Pilsner Ukiah
Ukiah Brewing Co.

 

 

On tap at the brewpub in Ukiah.

Pour is golden, slightly hazy, with a very good head and very good sticky lacing. Should have more clarity.

Aroma: herbal and floral hops with just a hint of light malts.

Flavor: too much like a macro lager.

Feel: light bodied with medium carbonation level.

O: light and refreshing, but just OK for style.

Bold marigold with a faint San Francisco fog that clears when the beer is backlit. The bone white cap exudes quality with its fine-bubbled texture and its micropitted upper surface. A wonderful lace display is the final piece of the pils puzzle. Snazzy.

The aroma is both Saazy and snazzy with the best olfactory attributes of that particular hop on full display. I love the lemony, grassy and gently spicy nature of Ukiah Pilsner's nose and hope that the flavor follows suit.

Wow! What a surprise to find that this beer is so impressively hopped. I'm talking about quantity, but could just as easily be talking about quality. If you're looking for a firm blast of Saaz in a well-crafted pils, and you happen to live or be visiting Northern California, seek this one out.

There's enough sweetish pils malt to counter some of the intensity of the hops. Quite a bit gets through unchecked however and is doing a number on my tongue. This is a hophead's delight of a German pilsener if I've ever tasted one. I don't know if its organic nature has anything to do with it or not (probably not), but this is an amazingly fresh, clean, pure lager.

The light-medium mouthfeel is of high quality as well and tells me that the brewer knows what the hell he's doing. It's lightly lush and exceptionally smooth and makes drinking the beer an immensely pleasurable experience. What more can one ask of a mouthfeel?

Ukiah Brewing Company is 'the first certified organic brewpub in the country' and Pilsner Ukiah is 'the only canned organic pilsner in the world'. That's a lot of firsts. This can was given to me by a friend who got it at Fisherman's Wharf--from the brewer himself--during a Farmer's Market a few months ago. I would like to thank them both for introducing me to one of the best and hoppiest pilseners that I've had in a long, long time.

On tap at the brewery. Light golden beer with snappy carbonation and a persistant head, and even lacing on the glass. Decent beer with a hoppy bite and a sweet lager nose. Mouthfeel was a bit too thick and sweet for a pilsner, but it was a good beer. Also available in cans, although I did not indulge. Not worth going out of the way for, but stop by if you're passing through the area for a pint and you won't regret it.