Back Cove
Rising Tide Brewing Company

I tend to find the less words I can come up with to hyperanalyze how a beer tastes, the better the beer is. It's a pilsner. It tastes like a pilsner. On the bready/biscuity side, no overly fruity notes or weird off flavors. It's beer and it tastes like beer. If there's a bad beer Rising Tide has churned out, I've yet to try it.
I guess the one annoying thing about it is how it's never refrigerated in the store, it's always for sale warm. Obviously not docking any points for this though.

 

16 oz can from Belmont Station. Almost clear golden pour with a rather thick fluffy head that eventually subsides to a thin skin. Full bready, grainy aroma. Taste is more of the Fine Malt backbone with just a kiss of Hops at the back, giving it the perfect bitter finish. This is very close to the German style, one of the most authentic since I've been back stateside. Really hits the spot.

Today's little CANQuest (tm) adventure is going to CANsist of Goses & Pilsners. The former because I seem to have a number of them, all ready to go & the latter because I simply CANnot get enough Pilsners. It's easy enough to suss out Lagers, but there just do not seem to be enough Pilsners, IMHO.

From the CAN: "Back Cove Pilsner"; "The Back Cove tidal basin lies at the heart of our city and provides the most iconic view of the Portland skyline. As a tribute to the civic leaders who preserved a park encircling Back Cove 100 years ago, we offer this crisp, easy drinking pilsner."; "Never Filtered. Never Pasteurized. Live Beer on Board."; "N 43° 39' 55.16" W 70° 15' 25.06".

Some stats, from their website: "Kettle Hops: Magnum/Mt. Hood/Tettnang; Yeast: Kellerbier Lager Yeast; Malts: 2-Row Pale/Carapils/ME 2-Row Pale/Pilsner/Vienna; Aging Method: Stainless".

For this one, I pulled out my favorite Pilsner glass, Crack!ed open the vent & beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug. This led to the formation of two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with excellent retention, taking forever to fall. Color was Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4) with NE-quality clarity, like liquid sunshine in my glass. Nose had a pleasant biscuity maltiness, but I was even more pleasantly surprised by the pronounced hop presence, giving it a grassy, hay-like quality. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium, but not by a whole lot. The taste was more aligned to both style & expectations in that it had a pronounced bready biscuitiness from the malt with the hops less pronounced as CANpared to on the nose. Finish was pleasantly dry, very refreshing & very quaffable. I would not mind having this again. YMMV.

 

Sampling a cold 16 oz can poured into my snifter. Beer was picked up about a month ago at a shop and has a date stamp of 6-11-2019.
The beer pours a clear bright gold hue, very champagne color with a bubbly bleached white head of 4 cm foaming up and fading to a thin edge layer. Leaves good tight lattice after each sip.
Aroma is spot on for a pilsner with some grainy malt and a bit of cracker note and a little light sweetness. Some mild herbal hop character shows through too. Nose is mild though overall.
First sip reveals a light and crisp body with smooth texture and very fine and tingly carbonation. Easy drinking physical traits.
Flavor is similar to nose predictions with grainy malt up front then some husky notes and a bit of sweet note, sort of light fruit actually. Hops show up as herbal tea flavor and a little bit of a vegetal note. Crisp clean finish on the beer.
Pretty solid easy drinking brew. Glad to have tried this one

No can date, but picked up at the brewery a few days ago
Pours a large fizzy foamy 1 finger head that fades at a med to quicker pace, mild to medium retention, little lacing, crystal clear straw light-yellow color

Nose light pilsner malt, little grainy straw, light floral slight herbal hop, very light in general, as it warms a bit more pilsner malt, light corn, but still light

Taste brings a little sweet grainy malt, actually a fair amount of grain-sweet pilsner malt, little doughy grainy cereal like, a touch of corn but barely, not a super rich pilsner malt character but some in there, medium hop bitterness with some floral herbal hops, drier finish with a bit more hop crispness, and some mineral/salts kicking in bringing a touch more crisp hop bitterness but I don't get straight up sulfates, as it warms a bit more doughy pilsner malt with more corn, a touch of fruit esters, and more herbal hop, that fruitiness gets a little off, maybe due to using the kellerbier yeast instead of a true German Pilsner yeast

Mouth is med to a bit lighter bod, a bit of a soft lager, medium to a bit higher carb

Overall not bad, an enjoyable pilsner without much going on, no real flaws, but doesn't have a lot of character either

 

 

 

 

Very nice tasting pilsner with very well-balanced flavors and feel. Pours a crisp, clear golden color with a lot of fluffy white head and spotty lingering lacing. Smells mainly of some malt, corn, grain and a little faint muddled hops. Taste follows the nose. The balance and crispness of this beer is very well-done and there isn't an overabundance of sweeter malts at the beginning, nor is there too much bitter hoppiness at the finish. Smooth, thin, mild mouthfeel and just enough carbonation. Enjoyable and fairly easy to drink.

16 ounce can into lager glass, canned on 11/27/2018. Pours slightly hazy pale golden yellow color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of lemon, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, wood, pepper, pine, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance of pale malts and earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big lemon, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, wood, pepper, pine, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of lemon, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, wood, pepper, pine, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great robustness and balance of pale malts and earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no lingering hop astringency after the finish. Moderately crisp/clean finishing. Perfectly clean on lager flavors, with no fruity/yeasty notes present. Moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness and carbonation. Medium-plus carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth and moderately bready/grainy/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is great. Light lingering resins through the glass. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.1%. Overall this is a delicious German pils. All around nice robustness and balance of pale malts and earthy hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink with the modestly bitter/drying finish, not aggressive. Very flavorful and not watery for the ABV. Awesome clean pils malt showcase, with perfectly balanced noble hops. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and impressive spot on style example.

Kinda sweet on the front almost that transitions to a prominent bitter hop bite to finish. Medium body, plenty of head and sticky lacing clinging to the glass. Middle of the road, the sweet threw me off a little though.

10 oz. at the brewery. Served in a wide mouthed stem glass.

Appearance: A clear straw with a thin film of white bubbles.

Aroma: Fruit, sweet malts, grass.

Taste: Follows nose. Clean and crisp. Good stuff. Nice sharp bite. Earthy and grassy.

Overall: Had been wanting to try this for a while. Hits all the noses you want in a good pils.

 

A: The beer is clear yellow in color and has a moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high bright white head that left a large patch of bubbles on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of bready malts and grassy hops are present in the nose.
T: The taste has flavors of bready malts with strong notes of grassy hops and a light to moderate amount of associated bitterness.
M: It feels nearly medium-bodied on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This pilsener has a good balance between the malts and hops in the taste.

Serving type: can