NEW WORLD PILSNER
This month we’ll be taking some sidestreets down a very familiar road for most. Pilsners are one of the most popular styles in the world, with the best perfectly balancing a grainy malt character and hop bitterness with a dry finish and low alcohol. Classical styles are usually made with Saaz and/or Hallertauer to impart earthy, spicy, and herbal notes and light pilsner malt for a light bready grain character. While there is variation within this (with Bohemian/Czech Pilsner splitting the difference between the softer more malt forward German style and the dryer more bitter Northern German style), the style has exploded outwards across the world with various stylistic offshoots, as well as faithful takes on the classic style. This month, along with some more traditional pilsners, we will be highlighting a style coming out of California and the Pacific Northwest, the west coast pilsner. This newish style is still being hammered out in breweries across the west coast, but is closer to an Italian pilsner where they dry hop the beer to impart a more intense hop flavor and give the finished beer a more floral hop essence. Instead of using European hops with their more spicy and earthy qualities, these beers use new world hops like Nelson, Strata, Mosaic and similar varieties to bring out bright piney, citrusy, and tropical notes on the nose. These techniques are sometimes combined with those used in a cold ipa, where lager yeast is used and the beer is fermented at a cooler temperature to create a lighter, crisper style of IPA while retaining the hoppyness you would find in an American IPA. Combined with the use of American and other new world hops this creates aromatic, low alcohol beers with all the tropical notes that one would get from an IPA with the malt backbone of a traditional pilsner and a dry to soft finish. These beers are not only fantastic on their own, but pair well with a variety of foods from fennel salad with parmesan and lemon, clams with garlic, caprese salad, leek soup, and all manner of fried treats.
Cheers!
Justin Malesheetz
Beer Buyer
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Ghost Town Brewing Low God West Coast Pilsner |
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Oakland, CA |
Dry hopped with Nelson and EXP 586 Hops, Pilsner malts, and their house lager yeast. Pouring a slightly hazy straw with thinner foam with fast rising bubbles. Bright citrus, stone fruit, and floral notes are supported with a grainy maltiness. Moderately hoppy bitterness and dry finish make for a crisp and refreshing pilsner. |
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$4.99 per can / $17.99 per 4pk |
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Cellarmaker Distorted Bliss California Pilsner |
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Berkeley, CA |
Mashed with Italian grown pilsner malt, fermented cold and then lightly dry hopped with Strata, Mosaic, and Talus. Pouring a clear yellow with a fluffy foam and fast rising bubbles. This is a round, soft, aromatic, rich pilsner. The nose is bursting with floral and green notes alongside bright grapefruit with a toasty biscuit and honey maltiness. The medium toasty malt sweetness and lower hop bitterness mix with rich papaya and guava flavors on the long soft finish. |
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$5.99 per can / $20.99 per 4pk |
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Lowercase Soft Pilsner |
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Seattle, WA |
This is an interesting new world spin on a German pilsner, where the traditional ingredients were brewed using techniques that would be common when creating a New England IPA. They start with dry hopping using Hallertau Mittelfruh, Saaz and Tettnanger. In place of oats and wheat raw, pearled barley with no husk is used and cereal mashed before being added. Pours a slightly hazy straw, with a big fluffy head and fast rising bubbles. Very pronounced hoppy nose, with lots of spicy herbal notes and hints of unripe guava. Dry finish with medium malt sweetness and hop bitterness on the finish. |
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$5.99 per can / $20.99 per 4pk |
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Wayfinder Party Time Pilsner |
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Portland, OR |
The most traditional of the pilsners we have this month. Classic take on a Bavarian pilsner using noble hops. Pouring clear straw with a fluffy head, this has classic notes of floral and spicy hops aromas, light grainy maltiness, with a refreshing crisp and bitter finish |
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$5.99 per can / $20.99 per 4pk |
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