Maiden City Pilsner
Maiden City Brewing

 

Inspired by German lager making but made in Central Kentucky, Maiden City goes deep into the roots of pilsner making for a taste that's familiar to fans of lager but its more rounded, more traditional, and just better than what America has turned this style into.

Maiden City Pilsner kicks off with a streaming mid-straw color and crowned with a soft cottony froth. With the familiar scent of fresh baking bread, grassy hop spice and a softness of dough, the nose is decorated with gentle fruits and fermented twang. Supple and sweet early on the palate, its taste is bready-sweet with hints of powdered sugar, bread and an overall notion of wafer.

As the flavors evolve, the middle palate shows a deliberate shift to dryness and the hop flavors start to stand out. Floral aromas turn fruity with hints of lemon, apple and honeydew before a continued dryness shows a more herbal tone of lemongrass, parsley and pepper when the bitterness arrives. A snappy taste late carries a faint grassy taste with slight vegetation.

Light, crisp and mostly clean, the pilsner is fresh and relatively error free with a finish of minty evaporative cooling and a medium length aftertaste of peppery herb and grasses for a satisfying thirst quencher in a taste that's familiar to beer drinkers but in a body, flavor and aroma that's all grown up.