Damburger Royal Pils
S. C. Martens S. A.

Barely blurry bleached goldenrod with a wealth of fine, uprushing bubbles. The cotton white head looks pretty good. It's lumpy and bumpy and even achieves a rockiness as it falls. The glass coverage is reminiscent of fake snow sprayed on a windowpane; appropriate on this frigid February morning. Absymal head and lace retention knock the appearance score down one notch.

The nose isn't noble hoppy enough. I have certain expectations for pilseners and this one doesn't measure up. Although it doesn't quite smell like a Euro pale lager, it isn't far off. No real off-aromas are a definite plus.

The nose might escape comparisons to an EPL, but the flavor isn't as fortunate. Simply put, Royal Pils doesn't have a high enough hop load. There isn't much of a malt load either. The beer is too light and too weakly flavored to be appealing (at least for those who like a taste bud workout).

The noble hops lack any sort of pungency, any brightness, any verve whatsoever. Simply adding more would help, but I have a feeling that quantity is the only issue here. The beer is neither sweet nor bitter, which, in a strange sort of way, makes it balanced. I was glad to see the metallic flavor of the first few sips fade into oblivion.

The mouthfeel lacks life as well; it's light, even for the style. A shortage of carbonation hurts more than it helps in this case because there's so little mouth interest otherwise.

A Czech pilsener brewed by Romanians. Why am I not surprised that Damburger Royal Pils doesn't shake the very foundations of this honorable style? Stick with the Czechs and the Germans. They have this pilsener thing down to a science. And an art.