Smaragd Pilsner
Pax Bräu

Just arrived yesterday in the mail, a new beer from Pax Bräu, a Smaragd Pilsner. The beer is new for him. Last year he made a Admiral Nelson Pilsner with Nelson Sauvin and in 2012 a Saphir Pilsner. Smaragd, if you're not in the know, is a relatively new hop from the Czech Republic and now in Germany, 8.7% Alpha Acid. Here's what I got from the internet:

8.5% Alpha Acid. This is a new breed from Germany developed in the last 10 years and virtually unknown by American brewers. With a distinct fruity nose balanced with flowery hoppy notes, Smaragd is the European response to varieties like Simcoe and Amarillo. It has a more prominent nose than most European varieties, but the fruitiness is more subdued and the overall impression is balanced and refined with a slight nuance of spice. The bitterness is of medium intensity allowing generous (but not excessive!) use in the boil kettle. A good choice for dry hopping. The hints of lemon and orange marmalade work well with Belgian Pale Ales or Imperial Pilsner.​

Smaragd is Czech for emerald, a green one, so I get the name.

Cool label, eh? A quick Google search showed that Smaragd has some meaning in the gaming community, like Minecraft, and Pokemon, at least the German versions. Maybe that's what the "goddess" image represents. I'm too old to know exactly and too unhip, so I'm guessing that the allusion is with the graphics novel variety because the artist used is a graphic artists that makes wild comics/graphic novels. Either way, it's a cool way to say we worship the hop we drink.

So the beer...

Appearance: Slightly cloudy, and I bet after a few weeks lagerzeit it'd be 98% clear. It's golden color, but not bright, more a dull, darker gold. It's on top of a huge snow white head that leaves a pretty lacing behind, which unfortunately disappeared after a few minutes.

Aroma: Wow...lots of Pils malt sweetness, bready, toasty, mixed in with hay, grass, a hefty amount of spicy pepperiness, and a slight yeasty undertones, after all, it's only about 10 days old.

Flavor:

Front: mmmm, delicious... a nice, light but awesome bitterness. It's an interesting sort of bitterness, for it's quite noticeable but mild at the same time... yeah Smaragd. I also get some tartness here, some pure sweetness, a grassiness.

Mid: Again, a nice but steady bitterness, coming off like a dull throb of bitterness above the tongue that mesmerizes and almost hypnotizes. In addition, you get large amounts of citrus and tartness, grassy flavors, a hint of hay but a nice but light peppery spiciness.

Back: Wow, got some black pepper spiciness, grass, lots of hay, got some slight lemon but it's more in the citrus area. On top of that, I'm really surprised to get a decent punch of orange marmalade here, even wow-ier., just as mentioned above... I sure didn't expect that. And then there's a little bitterness to keep the tongue happy. All this is over a sweet, bread, toasty sweetness from Pils malt.

Aftertaste: Bitterness and Pils malt sweetness is what's left after you swallow this beer.

Mouthfeel: Not as thick as I prefer my Pils. Just a little on the thin side, but it's still not bad. It leans toward a dryness but not overly so. Not bad but maybe the only part of this beer that's not wonderful.

Overall: WOW lis simply all I got. It's a homage to a single hop that has a lot of complexity but doesn't pummel you with bitterness or citrus flavor or fruit flavors. First, you have a Pils that all the goodness of it's eponymous malt, but it's overlaid with a multitude of luxurious, like above "refined" that leaves you aware it's bitter but slap you with bitterness. It gives you really wonderfully balanced Pils but one with lots of other flavors normally not found in one, such as citrus, orange marmalade, hay and a mild spicy pepper. Again, WOW, I love this beer. I have this hop in my inventory, and I haven't used it yet, and now I know exactly how it will taste in my beer. Again... WOW.