Holgate Brewhouse Woodend Pilsener
Holgate Brewhouse / Keatings Hotel

Trying the Holgate Pilsner at the Sail & Anchor in Freo. The menu here says it's 5.1%. It poured a clear yellow with white head that is leaving a lace. The scent is faint...not much of anything. The taste is weak and was almost acidic coffee like....weird. The Mouthfeel was lighter in body with subtle carbonation. Overall it's not very good..

 

Pours a clear yellow with a small white head. Aroma is malt, grass with hints of citrus and hops. Taste is light sweet leading to a clean nicely balanced finish. A nice refreshing pils.

 

 

A: a clear golden color with a fair head that fades to some lacing.

S: Aroma is light and fresh with some citrus and bit of malt sweetness and bit of grain in the background.

T: Taste of citrus and malt sweetness with a bit of fresh grain. Nice bitterness and a clean finish.

F: Light body, crisp and quite refreshing.

O: Not a bad beer for the style.

330ml bottle, 5.1% ABV by way of the convenient label in front of me.

This beer pours a somewhat glassy, medium golden straw colour, with one finger of loosely foamy white head, which bleeds away rather quickly, leaving a drooping ring of lace around the glass.

It smells of grainy, crackery, a tad biscuity pale malt, a bit of aged lemon flesh, and bitter floral, grassy, herbal hops. Not too shabby for firsties. The taste is more deftly bready, crackery malt, a lightly caressing yeastiness, some sedate, generic citrus notes, and more floral, uncut grass hops.

The bubbles are decently present, i.e. there, but not idly noticeable, the body an adequate medium weight, and mostly smooth, a slight edge arising perhaps from those otherwise heroic hops. It finishes on the dry side, a nascent crispness sealing the deal.

A very faithful rendition of a venerable old-world style. Tasty, quite drinkable, and a crying shame as to its pan-Pacific origins for me, as it is only sold in pricy singles in my hood. Ah well, add it to my hypothetical "shit to do when I visit Oz" list, I suppose.

 

Clean, crisp well made style. Classic golden yellow with a thin head. Dull lager nose, fairly uneventful. Medium weight palate shows light malts right through but firms up with a hoppy finish, together with faint floral notes. The most mainstream of the Holgate beers.

Pours a dark but bright golden colour. Filmy head of white that leaves a ring around the edge. Slight sudsy lacing. Not too good really.

Nose is a bit grainy and a little sweet, some light citric and grassy characters, but I expect more hop character in a pilsener. Bit of honey. Not bad, a bit bland though.

Taste is clear and pretty clean, with a light tangerine backbone and a crisp lightly grainy finish. It's pleasant, but a bit empty, finish is dry with a nut skin feel. Bright mouthfeel at least.

Clean and drinkable. Not bad. Enjoyable enough, with a decent crispness, which is good for a pils, but lacking a lot of the important factors that make this such a great style of beer.

This pours a golden colour with a very small head which doesn't stay. Clear.

Quite a bit of honey on the nose. The hops come through a bit but are dominated by the malt.

All malt on the palate. Not a lot else going on.

Maybe a little too much sweetness?

Drinks pretty well. Could be sessionable.

Big diacetyl aroma with a touch of acetaldehyde and just a touch of spicy hop character.

Clear, dark straw colour with a tiny, white head.

Again, a horrible butterscotch and caramel flavour persists. There is no pilsner quality here.

Medium body with moderate carbonation. Quite smooth.

Would I have another? No. If this is what Holgate thinks a pilsner should taste like, they have serious problems.

Pale gold pour with a small rapidly fading head.
A fair bit of floral and grassy notes on the aroma (along with a white wine-like hint, alla nelson sauvin style) before the hops gives way to a strong sweet caramel and toffee-apple hit. Nice, but very un-pilsener like!
Flavours include lots of German biscuity malt and finishes a bit grainy. Again, the hops seems to be light and floral rather than spicy and grassy. Too sweet, not enough bitterness. After a while cereal notes start to show too.
Needs more carbonation to cut through the sweetness.

Ive had this brew b4 but was glad to see it on my favourite bottle shop's shelves once again as its been a while and cant remember it,it pours a sparkling pale straw hue with really nice carbonation that suprisingly enough only leaves a fast vanishing one finger head with no lacing,the aroma is feint fruity hops that are overwhelmed on the nose by a strong caramel malt aroma,it has an average mouthfeel and to be honest its just an average PILs with the feintest of citrus,fruit driven hops first on the palette but in my mind i feel the malts are definately the overwhelming factor in this brew to give it a sweet finish and not exactly my ideal finish for a good PILs but definately better than the macroswill offerings.

Pours a sparkling golden colour with streaming carbonation. Head is thin and white, settles into a rim of small bubbles, creates some slippery but decent lacing.

Nose is very hoppy, with large floral aromas, and a strong tart fruit with hints of baked pear, raspberries and juniper. Kind of a wet fur aroma in there as well gives it a funky sensation which isn't bad, although it is odd. Quite tangy, sweet and funky all up. Odd, but very enjoyable nose.

Taste is strangely sweet, with a lot of sweet fruit characters and a slightly zesty edge. Pears and cinnamon on there with fresh berries and vanilla flavours as well. Quite sweet with very little bitterness, all of which would be better suited to a winter warmer. Slight drying finish, and a fairly distinct phenolic hit in the middle.

It feels really quite unbalanced, with the flavours not doing the right things when they should, and the texture is very sharp and stinging in the mouth, I think because the bitter notes hit the wrong places, where I'm not used to them.

I do quite enjoy this, but I don't think it's a good pilsener. If this were going for 'quirky and unusual' though, it'd be a success.

Looks the part of a pilsener and smells...floral and a little honeyed but something is bothering me. Take a sip and there it is! Smokiness? In a pils? I'm going to have to assume that this is tainted even though it doesn't taste all that bad, but it just doesn't taste like I think it should.

Greta gold colourwith a massive white foaming head Just opaque
Smell and taste reflect Pilsner qualities to me of malt and saaz hops.
There is a late and lingering bitterness that complements the middle palatesweet biscuit malts.
Overall an enjoyable beer and is enjoyable for a pilsner

A - Light straw colour with a thick inch or so of white head that slowly falls away.
S - Floral, slighty citrus hop notes with a sweet maltiness.
T - The sweet maltiness is a bit cloying. Honey & butterscotch lolly followed by a firm bitterness.
M - Medium bodied, fairly low carbonation.
D - A decent beer but like others I don't know about it being a Pilsener.
Apparently it is purposely inoculated with diacetyl which would explain the butterscotch flavour but if I'm gonna drink a pils I want clean & refreshing.

This beer seems to differ from earlier reviews. For a start it is crystal clear, and seems to embody the maltiness of European lagers. Not sure about the pilsener classification, though.

A: Pale gold/yellow, clear. Tight, foamy head, good bubbling.

S: Grassy, herbaceous, noticable malty sweetness, almost like toffee apple.

F: Split personality. Noticable toffee malty sweetness up front; the saaz all happens at the back palate. Nice flavours, but definitely a phased effect.

M: Balanced mouthfeel, nice bitterness at the back.

D: It's very drinkable, and a quirky beer. Not a pilsener, for mine. More like a northern german lager that emphasises the malt characters.

Had this on tap at the Holgate brew house.

A = Poured a cloudy orange with a thick foam head.

S = Smelt of summer fruits. Damn inviting.

T = Tastes of summer fruits and a slighly hop finish.

M = Moderately carbonated.

D = Definitely drinkable.

Only problem with brew is that I don't think that it is a pilsner. It might be an ale but I'm pretty sure it ain't a pilsner.

However it will quench your thirst.