If you’re truly a beer connoisseur, Road Trips Foodie, you really need to consider a trip to the Czech Republic in late August for the Hop Celebration in Žatec.

For more than 800 years, hops have been grown and beer has been brewed in Žatec and its surrounding areas. At one time, there were seven breweries and eleven malt houses in just this one little town.

The 55th Harvest Festival in Žatec promises to be yet another grand celebration of hops and beer (it’s said by aficionados that the quality of Žatec hops is what makes Czech beer so special).

During the celebration — it’s August 30 through September 1, 2012 — visitors can sample more than 40 types of beer from this country and abroad.

The town (center, obviously, of a hops-growing region) even has its own Museum of Hops.

For tourist information about Žatec, go online.

(Photo of the Zatecky chmel courtesy of Hop Growers Union of the Czech Republic)

(For more about beer, check out our sister site, Road Trips for Beer.)