Hi:

Does your student read German or Czech? If so, a wealth of secondary literature exists. As someone working on a book on drinking culture and radical politics in East Central Europe, I've just completed a pretty exhaustive search through the available sources. If you like, you can put your student in touch with me directly and I'd be happy to advise her in detail. 

Two useful starting points would be:

Georg Wedemeyer, _Kneipe & Politische Kultur_ (1990)
Vladimir Novotny, _Hospody a Pivo v Ceske Spolecnosti_ (1997)

On present day Czech drinking culture, a good starting point is:

Timothy Hall, "Pivo and Pohoda: The Social Conditions and Symbolism of Czech Beer-Drinking", Anthropology of East Europe Review, 21/1 (online journal)

As an aside, one thing my Czech colleagues would be quick to point out is that pilsner is a CZECH beer [emphasis added for their benefit] and that Germans brew "pilsner-style" beer. When I point out to them that the regions of Bohemia where this style of brewing arose were heavily German until 1945, they just roll their eyes at me for my temerity. Your student will find, though, that the nineteenth and early twentieth century sources have a lot to say on this issue. Lawsuits were filed, fistfights were fought, etc. It can be quite amusing.

All the best,

Mills

T. Mills Kelly
Associate Director
Center for History and New Media
Department of History and Art History
George Mason University
http://chnm.gmu.edu/history/faculty/kelly/