Grünhopfen Pils
Private Landbrauerei Schönram

Very grassy, herby aroma and taste. I enjoyed it

 

 

L:
-pours a slightly hazy straw golden with a medium to big,foamy,white head
-medium to high carbonation visible
S:
-herbal,grassy,fresh dough,lemon,grainy,buttery
T:
-Follows the nose + honey
-medium to high bitterniss for the style
F:
-medium carbonation
-light to medium body
O:
A wonderful green noble hop aroma coming off, unfortunately, the malt base could use a little more refinement.

 

33cl brown glass bottle from Ambrosetti in Berlin:

5.0% ABV. Best before: 23.11.16.

APPEARANCE: Pours a healthy frothy white coloured head of about 7cm width. Retention is quite good - ~8 minutes. Body is a clear clean yellow, but comes off rather dull (i.e. lacking vibrance).

AROMA: Slightly more hoppy than most German pilsners, sure, but by no means hop-forward. Hop character is noticeably herbal - not the classic pilsner Noble hop-induced grassiness one might expect. The herbal character works well - at least aromatically - and coupled with the conventional pilsner malt aromatics suggests an interesting brew to be sure.

Aromatic intensity is average.

TASTE: Oddly herbal for a pilsner, but I'd definitely dig this flavour profile anyway...if not for the stale pilsner malt backbone, which is woefully inadequate. The increased hop bitterness is nicely balanced by the malty sweetness, but the malts just taste cheap and stale and lowest common-denominator. That aspect of the flavour really detracts from the beer, even as the herbal hop emphasis works in really interesting ways. With a cleaner more flavourful pilsner malt backbone (and maybe multi-decoction brewing methods, if they're not using them already), this beer could be a really interesting if not boundary pushing pilsner.

Depth of flavour is limited. Flavour duration is rather long for a pilsner, with the herbal taste lingering past the finish.

TEXTURE: Well-carbonated. Has a nice push-pull between coarseness and smoothness, coaxing out a bit of accentuation of the hop character. Wet and not unrefreshing. Light-bodied.

There's no perfect harmony of texture and taste here, but the mouthfeel does complement the flavour profile in a general sense.

OVERALL: There are some really interesting things going on with this beer, but unfortunately basic malt quality drags it down. Maybe source the pilsner malt from a reputable vendor (e.g. Weyermann), and tinker with the mouthfeel a bit to get rid of the dominant artificiality (and slight syrupy characteristics) of the beer. Drinkable, but ultimately a lackluster pilsner.

Low C- (2.52) / ABOVE AVERAGE

Golden yellow beer, slightly haze with a decent white head.

Smells of crackers, wheat, grass and hints of lemon are detectable among a light note of dried herbs.

Has a light, refreshing mouthfeel with an amazing dryness and just the right amount of balancing carbonation.

Taste is much more pungent than the smell of the beer, as it is defined by wheat, straw, fresh cut grass and lemon peel, which adds a recognizable floral hop note. Especially the incredibly well pronounced noble hops stand out in this, as they go very well with the classic Pilsener character, while adding a well-focused, refreshing bitterness and subtle dry mouthfeel, defining the beer‘s aftertaste.

This is an A+ example of going thoughtfully overboard on a style which bears lots of potential.

Bottle: Poured a clear golden color ale pils with a nice pure white foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of clean cereal notes with light dry hoppy notes. Taste of cereal is quite clean with no unrefined grainy notes and a light leafy hops dry finish. Body is about average for style with good carbonation. Well brewed with nice drinkability that would be even better if drank at the source.

 

 

Pours bright yellow, a bit hazy, two finger white head, lasting long enough, sticky also.
Smells of bitter citrus leaf, flowers, hint of honey, spicy yeasts and herbs.
Taste of mild tangerines and grapefruit,very faint pineapple, followed by big spicy green herbs (touch of coriander) and dry flower petals, very "perfummey", lasting all the way into the aftertaste. So the finish is dry, more than mildly bitter (very faint noble hop presence), with lingering floral notes, that kinda disturb a little.
Medium body and carbonation.
Decent, but the hops are a bit muddled, needs more tweaking.

 

 

The Bavaria stands at Berlin's International Green Week get better every time I go: this year (2014) Private Landbrauerei Schönram had a bar within that area. I wandered over to it and had a draught one of these.

0.3 litre, slight haze to the yellow / golden body, white crown.

Hop nature to the aroma, as you'd expect. Floral and grassy hints in the hoppy smell with a mild spicy undertone.

The taste wasn't as hoppy as I thought it would be, pleasant enough I suppose with the spicy hop notes coming through, but otherwise it just seemed like a normal Pilsner to me, a good one but nothing out of the ordinary.

Glad I tried it, plenty more beers to try out there though.