
For a warm-weather visit, the practical draw is the courtyard and the fact that the lager is brewed metres from the tap, which is as fresh as Prague beer gets. The no-reservations policy rewards an early arrival on a sunny afternoon before the yard fills.
Dva Kohouti is a fixture of the Karlín beer scene, and it sits among our picks for craft beer bars and after work drinks in the city. Plan the wider route with the Prague bar guide.
Sources: The Infatuation Prague; Prague City Tourism; Beer Guide of Prague; expats.cz; official site dvakohouti.ambi.cz.
