Scarlet Pilsner
Church-Key Brewing Company

Fresh bottle from the brewery, labeled at 7% ABV.

An almost clear, straw-yellow pour, topped with a quickly dissipating white head. The smell is the best part of this beer. I'm a huge fan of strong, hoppy pilsners, and this is just great. Tons of fresh grassy floral hops, a touch of pale malt. The taste is solid, plenty of hoppy pils flavour, but there's a bit too much sweetness from the alcohol coming through, making it a touch unbalanced. Definitely enjoyable, regardless. Not as good as Chritoffel Nobel, but a good effort at an under-attempted style.

Bottle fresh from the brewery- Thanks for sharing Mark! Clear copper with a frothy beige cap. Nose of fresh punchy hops, a bit of alcohol, Munich malts, flowers and spices. Strong hoppy flavour profile has citrus,flowers and spices, sweet malts too. Caramel bready-ness warms with the alcohol and adds complexity. Quite enjoyable.

On-tap at C'est What. A light orange colour, after a bit of lace. A light Saaz bitterness is present, then a wad of malts maybe saccarine. A bit of odd taste and astringent finishing impact on the tongue. Not a bad one, but another odd one from this brewery.

On tap at C'est What?.

Pours a clear amber, too dark for a pils, thin and big bubbled white head forms, couples lace spots stick as it settles down to a thin ring. Smell is interesting, light, honey, floral, very fruity, apricots, kind of sugary, like no Pils I've ever had, and not in a good way. Taste is similar, very light, grainy malt, caramel and sugary sweetness, wheat, fruit, way unbalanced on the sweet side. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with low carbonation. Not a good beer and definitely not a good pils. Just about everything is wrong.

New beer from Church key on-tap at Volo, figure it's worth a try. Arrives a vague orangish, golden, caramel hue, perhaps a touch reddish but I only lean this way because of the name; normally I would call it along the lines of a golden orange. Little head, no lacing.

This seems like one of those attempts from Ontario brewers to branch out and try some new things and I applaud that. Unfortunately, what most are looking for would be a well brewed standard rather than a gimmcky pilsner. Caramel malts, hints of berries, thick body for a pils, absence of any hop bite, perhaps a touch of floral and grassy hop presence but that seems like a bit of a stretch.

This almost seems like someone attempted a pils/oktoberfest or pils/vienna lager and then added some berries. Everything seems disjointed and off. A pils with thick malt presence and no hop bite? Not a terrible beer but certainly not a well-made one. Want an Ontario pils? Perhaps go with something like Mill St's. Would be a drinkable beer (outside of style) but lacks carbonation to facilitate the easy imbibing.