Berghoff Pilsner
Adams Street Brewery

Had Berghoff Pilsner at The Berghoff, Chicago, when discovered to my great disappointment that The Berghoff no longer stocks German beers but exclusively those of Adams Street, its house brewery.

Looks and smells the part, and starts well enough, but then the malt seems a bit more caramel than expected and the hoppy finish is more harsh and bitter than just crisp and clean.

 

I picked up a bottle of Berghoff's Pilsner last week for $1.79 at Boyne Country Provisions. I was looking for some new beers on the lighter side to try and I thought I would give this one a shot, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks ok. it's a little plain looking and it isn't too eye catching. It pours a nice golden color that doesn't change when held to the light and it has about two fingers worth of fluffy white head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left some patchy lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking Pilsner, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with some cracker and biscuit like malts being the first to show up and they are followed by some clean yeast flavors. Up next comes the hops which impart an earthy, grassy and slightly spicy hop aroma. This beer has a pretty nice aroma and it's what I would expect for the style.

T- The taste seems to be very similar to the aroma and it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with those same malt aspects being the first to show up along with some clean yeast flavors. Up next comes the hops which impart the same aspects that did in the aroma, but they are a little lighter than I thought they would be. On the finish there's a lower amount of medium bitterness with some hoppy and sweet malt flavors showing up in the aftertaste. This is a nice tasting beer, but I wish the hop profile was a little bolder to live up to the label saying it's a hop forward Pilsner.

M- Smooth, a little creamy, a little crisp, on the lighter side of being medium bodied with a slightly higher amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel was pretty good and it worked well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a nice beer and I thought it was a nice Pilsner, it had pretty much all the aspects that I look for in the style, but the label did say it was more of a hop forward Pilsner and in the end it just tasted like a true to style Pilsner and not one that is more hop forward than most. This beer had nice drinkability, I could drink a couple of these, especially in the summer time. I would buy this beer again if I knew it was fresh and I would recommend trying it if your a fan of the style. All in all I liked this beer, but I think a little extra hops would make it stand out a little and live up to the label. This is one of the better beers i've had from this brewery and it's above average for the style. Nice job guys, but with a little more work this could be pretty good.