Pilsner
Ninkasi Brewing Company

 

Not 100%, but it looks like this was consumed on tap at BeerNV. I liked it.

Pours a familiar golden color, slight chill haze to it, 2/3" white head. Looks good. I dunno if this is going to make sense, but I liked the lager aroma, it had this strong, yet airy/light presence to it. Nice pilsner malt contribution in terms of aroma, melded well.

Taste was a retread of craft lager, old school noble/noble like hops, sturdy yeast presence that is a hard left from Euro lager, pilsner malt, its all here and done well. A hint more sweetness than expected, but the mouth feel reels it back in. German pilsner designation could just be a coin toss from another subgenre pilsner. Same pilsner and two row malt body provides a good ability to have a crisp snap on the back end that quickly entices another drink. Its pretty crushable and doesn't require you to have a leather bound notebook to perceive and reflect on the beer. Its pretty clean and oriented to style.

 

Smells absolutely terrible, like either blood or wet dog. Taste is way to musky and heavy to be considered a Pilsner in my opinion. Color is not a very pretty golden, like it should be.

 

 

Look: Clear straw yellow and a hefty pour brings on a good head that recedes to a thin layer leaving good lacing
Aroma: Lush bready pilsner malt up front – hay, cut grass follows with a little honey floating around in the background
Taste: Honey-sweetened bread starts things off, followed closely with some grassy, earthy, and slightly spicy hop notes. Nice, simple, to the point and well balanced with a slight bite on the finish and fairly dry as well
Mouthfeel: Good carbonation (medium-high) though soft and smooth throughout and with a nice, crisp finish. Refreshing and quaffable
Overall: This is tasty stuff and I’m glad they added it to their year-round lineup after its intro last summer (2019). I remember being impressed with these folks’ lager making abilities back when they had their “Prismatic Lager Series” going and though I was bummed out when they dropped Helles Belles from their year-round offerings a few years back, this one here fills in nicely. A good American-made pilsner and as with everything Ninkasi, easy to find/buy, reasonably priced, and easily found fresh. I dig it

 

12oz bottle

An aggressive pour gives way to a huge 2 finger white head into my can-style glass. Retention is actually quite good and there is still close to a finger left after a few minutes. Initial lacing looks nice as well. Body is pale yellow, crystal clear, with loads of bubbles coming up. Looks great so far.

Nose is hoppy, lemon, faint grass and noble hops, sourdough. Some light sweet base malt. Smells really nice - very clean and pretty aromatic for a pilsner.

Flavor is a little different. Some lemon, not too grassy or noble. Hops are somewhat light, but pop hard for a second, and accentuate well. Still pretty refreshing and crisp. Malt is clean. This could be a tiny bit more well-rounded, but overall pretty nice.

Carbonation is medium-low. Bitterness is also in that medium-low range. Body is light but not paper thin. On the dry side as far as sugar goes. Might be tad under carbonated, but that’s fine. Nice mouthfeel.

Drinkability is outstanding here, I’m having trouble not finishing it before the review is done.

Appearance turned out very nice. Thick lacing and a little island of head floating its way all the way to the bottom.

Overall a super well-done pilsner that draws from Germany, but has maybe even more American contributions.

Light gold hued body; very fine carbonation bubbles gently rising; immense head, dense and sculpted. Faint scents of herbs and grasses. Delicate notes of bread crust, honey, minerals complemented with a fine hop bitterness; very clean tasting. Light body; smooth and somewhat creamy; crisp with a gentle sweetness.

This pilsner exudes quality and tastefulness. Beautifully balanced with nuanced depth. It may be a bit weak on the nose, but the appearance is incredible and the taste and mouthfeel are exemplary.

 

 

 

a really perfectly executed pils from these guys, way better than the helles i believe it is replacing in the market, and one they should plan to roll with until the end of time, its about as masterful as the style gets, especially for a domestic brewer. where some might think its boring, i think its just clean and really well refined, minimal in the right ways, and i know for these guys it had to be hard to resist the urge to hop the heck out of it, but its smart of have held back, as this is a beer just about everyone should love, especially in the hot summer weather. perfectly clear, as it should be, with a short lived white head. aroma is simple and clean, noble hops, fresh pils malt, and a crispness from the minerals in the water and a tidy lager fermentation, patient and almost smells cold to me, if there is such a thing. the flavor is impeccable, very refined, and progressing nicely from very light barley malt to a basic and fresh lager yeast to finally a little bit of earthy noble hops, the proportions are on point here, and the light body, high carbonation, and total dryness make this about as drinkable a craft beer as you are going to find. i really was impressed with this, on draft and incredibly fresh, nothing really unique about the flavor or anything, its just such a great example of the style. glad to see the shift toward american breweries producing lagers, this is one of the best in its field right now. so glad this exists!