Tyskie Pilzner
Tyskie Browary Książęce (SABMiller)

Reviewing again as bored. From memory this is sweeter than the usual Tyskie and less good, for some reason in Poland a pilsner is often sweeter than the standard Jasne, as is also the case with Lech and Lomza. Anyway let's give this another go to see if it has changed or if my tastes have changed.

This is quite difficult to find, where as the standard Tyskie is literally everywhere in Poland and England, in England often on pavements, but rarely in Poland as Polish people care about their own country and just leave their cans on the pavement when they are in England ; )

Cool gold, red and white bottle. Fairly good head for a Polish pilsner. Fairly complex chaotic aroma with multiple elements, as with the usual Tyskie.

Much creamier and fuller mouth feel when compared to many other Polish beers such as Warka and Zubr. This has a noticable pilsner bitterness and actually isn't as sweet as I remember the last Tyskie pilsner being that I had a while back. Taste has a lot of different elements and isn't as simple as most pilsners. Tyskie always has a certain chaos in the flavour that is difficult to describe in words. Dominant flavours include olive, dates, prunes, and maybe some lime peel. It's definitely not sweet and the hops are not overtly dominant.

In terms of taste, it's a little harsh and I actually do think that the standard Tyskie has a better flavour. The hops in this add a bitterness without adding much flavour. And the malt in combination with the yeast also creates quite a harsh overall flavour. I love bitter beers, but the bitterness needs a little sweetness or fruitiness to complement it. Still, I would say that this is better than 80% or other Polish pilsners and 65% of pilsners around Europe. They should experiment more with the hops to create a little more of a West Coast or Spanish pilsner flavour, this would definitely improve it.

Overall this is a great contrast with Perla Chmielowa and Lomza Pils, which I think are the 2 best Polish challengers to this. This one is definitely the most bitter and I am certain that they changed the formulation recently, as last time I drank it, it was sweeter than the usual Tyskie. This however is pretty brave and it gets great overall marks for sure. Plus it is great value in comparison to pilsners in most other countries.

Finally Poland seems to understand that a pilsner is supposed to be more bitter than a standard lager/jasne. Amazing ; )

 

Pours clear, gold in color with half inch head. Taste is pilsner malt, grass, and earthy hops. Light bodied, sweet, with modetate carbonation. Excellent, crushable Polish lager. Could have several.