Pilsner
Big Rock Brewery

Looks just fine. Clear apple juice yellow, with a two finger white head, just like the Czech stuff. The smell is a bit muted. A hint of grainy cereal malt, and perhaps an even more fleeting hint of doughy pilsner malt, and some grassy and musty hops. The taste more or less follows. All the flavours are a bit subdued and indistinct. The malt backbone is there, but weak, and cereal grain where the Czech stuff is biscuit dough. There is a half decent Saaz hop bitter finish, that does linger long enough, but isn't as bitter as I'd expect from a Czech pilsner. Mouthfeel somehow just isn't as good as a good Czech one either. Still, there's nothing terribly wrong with this beer. The worst thing they did was call it a Czech style pilsner. As a New World craft imitation, though, it's not bad.

 

 

 

 

decent pils. hits the style and drinkable. a but of haze. vancouver production from the brer store. some hops. mild on the cheese. hot day beer better on cold side.

 

 

 

330ml bottle - yup, this is looking more and more like just a re-branding of the Saaz Republic Pilz.

This beer pours a clear, bright pale golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat caked bone-white head, which leaves a few instances of stringy and sudsy island profile lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of gritty and grainy pale malt, a bit of hard water flintiness, and some very tame earthy, herbal, and dead grassy green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, a hint of lemon rind, and more subtle floral, grassy, and wet hay-like verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its punch-clock frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, nothing really existing here to cause any amount of fuss, as such. It finishes off-dry, the solid base malt riding us out to pasture, while the hops flutter off into the ether.

Overall, it appears from cross-referencing, that this 'new' version has smoothed out some of the edges in the former, by becoming even more dull. There's nothing wrong here, but the Saaz hop character really needs a re-write, as it shrinks in comparison to other rather well-made Czech-style pilseners by craft breweries in Western Canada.

Tallboy can from The Beer Store; best before July 24 2017 and served well chilled. This appears to be the same recipe as their old 'Saaz Republic Pilz', with only the name and label art having been changed (as part of Big Rock's recent brewery-wide re-branding efforts).

Pours a crystal clear pale golden colour, with one finger of soapy, bubbly white froth fizzling off within a minute's time. The surface is left utterly barren; not even a sickly-thin collar remains, and there's certainly no lace. Looks a bit flat for a pale lager. The aroma is a little more inviting, although still nothing worth writing home about - there's some grainy, doughy pale malt sweetness, as well as some grassiness and a few mildly floral notes.

A bare bones pilsener if there ever was one, starting off with grainy, bready pale malt sweetness that comes off fairly clean-tasting. The Saaz hops make their presence known on the back end, in the form of grassy hay and a subdued floral note that dries out the palate. Light in body, with average carbonation that imparts a good bite - the sort of crisp, refreshing mouthfeel that any self-respecting pils should possess. A boring beer overall, but still a decent, unobjectionable interpretation of this style.

Final Grade: 3.46, a serviceable B-. My assessment of Big Rock's Pilsner is about the same as it was 3 or 4 years ago, when I originally reviewed their Saaz Republic Pilz: it's ok, but the flavour doesn't quite match up to that of the imported competition. I don't mind this lager, and will have no trouble at all finishing the glass... but I don't really see the point of opting for this one when beers such as Pilsner Urquell and Budvar/Czechvar are so easy to find, and basically the same price. I suppose if I lived in Calgary I might be more inclined to support the local guys just 'cuz, but as someone who lives across the country? Not so much.