Northwest Pilsner (w/ Upright)
Occidental Brewing Co.

ive had a number of these now, love the series, the collaborative spirit, and the whole idea of it. the base pils is excellent of course, right in the occidental wheelhouse, but each has brought something new to the table, and when i saw upright on this one i had to pounce, one of my favorites and one of the most unsung and awesome breweries in the whole country! i dont know much about triumph hops, so i was doubly intrigued. at first i thought this might have some funkiness to it, knowing upright more for saison types than lagers, but its the same clean and bright base beer underneath that it always is, no disappointment there, love this pils. the hops dont smell particularly unique to me, i mean i get the noble spiciness, some light lime, and an herbal layer, but its not way different, certainly less radical than some of the others in this series maybe. the flavor is nice, the lager yeast is awesome, the bitterness starts early and stays late, and this seems both classic and modern. its not until it warms up that the triumph becomes a little more distinctive, under ripe stone fruit, lush greenness in a good way, like a fern in a rainforest, like aloe vera, something like that, key lime, and still somewhat spicy before the swallow, decent bitterness to it, great with this yeast and refreshingly dry and bubbly in mouthfeel. tasty stuff, pretty bold on the hops really for the style, but its working for me, and this varietal seems well suited to this sort of beer. thirst quenching when ice cold but more flavorful at temperature. cant wait to see what they do with this next!

Can.

A clear straw yellow with a dense, white head with excellent retention and lacing. The nose is intensely hoppy, bright lemony, floral and mildly soapy with a touch of dust. There's a clean, snappy malt base as well. The palate opens bitter, clean, snappy and hoppy. Lemon, earth, dust, floral notes, some citrus. Crisp, mildly lemony and clean pils malt. Mildly oily and resiny on the finish. Light in body, clean, lovely finish. Excellent.