Craft Pilsners

Having recently warned our readers of the perils of ‘fake pilsners’, I thought I should take the next step and begin to ‘review’ some local craft brews bearing the Pilsner tag. Not because I wanted to pretend that I can tell our readers what a beer tastes like, or which one is better than another, as that is not my go. As you know, I like to keep out of the beer review/recommendation game because, for me, the beer experience is all about time and place and mates and food and such and what tastes bitter or smooth or pissy to me might be the opposite to your palate.

Here follows a reasonably good guide to the style differences and taste profiles of some of the various craft brewed pilsners available. It is also a reasonably good excuse for me to buy and drink some of the various craft brewed pilsners available. I begin with a selection of some of the offerings that have been out and about for a few years now. Some newer ones will be used as an excuse for me to buy some more good beer and they will be tested in a few weeks.

Monteith’s Lively Pilsner NZ 330ml 5% ABV

Not strictly a ‘local’ offering but I thought I’d include it by way of an apology for the bucketing I gave the Kiwis in two recent posts. This has a very smooth and tasty malt front with a crisp, refreshing hop kick. The two elements are beautifully balanced and the overall taste leans more towards flavour than the strength of the hop ‘bite’ which works well. A mild hop aroma and a nice lively bubble as the name suggests. Matched well with roast chook.

Bluetongue Pilsner NSW Hunter Valley 330ml 4.5%

Hop flavour that leans towards the ‘rusty’ end of the spectrum and nice for those who like their pilsners to have that ‘bite’. Maybe a little heavy handed for the malt though it might be that the malt is a bit short for some rather than the hops being ’over’. Clean and thirst quenching with a mild aroma. Nice on its’ own or with mild flavoured food like poached seafood.

Grand Ridge Brewer’s Pilsner VIC 330ml 4.9%

Reasonably fresh and crisp taste, easy drinking and a lovely earthy tone to the colour. A little light on aroma and the malt is sweetish but a little muted. Almost enough bitterness to be a great pilsner and it feels like it wants to tick all the boxes but perhaps couldn’t afford to. Maybe more a premium lager type of beer and a good one at that.

Outback Pilsner NSW (Contract brewers) 330ml 4.8%

Nice subtle aroma, fresh and inviting with a taste that is crisp and refreshing with a nice bright carbonation. Not as bitter as some but certainly enough to qualify as a pilsner standard but probably only just. Well balanced and a nice drop. Again, try with mild food.

Little Creatures Pilsner WA 330ml 4.6%

I know this probably only just sneaks in as a ‘craft brew’ as the success of the LC brand makes it seem more than a small player in the beer market but whichever way you look at it, this IS a pilsner. The aroma tells you straight away that this is elevated above the lager or premium crowd with its’ fresh mown hay kind of smell and the smoothness of the mouthfeel sings of a well made beer. Easy drinking but with a bitterness that pops in and grabs the sides of your tongue on the way through, this one is earthy and real. Could stand up well to a fuller flavoured roast or complement a rich, homestyle stew.

That’s about as close as I get to a beer ‘review’ and it’s always hard enough to hide your own biases let alone explain to someone how the beer feels and such. I still reckon that the best beer is the one in your hand and is second only to one that a mate bought for you so why not treat yourself, support the guys who are having a crack at brewing decent beers and, while you’re at it, support the retailers who are giving the good stuff some real shelf space and talk to the blokes in the shop about what you like and be led by their recommendations.

You might just find a new ‘favourite’.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

Pilsner Beer Review

I thought it was time for a beer review and this time, due to my inability to decide on a single beer to review, I am going with a style review. And I’m not even going to ‘review’ a beer at all, just the style. Because this style is so often misrepresented and it’s time that those perpetrating this charade were exposed and shamed.

I chose pilsner because of its popularity and resultant availability. And partly because it is the moniker that I have chosen to write under. That’s right; Prof. Pilsner is not my real name. Or title. I did spend time at a tertiary institute – or three – but the closest I got to a professor was in the uni bar.

PILSNER. THE STYLE

Pilsner is one of those beer styles that is the subject of some confusion, misinterpretation and misuse. Take a cursory glance at the labels of the beers in the fridge of your local retailer and you will see the pilsner tag represented frequently. Perhaps too frequently. In fact, many bearing the name are imposters.

I will use, as a base reference point, the BJCP (beer judge certification program) definitions of the pilsner breed. There are two categories; Bohemian Pilsner and German Pils. At least with these definitions it should be a little easier to work out wether the pilsner in your glass is in fact a pilsner or a marketing man’s idea of what you should accept as one. Those bastards!

PILSNER. THE HISTORY

In the beginning there was the Ale, and the Ale was good. Then came the Lager, and it, too was good. But even the lightest coloured lagers were considerably darker than the ones we enjoy today. The maltsters had not worked out how to kiln the grain without toasting it, even slightly, and so most beer had to be served in wooden, clay or other likewise non transparent vessels. Then, in 1842 a revolution occurred. In the Czech town of Plzen a German brewer employed by locals angry at the shit quality of beer being produced in the town came up with the worlds’ first light golden coloured beer. Huzzah! He used a malt kilned at low enough temperatures to do the job without frying it and also used the very floral and mildly bitter Saaz or Zatec hops.

It probably helped the market value of this new discovery that the region of Bohemia was a fairly dab hand at producing a nice line of crystal glassware as well as good beer and that the new golden lager looked rather nice in a tall, tapered pilsner glass. They probably didn’t call them pilsner glasses, though. The fame of the new brew quickly spread – as did stocks of the beer itself, a special train left the Czech brewery each morning bound for Vienna – and before long every brewer was making his own pilsner. Many brewing centres in Germany still have a dedicated pilsner brewery to this day.

Definitions.

Apart from being a light golden coloured beer, a pilsner should display the following in order to ‘qualify’ for the style; rich, complex malt and spicy, floral Saaz hop aroma. A very pale gold to deep burnished gold colour, brilliant to clear in appearance with a dense, long lasting head. Pretty simple. Or so you’d reckon.

Have a taste of many of the commercial brewers’ offerings labelled pilsner, pils, pilsener or pilz with these fairly broad definitions in mind and you’ll see that they may hit the mark in one or two respects but rarely do they tick all the boxes. Some are merely ‘premium lagers’ (which often means,’ here is our standard shit lager but with no additives’) and is re-badged for sales and profit.

From my humble research, (over many, many beers ..er, years) I have concluded the following. A true pilsner should have a noticeable aroma – a real nose to it – fresh, bright and floral. That’s the Saaz hops. It should be rich and satisfying in the first mouthful with complex maltiness which is bold yet not boastful. That’s the combination of malts. It should have an earthy, real taste and flavour and its bitterness should leave you thinking; ‘yeaaah, that’s bitter!’ It should have a smooth freshness and genuine ‘beerness’ to it. That’s the extended maturation. Above all, it should just FEEL different in your mouth, its texture and its integrity accentuated compared to a run of the mill, six pack sitting, session swilling, bog standard lager.

As I said earlier, this is not always the case. But don’t let the marketers get you down. Just keep trying as many new pilsners as they come on to the market and train your palate to detect the ‘phonies’. And train your memory to lock away the names of the good ones. For next time.

Until next time,
Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner.