Imperial Pilsner
Mill Street Brew Pub

 

Clear deep gold with a strong head. Bready malt nose. Firm malt body with a hint of hop spiciness and alcohol.

355ml bottle - part of the current Mill Street Canadian Brewpub pack. Made at something called 'Bermondsey Brewery', which I presume to be their production facility in the greater Toronto area.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly eggshell white head, which leaves a few large instances of blotchy lace around the glass as it slowly and evenly bleeds out of sight.

It smells of gritty and grainy cereal malt, bruised apples and pears, a touch of nail polish remover, and rather faint earthy, musty, and floral hop bitters. The taste is grainy and crackery pale malt, a hint of buttery breakfast biscuits, fusel alcohol, muddled pome fruity notes, and more understated leafy, floral, and musky hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-coating frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and actually fairly smooth, with a teensy aerosol creaminess worming its way in once things start to warm up a tad around here. It finishes off-dry, the soused-up malt presiding.

Overall - yup, this appears to be a typical version of the style to this observer, all malt and booze, and very little else to recommend it by. It's actually not that difficult to put back, but don't go in expecting a whole lot of complexity in this particular offering.

Coll. Bermondset brewery, capped bottle: Clear golden color with moderate activity. Foamy white 2 finger head, lasting around 5minutes, with light legs and average swirl reaction. Flavors of sweet barley, caramel, pears, apricot, lager yeast, light corn, with noble and herbal hops. Medium strength finish, balanced between sugary cereal/bready malts and bitter flowery/leafy hops. Slick and smooth medium to full body, a bit oily, with prickly carbonation. Light maillard effect, well attenuated, decent fruit profile. Good balance and drinkability, got lots of freshness while the ABV is hidden. Quite rich too with proper texture. Adjunct feel is minimal, I find the ingredients pretty good. Overall very good quality craft.

 

355 mL bottle from the LCBO; one of six included in this year's Brewpub sampler pack. Dated May 29 2018 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a medium golden colour, featuring a crystal clear complexion that is loaded with effervescence; one centimetre of smooth, creamy-looking head settles atop and holds its place for the better part of ten minutes. A sticky band of seafoam lace is eventually revealed; lookin' good so far. The aroma is very mild and unassuming, being comprised of some cereal graininess and a crackery, biscuity pale malt sweetness, as well as a grassy note and perhaps a touch of alcohol. Smells ok, but it's too muted - give me more malts, more hops... more anything, really.

The flavours are approachable enough - this beer is basically half pilsener, half helles bock. I'm getting flavours of apple flesh, cereal grains, crackery pale malts and just a hint of cotton candy sweetness. These are followed up with some lightly floral, grassy hops that serve to dry out the palate effectively, leaving behind a relatively neutral aftertaste. The alcohol starts to become barely perceptible as the glass warms up towards room temperature. Medium-light in body, with low carbonation levels - a bit of a surprise, given how effervescent it looked at first. Feels smooth, slick and wet, but it's otherwise totally lacking the crisp, carbonated bite that helps to make pale lagers refreshing. Easy enough to drink quickly, and not interesting enough to take your time with.

Final Grade: 3.59, a B grade. Mill Street's Imperial Pilsner is a serviceable strong lager, but that's about the long and short of it. Nothing about this beer bugged me in particular, but nothing really stood out, either - it was an unobjectionable, uneventful glass. Worth a tick I suppose, but I don't think it's a beer that I'm very likely to purchase again (though I certainly wouldn't turn one down if it were being offered). A decent example of one of my least-often consumed styles.

Clear and golden body with a large frothy pearly white head. Sweet malt and lightly peppery and herbaceous hops come over on the nose, while the flavour is actually a tad sweet from the malt, with some missing hop character. Not balanced because of the low hop level and high alcohol. Meh.

Part of the Summer 2018 Brewpub mixed pack