Green beer and Easter 2027: Green Thursday, traditions and food
Easter comes early in 2027: Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027. Maundy Thursday – in Czech Zelený čtvrtek, “Green Thursday” – is therefore 25 March, the day Czech pubs pour green beer. Here are the dates, traditions and food so you can plan your Easter trip in good time.
Easter 2027 dates
- Green Thursday: 25 March 2027
- Good Friday: 26 March 2027 – public holiday
- Holy Saturday: 27 March 2027
- Easter Sunday: 28 March 2027
- Easter Monday: 29 March 2027 – public holiday
Where green beer comes from
Brno's Starobrno brewery has brewed green beer for Green Thursday since 2006, and it is poured across the country; other breweries followed with their own Easter specials. The name “Green Thursday” probably comes from a distortion of the German Greindonnerstag (weeping Thursday) into Gründonnerstag (green Thursday). How the beer gets its colour differs by brewery – ask if you're curious.
Green beer tips
- Supplies are often limited – go in the afternoon rather than late evening.
- Ask what style it is – the colour says nothing about the taste.
- Green beer should still have good foam and the right temperature – see how to spot a well-kept beer.
What Czechs eat at Easter
- Green Thursday: green food – spinach, nettle soup or spring herbs, for health all year. Jidáše, sweet pastries with honey, were traditionally baked for breakfast.
- Easter stuffing (nádivka) – a baked mix of bread, eggs, smoked meat and spring herbs.
- Mazanec and beránek – sweet Easter bread and a lamb-shaped cake.
- Eggs – painted for the Easter visits and hard-boiled to eat.
The pomlázka
On Easter Monday boys and men go from house to house with a pomlázka, a whip braided from willow twigs and decorated with ribbons. Girls and women give them painted eggs, sweets or a shot of spirits. It is one of the most colourful Czech traditions, more visible in villages than in cities.
Where to go for an Easter drink
Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays, so Easter makes a good long weekend. Whether specific Potrefená husa locations will pour green beer on Green Thursday 2027 or offer an Easter menu should be checked closer to the date with the restaurant. Addresses are on our locations page.