Elsa Von Horizon
New Albanian Brewing Company - Pizzeria and Public House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a murky orange in color with lots of white fluffy head. lots of carbonation is present. smells of bread with some mild fruit notes (light strawberry).. lacking overall in smell. the taste on the other hand is a bit more pleasant. you get a slight hint of floral flavor up front.. rose petals, strawberries, with a bready sweet malt, and a nice hoppy bitterness in the finish. medium body with high carbonation and a sticky feeling is left behind on the lips. this beer doesn't have much to offer aside from a really good flavor for a pils, and well, the abv is a big plus. figure in the low cost per bottle, and this is a pretty decent find!

This Imperial Pilsner pours from the bomber semi-cloudy golden, with a thick and sudsy head. Stunning and boldly detailed lace cascading down the glass. Beautiful.

Nose is grainy and lagery, with a hint of floral hops. Nice.

Taste is malty and lagery an first, followed by a nice, heavy dose of floral hops. Faintly bitter upon tongue at finish. The heavy alcohol presence (a whopping 10%) is masked quite well by this delicious and well-hopped pilsner. Delicious and well-done.

The style is a bit new to me, but I don't typically care for pilsners. However, and I realize this is an imperial, it's got a nice, darkish pale ale look to it. It's an orangey amber color with the faintest skosh of haze...just hazy enough to not be clear. The head is an attractive finger thick, but doesn't stay long.

Again, I don't usually like much about any sort of pilsner, but the slightly fruity smell works for me. Slight yeast smell, but little in the way of the malts. Regardless, my nose likes it.

The taste is where I start seeing it as a pils. The Saaz hops, Vienna and pilsner malts dominate. Very biscuity, peppery taste, with some alcohol in the finish.

It's not really crisp like I expected, moreso savory than anything. Bready and spicy. Bitterness throughout.

It's a bit better than I'd hoped for, but different at the same time. It's a manly pilsner and while it's not something I'd make a habit of drinking, it is a beer I'd like to have one of in the fridge for nex time, whenever that happens to be.

 

No style puts the barley kernel on such display as the imperial pilsner with all of it's character, flaws, glory, and signature flavors. Even the bright and spicy hop character in this example seem to stand down to the unadulterated taste of malt.

Elsa pours with a bright lightly gold, lightly copper hue of brilliant clarity. The strong pilsner releases a firm and moderately statured head of white creamy foam. This is a very strong appearance, but expected from the concentration of malt.

Rich pilsner malt aromas rise with the scent of grain, cereal, and light corn and butter. The strong vegetable scent of malt is met with that of the hops for a spicy, earthy scent of mowed lawns and sassafras. Where the hop and malt complexes are both high, they seem to be a little disjointed; as if two beers in one.

The tale of two beers continue their dialogue in taste as the strong grain flavor of raw barley, sorghum, and cereal mash draw in the periphreal flavors of leaf, stem, and resin from the raw hop/fresh hop characteristics. The background of butter and corn come together with the taste of buttered popcorn and seem to resemble the taste of unfermented beer or that of non-alcoholic beers- odd for a beer that boasts 10% abv. The finish of malt is accompanied by the growth of sharp and spicy earth bitterness that's much welcomed, but carries a lot of vegetable bite that's not as clean or crisp as is needed.

Full bodied, especially for a pilsner as the beer carries and richer and somewhat fatter feel with the lasting residual malt sweetness, light oiliness, and lower impressions of carbonation. With it's semi-dry, lightly malty finish is partly due to lessening malt impressions, it is also aided by the spicy and lightly astringent hop bitterness.

On tap at Tomlinson Tap Room. Poured a very nice bubbly golden color with a bit of nice initial head and some decent lacing. Very nice huge malt aroma with a slight bit of spiciness in the nose. Good thick malt flavors, very clean and crisp, with a nice noble hop spicy finish that wasn't so thick that it was cloying. Went down very well for such a high ABV brew.