Fire Weed Honey Pilsner
Tree Brewing Co.

02/29/06- On tap at Tree Brewery.

Presentation- From the tap into 4oz tasters.

Appearance- Clear with a tinge of darkness added to the golden color. Small 1/4 inch head with some light lacing left behind.

Smell- Really not much scent going on here. A bit of biscuit malt, not really much hop attitude going on at all. Can't pick up any honey either. Not a bad scent, just not much at all.

Taste- Taste is better than the smell. Light hopped with a good biscuit malt taste. Honey is present more in the aftertaste then the first sip.

Mouthfeel- Medium pils carbonation level. Not much aftertaste.

Drinkability- Nothing special here. Could have used some more saaz hops to perk it up a bit.

Standard 355ml brown bottle, no freshness date.
Pale straw yellow in color, see-through clear, thin white collar of foam. Lots of carbonation. Smell of maltiness and some honey sweetness (very faint) on the nose, some aroma of flowery hops. Very light flavour of malty grain with some hop finish. Crisp and clean, a slight finish from the honey. Almost a sharp and biting aftertaste. I agree that they are trying something different, but overall I was unimpressed. A nice effort, but I guess I was expecting more when you compare their interpretation of pale ale and IPA.

This all natural Fire Weed Honey Pilsner pours out a near straw-like hue, very clear, lots of carbonation, some stark white spongy head on the pour, but little retention. Biscuity malt and some honey sweetness on the nose, rounded out by grassy and herbal hops. The flavour is mild, dry grains at first, with continual dryness in the middle, sweetening out towards the end from the honey, with some herbal hop character on the finish. The aftertaste evens out on the sweeter side, not dry, but it is still somewhat crisp. Although the body looks quite light and watery, the mouthfeel is nicely balanced for this pilsner, with the carbonation adding a little kick on the finish itself. A decent attempt at playing around with the style a bit, but in the end it doesn't really blow my skirt up, isn't something I feel inclined to pick up again any time soon. From my experience everything that I've tried from Tree is subpar compared to the quality and execution of their Hophead IPA, it's the one style that they have damn near perfected. The honey pilsner doesn't stand out on its own enough to be able to call attention to itself in comparison.