German Pils
Altstadt Brewery

Pours straw color with just a touch of opacity. The nose is slightly herbal and grassy with a hint of citrus. The taste gives cracker followed by grass notes & a bit of lemon zest. Well-rounded and crisp, digging this one.

Pours a clear golden color with a wire head that dissipates quickly. The aroma is of bread malt and citrus. The taste is of malt with a hop backing. The malt and the hops compliments each other and neither is overpowering. There is a sweetness from the malt with some citrus hop notes. The mouthfeel is lightly carbonated without feeling watery. Overall, this is my favorite US pilsner that I tried and it's from Texas.

 

 

Crisp, clean and delicious. Everything you want from a German Pils.

 

 

Light gold pour, head starts about a finger but sits down to a small steady top. Nose is malt and floral.

Taste is sweet Pils, earthy & herbal bitterness, floral, light spice notes, new mown grass, touch of citrus. Mouthfeel is fairly light. Finish is dry herbal hoppiness. Keeper.

12 oz. can poured into hefeweizen glass
(best by 6/25/25 printed on bottom of can)

L: predominately clear yellow topped by a 1-inch head of white foam; keeps a thickish collar and most of a skin of white foam from plenty of activity in the glass; there might be a lingering hint of haze to it, but it's still what almost anyone would call 100% clear ... clear but not "crystal" clear

S: stale grain, rice husks, corn, lemon peel, lemongrass ... light hints of lemon juice; as it warms it sweetens from a bread-malt aroma, lemon kolache; stale grain never disappears and kind of rides along with the sweet bread malt aroma

T: classic bitter-sweet interplay between the spicy Old World hops and bready almost fruity malt flavor; the bitterness up front is formidable and full of the earthy/dirty/black peppery flavor you expect in the style; the sweetness in the development is hard for me to call other than "bready malt" ... it's not overly fruity nor confectionary but definitely sweet; the bitter hop flavor builds and lingers in the long finish, giving it a drying effect

F: nice mix of fluffy and light from the carbonation but still weighty enough to feel like a bit more than water most of the time; still, it's arguably shy of midweight, maybe a heavy lightweight as occasional sips do have a slight slipperiness that comes off as watery; great mouthfeel overall

O: this beer's an excellent example of the sum being greater than the parts ... no one attribute shines as being perfect, yet the combined effect is a very nice edition of one of my favorite styles; this beer immediately goes in my rotation of favorite pilsners and worth mentioning among Texas' best (Real Ale Hans' Pils, Live Oak Pilz); if the sweeter bread malt notes popped just a bit more, I'd put this side-by-side with Bitburger and Konig; it's spicy hop bite is world class

 

really good for making frijoles borrachos

 

 

 

 

 

12oz can poured into a Pilsner glass.
LOOK Golden clear yellow with five fingers of white foam from a moderately aggressive pour.
Retention is slightly above average.
SMELL is slightly below medium in strength. The smell has dough, malt, bright herbal aroma and spice. The quality of the ingredients from Germany is evident in the smell.
TASTE is a bit above medium in strength. The taste has hops over malt, spice, and a gradual increasing herbal hop finish with a moderate snap. I would not mind a bit more bitterness in the finish, but it's masterfully dialed in the way it is.
FEEL is closer to medium than medium-high. When left on the tongue, it's slightly creamy. Carbonation and astringency are a bit below medium. It's quite dry.
OVERALL, Attention to detail is clear in this dialed in quality beer. It's the best German Pilsner from Texas I've had.
It's so good that I ended up opening a second can so I could finish the review.

 

Summary: The Altstadt Pils looks, smells and tastes like a German Pilsener. It is spot on.

12 oz can from a grocery store; Austin, TX; July 2023. Tasted “refrigerator cold” (38 F) and allowed to warm a bit too.

First Impression: looks and smells like a German Pilsener. Pours with a 2 finger head which fills the shaker pint to the brim. The head drops into a thin foam which lingers on the surface. I did not get any lacing on the glass.

Color: the Altstadt Pils is a crystal clear gold color perhaps a shade darker than many German Pilseners. It is super easy to see through the pint glass.

Aroma: Central European style hops over a solid malt base with a hint of yeast. Balanced in perfect conformity to the German Pilsener style, always hops on top of malt.

Body: full bodied; the Altstadt Pils rolls around the tongue smoothly.

Taste: leads with Central European style hops flavor, backed-up with barley malt with a presence of yeast and finishes with hops. There is zero toasted, caramelized sweetness to the malt. The Altstadt Pils is pleasingly dry from start to end.