Beer Review: Stoudt's Pils

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.4 percent

Appearance: This brew boasted a bright yellow color. It sort of glistened in the light with it's golden hues. Up towards the fluffy, white and bubbly head was a few layers of hazy fog. It looked as if this aspect sort of dissipated as my eyes went down to the lower portions of the glass. The bubbles in the head helped to leave some thick and ample lacing. I also noticed a few solid columns of carbonation bubbles in the middle of the body that danced slowly upwards.

Smell: I got decent portions of bread and grass aromas. That was pretty much it. In a good way it was clean and simple for the aroma department.

Taste: Despite the lower portions of the brew appearing transparent and watery, that wasn't the case once I began to drink this. On the front of my tongue I got a helping of bread and cracker flavor along with a touch of sweetness. I even got a bit of citrus, most likely lemon albeit very faint. There also was a nice hop bite on the back. Still, I must admit that it was fairly strong for my taste.

Overall Rating: 

I enjoyed this as part of the Stoudt's sampler I purchased a good while ago. I measure German Pilseners based on comparisons to Troegs Sunshine Pils. This was surprisingly close. The cracker flavor was close to the typical biscuit I enjoy in this style of beer. To some, biscuit and cracker might be considered the same taste. I don't toss them in the same basket. Maybe that's why I'm a snob? Who knows. Not on par with Sunshien, but still an enjoyable drink.

Beer Review: Brooklyn Pilsner

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.1 percent

Appearance: This pilsner had a real crisp appearance to it. It was really a classic look. Clear, yet golden body with a half-inch thick head. The head was bright white, foamy and ended up leaving a lot of thick lacing inside the glass. As most of us enjoy in brews of this style, there was a lot of carbonation rising towards the top and feeding the head of the beer.

Smell: For me, this was nice and grassy. It was even a bit grainy to my nose. There was also an intriguing floral hop aroma that I took in.

Taste: I actually got a touch of sweet malt on the front. That surprised me and tasted kind of odd once the rest of the beer's flavors hit me. Overall, this brew tasted very crisp and sweet. This is a German Pilsener. So, I expected to get a bit more hop content than I actually did. There was a bit of zing to this, but what I mostly tasted was crackers and maybe even a touch of corn.

Overall Rating: 

I'm not completely opposed to corn in my beer. I'm all for trying different styles of beer. Especially ones that are broad interpretations of a style. This seemed to be one of the latter. A quality beer. I just wanted a little more bite on my tongue. Definitely an interesting one, though.

Beer Review: Southampton Keller Pils

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: Five percent

Appearance: This bottle of Southampton Keller Pils featured a straw gold body, but it wasn't very fluorescent. There was some darkish hues hiding within this beer. The body was also very hazy and foggy. There wasn't any crispness in this beer's look or color. The head was white and fluffy, but had weak retention and left some lacing that had trouble clinging to the glass. A big plus in my book was the visible carbonation that was rising towards the top of the glass with some speed. That lets me know there's a great chance of awesome texture ahead.

Smell: This beer had a strong aroma of yeast. This was the dominant scent. I typically prefer a layer or two of something else to filter it out somewhat. There was also a floral hoppiness that I was able to detect. This helped to distinguish a summery crispness that I was looking for and finally found.

Taste: Despite being a pilsner, the initial taste I got was sweet and lemony on the front. The textured mouth feel just added to that sensation. The finish was refreshing, but with a hint of hop bitterness. The floral notes I picked up in the aroma lingered and were noticeable in the aftertaste.

Overall Rating: 

This one was a roller coaster ride for me. It didn't look like a pretty, crisp beer at first. There were only a few good things I saw initially when I poured this beer. The smell was a bit too dominated by the yeast and had too few other things happening in that area. The taste I enjoyed as it was a little adventurous for a beer of this style. I was surprised to get some citrus and sweetness.

Hey, Sunshine

Yesterday I decided to pop open a few bottles of the beer that's stocked under my kitchen table and around the washing machine. Yea, it's got to that point. The two lucky brews? Hofbrauhaus original Lager and Troegs Sunshine Pils.

The Original Lager is a Munich Helles Lager and was the official German response to the creation of Czech Pilsner. I guess the Germans felt that they needed to counter in some way? Sunshine Pils is a German-style pilsner. I'm guessing that this came much later than the first brewing of the Munich Helles. Just in case you ever need to tell German Pilsner from a German one, the latter is usually spelled just "pils."

I used to really enjoy the Czech style, but I've recently found myself enjoying more and more of the two styles that inspired this post. The Munich Helles is a lot maltier and the pils is a bit more hopped, but has a citrus-like zing to it.

Luckily, I had a case of Sunshine Pils drop into my possession late in the season last year. I'm still working on it. Thus, that's how I was able to open one up. If you follow the Troegs Twitter account, you might have noticed that it's a bit closer to being the time of the year for Sunshine Pils.

@troegsbeer #sunshinepils began shipping to our Central PA market today and cases, sixers & singles are now available in our General Store!
— Tröegs Brewing (@TroegsBeer) March 25, 2013