Gold Pilsner
Hespeler Brewing Co.

473 mL can from the LCBO; packaged Mar 22 2021 and served slightly chilled.

Pours clear and effervescent, its pale golden yellow-coloured body topped with nearly two fingers of soapy, foamy white head. It seeps away at a casual pace, caking the glass with gobs of beautiful lace in the process; within five minutes or so, it has been reduced to a generously frothy collar and thin cap. It smells of bready, doughy malts and grains, accompanied by hints of honeyed/butterscotch sweetness and some grassy, earthy hops.

It's a solid pilsner with a bright, citrusy hop flavour right up front, featuring lemon and grassiness on top of a clean, grainy pale malt backdrop with just a touch of biscuity sweetness. That's the long and short of it, really - there's some earthy, weedy hop bitterness towards the tail end of the sip, lingering into the aftertaste for a moment before drying out. Light in body, with assertive carbonation that gives a crisp, prickly mouthfeel to this lager - quite refreshing, and very easy to toss back quickly.

Final Grade: 3.77, a B+. I never know what to expect from a new domestic pilsner - some of them are nearly as good as the Czech and German imports, and some of them aren't even close. Hespeler's Gold Pilsner is in the former category - it's perhaps a little sweeter than most pilseners, but only by a hair, and I really enjoyed the hop profile. The back label has a blurb about how the hops they used were found on a farm, originating from a vine of some unknown variety - possibly the Canadian "Redvine" strain, but that's not certain. In any event, it's a fine lager that I plan on returning to.

This golden pilsner is very enjoyable and refreshing another great Ontario craft beer I would buy this beer again especially on a hot summers day
Cheers

Straw coloured, taste of cereals, a little hops. Minimal head, a fairly good Pilsner. Pilsners seem to making a comeback after a while of boringness. I’m happy about that because I love pilsners
Feb 17 2022