Herold Golden Revolution
Pivovar Herold Březnice A.s.

 

Served from a 750 ml bottle into a snifter.

A - Rich golden color, very low carbonation and head.

S - Very sweet malty aroma, no hops noticeable.

T - Malty, sweet and cloying taste. There is complexity added by some honey, grape and spice notes, but it is way too sweet for my taste.

M - With no carbonation feel, it was thickly mouth-coating.

D - Too thick and sweet. My wife liked it but I could hardly finish my glass.

This bottle has been sitting around for awhile and I figured it was time to drink it. It has lost some of the carbonation compared to earlier bottles I had. This isn't a style I normally would pick up, but the beer club sent it and I am glad to have tried it. Nice color and an interesting smell. It tastes very different from any other beer. I just am really at a loss to describe. Sticky mouthfeel.

Smells sweet tastes sweet. Can taste a bit of the alcohol too. Its an odd beer. I like it and I just can't say why. I ended up getting more after my original shipment and held on to the last one until today.

Appearance: clear orange in color with a wispy head. No lace develops.

Smell: fruit sweetness dominates the aroma.

Taste: caramel, golden apples, pears, grass, pepper, and a mild bitterness is a bit of an unbalanced mess.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied. Smooth from start to finish. Aftertaste is short lived.

Drinkability: this beer is a bit too sweet and unbalanced. I had a very hard time finishing the bottle.

pours a semi-clear orange with a small off-white head that goes away quickly, and good lacing.

smell is of grain, sweet malt, and a roastiness.

taste is of grain, sweet malt, cheerios, nuts, and syrup.

overall a bland strong lager, better than most lagers but not really my style, check.

750ml bottle (recently purchased new arrival so I'm not sure why it's retire) poured into my large Gulden Draak tulip, Herold Golden Revolution is a clear brassy gold with a large white head with some larger bubbles that makes it a bit quicker settling, leaving very light lace. Served around 45-50F, there is a nice crackle to the head I wait for it to calm down before the first sip.

Smell is sweet, wort like malt, honey and leafy, floral hops, with light, alcohol vapors.

Taste is very sweet, honey and perfume like florals, more intense at first before dropping off for the finish. The more I sip it, the more I realize how the spicy, floral hops combine with the malt to make it taste alot like wort (unfermented beer). Which is not a terrible thing, but it's pretty sweet and in your face. Once I started to think of it like a J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale, it was a lot more enjoyable.

Mouthfeel is slick, liquor like but not hot, with a medium body.

Drinkability is ok, I have to say I thought it would really taste like crap after browsing the reviews, but it was ok, if very slow going. And while I knew from the first sip what they were getting at, I didn't think it was that bad. Sujre it's pretty atypical of the hop forward American Imperial Pils, and closer to an english BW or strong Belgian, but it's not a bad beer. A slow sipper that definately should be shared.

Poured from a corked bottle into a pilsner glass. The appearance is a hazy straw-like color with a small head of foam that quickly dissipates. There is very little lacing on the side of the glass.

Smell is sweet, almost too sweet a scent. A small amount of yeast and hops in the aroma as well.

Taste is pretty sweet, matches up with the aroma. I don't really detect any amount of hops, and there is something just sort of off about it. Not what I expected from this style.

The mouthfeel is sticky and cloying. It is not very refreshing to drink, and sort of just hangs around on the palate.

Not very drinkable, in my opinion. The taste is just too sweet for what it is supposed to represent, not enough hops in there. The ABV is high enough that you would have to think twice about having multiple, even if you did like the taste. I suppose some people would find this beer attractive, but for me I was expecting a bit more of a hop presence.

Poured from 750 mL bottle into pilsner glass.
A: Pale yellow with light carbonation (almost no head though). Very ordinary.
S: Honey note. Mild malt. Not much here.
T: Very sweet...too sweet. It overpowers everything else. And honestly there's not much else. Not good.
M: Oily, slick. Bland.
D: This brew offers very little...highly disappointing...too sweet and too bland. I've heard Czech beer is good...not this one. No reason to seek this one out...honestly, I did not finish the bottle.

Tossed in as an extra but I unfortunately forget from whom. Claim it!

750ml corked and caged brown bottle poured into a SA pint. No dating.

A: Pours a glowing grapefruit rind color with good visibility. A decently rough pours gets about a finger or so worth of head that holds for a couple minutes. Some lacing.

S: Muted Saaz and Hallertau hops. Sweet, biscuity malts with some alcohol undertones.

T/M: More of the muted Euro/Czech hops. An average bitterness level. Malts are very sweet, high dextrin. Biscuity and buttery/butterscotchy with pretty noticeable alcohol. Body is medium light with a bit of syrupy light quality to it.

D: Super sweet, not too tasty, and 9%. Glad I got the chance to try this but I won't seek it out. This was a DFH collaboration?

Sweet syrup coats the mouth while a heavy dryness lifts the tongue. Even served in a Pilsner glass, only a meak head scrambles to the surface. The smell is grainy, similiar to a health food cereal...not inviting. The taste reminds me of when I lick the spoon I use to shovel the remaining barley malt extract/corn syrup into my homebrew pot. I sympathize with the common sentiment of the majority of reviews...not what is expected of an Imperial Pilsner and possibly different enough to drop the attempt to label it a Pilsner-the dry hop bite is one of few relations this beer has with the taste of a Pilsner. I still enjoyed this beer, but more out of curiosity then pleasure. I am grateful the beer crossed my path, but I will not go through any lenghts to meet up with Golden Revolution again.

Golden Revolution Imperial Pilsner. Here we go:

A - Popped the cork and poured into a goblet. It doesn't pour with as much foam as I would like from this style. Indeed, the retention is rather poor. Clear honeyed golden color is appropriate and attractive. 2.5

S - I'm getting a vinous, rummy aroma with a smidge of hop. It's a good smell, but something tells me, even if I hadn't read the reviews before me, that this is not really what is expected out of an Imperial Pilsner. 3.0

T - Wow. First impression is that this tastes like a DFH Midas Touch with some hops added. I taste mainly sweet grapes and honey with some (but not enough for a beer claiming to be an "Imperial" anything) hops. While I actually like the taste, it is not what I want out of a pilsner. Midas Touch is a nice beer, but if I wanted one today, I would have bought one. 2.0

F - Feel is a little limp and sticky, perhaps OK for a big "strong ale," but not for this style. 2.5

D - Aside from the idea that it isn't a pilsner, Imperial or otherwise, this goes down OK. This is a collaboration with Sam Calagione?? Next time I want an Imperial Pilsner, I'll just reach for Sam's own Golden Era (Shower). If this was intended to be a Golden Shower clone, it failed miserably - Golden Shower is far hoppier and much better than this. I don't think I've ever reviewed a beer this way off its purported style. 3.0

Pours a hazey apple cider yellow with some light head and light visible bubbling. The arom is a sugary granny smith apple with some herbal hops. The sweetest smelling pilsner I've ever had. Very unique taste for a pilsner. Lots of apple, yeasty dry mixes with the malst that leads into some earthy and herbal hops to keep some of the sweetness at bay. This was a bit too fruity for my taste in a pilsner. Dry palate, but well mixed alcohol.

Service Temperature, 40 degrees farenheit. Service Glassware, 12 oz Tulip

Appearance is dark gold and clear with a white foamy head that settles with hardly any lace.
The aroma displaced is a little bit of grape, strong honey, some berry hops.
As I sip & swirl it around I find some cloying, some honey sweetness, along with the familiar Saaz finish that is Czech. An additional element of alcohol lingers along with some cloying.
Overall, mouthfeel is medium

Cheers

750 ML bottle purchased caged and corked from Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars in Boonton... heard a lot of different things about this beer and actually saw it featured on an early morning talk-show right before Super Bowl... Front bottle logo states "Handcrafted Imperial Pilsner" and the back sticker claims that this beer was brewed in cooperation with the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery... For a corked bottle, I was surprised at the rather mediocore apple-juice appearance without any head at all and minimal lacing... smell was rather bland and hard to detect... the taste was overwhelmingly sweet, but not horrible... pears, apples, fresh fruit, and florals dominate this brew, but it really isn't all that... for the life of me, can't understand why this beer was priced at $10.99... Watered-down, bland mouthfeel led to a decent drinkability mainly due to the fact that the relatively high 9% ABV is near-impossible to detect behind an ultra-rich and sweet, sugared-down flavor... I wouldn't say this was a terrible sample - it's pretty refreshing and would go well on a hot Summer day, but no way in hell is it worth 11 bucks... if you can find it for substantially cheaper, go for it... if not, don't bother...

Appearance: Pours a clear golden body with a small, creamy white head.

Smell: Sweet-smelling honeyed, floral, cereal aroma. Notes of tropical fruits.

Taste: A strong sweetness grabs hold from the get-go. with a strong fruitiness and flavors of green apples, pineapples, and melons. Any Saaz hop character within must've perished of diabetes long ago. Alcoholic, intensely sugary finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium carbonation. Slightly syrupy mouthfeel.

Drinkability: Some hops, some hops, my kingdom for some hops. From start to finish this beer is just sickeningly sweet. It's a chore to finish a glassful of the stuff let alone the entire 750ml bottle.

I really didn't know what to make of this beer. I think the "Imperial Pilsner" (which is how this beer describes itself) is a pretty broad space to work in, and this beer was really different than the other Imperial Pilsner I've had recently (Sam Adams). I didn't enjoy the Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner a great deal, but I enjoyed this one less. It seemed somehow more of a maibock or doppelbock than a pilsner, and for "a new Czech pilsner standard," it left me wishing I was holding a Pilsner Urquell instead of this beer.

Comes in a big magnum bottle with a cork that came out easily enough. Apearance was a dark gold/straw color with very minimal head, despite my hard pouring (in an effort to coax some out). Aroma was perfume-y and like champagne. Flavor was caramel-y at first but became sweeter and distinctly cereal-y as it warmed. It did remind me a great deal of a rather marginal maibock/doppelbock. Mouthfeel was thick and syrupy. SurlySober and I did not finish the bottle.

Not recommended.

Poured from the 750 ml bottle into a pilsner glass. This one was a gift from a friend who received it as part of his Michael Jackson beer of the month, so given the man (Mr Jackson) has recently departed, I'll drink to him.

Right out of the gate this beer looks good and smells amazing. Looks like a European Pilsner but maybe a notch darker. A fairly aggressive pour didn't produce too much of a head.

Immediately after popping the cork the aroma hit me, this is one of the best smelling beers I've had in recent memory. As expected the intensity didn't last, but still... wow. Aromas of light and crisp hops, sweet fruits, and complex spices. In a blind smell test I could swear this is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

The first sip I took of this beer I swear it changed styles in my mouth. It started out with the Belgian elements of sweet/sour fruits packaged with classic spices, then just like that it was a European Lager with crisp (though subdued) hops. Warming brought out the rich sour dark fruits. Continued drinking put it more in the camp of a Belgian ale, but nevertheless this beer walks the line between styles. The label bills it as a "handcrafted Imperial Pilsner" and BA categorizes it as a Euro Strong Lager. Whatever it is it's a damn good beer.

7/8/2007 $11.65 750 mL 9.00% No best by date.

Appearance:

Cork emerged with out any hiss, and a stale aroma. Not an auspicious start. A hard pour does, however, yield a whirlwind of carbonation in this golden pale straw brew that is topped by an inch of pillowy tan head.

Aroma:

Odd adjuncty corn sweet in aroma. Some fusel alcohol present as well. Offputting entirely.

Taste/Mouthfeel:

Slightly viscous mouthfeel opens this sickly sweet corn flavored mess of a beer. High alcohol is apparent throughout, but overpowered by the insane levels of sugar. Diabetics beware: stear clear of this, in fact everyone beware, this isn't worth your time or money.

The November 2006 featured selection from Michael Jackson's Rare Beer Tour. Served in a pilsener flute at just over fridge temperature.

Appearance- Just slightly darker than a traditional pilsner, this golden beauty offers up a two finger head that sustains quite well... there is abundant effervescence that keep things very much alive in the glass. No lacing at all to comment on with the first pour, but spiderweb lacing on the second one. A pretty beer nonetheless.

Smell- Doughy, sweet malts that suggest a high fermentation... there's a heaviness about the aroma that is much different than any other pilsener I've ever come across. If Arrogant Bastard Ale was a pilsener, it would probably smell like this.

Taste- I've tried the most awful example of this style, quite possibly last year... it was called Faxe Premium Danish Lager. I notice the huge difference here, mostly regarding the resulting sweetness from the high alcohol levels. This is very clean and straightforward in its malt/hop delivery, albeit in a heavy manner. It's balanced, while retaining a ballsy approach to the pilsener style... my honest feelings ask... why? And even though I already know the answer, it's still a question mark.

Mouthfeel- Ordinary and average.

Drinkability- While enjoyable as the enigma it is, it does lumber along a step or two behind. I really do appreciate the effort and time this beer involved, but it's a tough one to get through. Not the best style to "imperialize".

Thanks to hopdog for supplying the bottle and to weear138 for facilitating the tasting at his home. review from notes taken 3 days ago.

The Back of the bottle says Brewed in cooperation with Dog Fish Head Brewery. This beer was once included in Michael Jackson’s beer of the month club and knowing his fondness for Golden Showers we speculated that this may be similar or in fact copy the recipe. That does not appear to be the case. This beer wile sweet was not nearly *as* sweet at the DFH Imp Pils, and this beer seems to have a more herbal vegal flavor than I recall from the former. It is Pivovar Herold's take on DFH's Golden Shower Imperial Pilsner but it is a very different beer.

Appearance: Pours a clear gold color with a white head that fades quickly.

Smell: Sweet pale malts, honey and sugar with small attribute of pilsner grassiness likely through some Saaz hops in the mix.

Taste: It starts of sweet. A touch of apple and grain lead the flavor with some sugars left behind and a herbal hop presence barley making it self known. Despite the sweetness the finish is dry a crisp, but seems a bit macro-ish.

Mouthfeel: Sugar and grain make a slippery smooth feel in the mouth with alcohol nipping lightly at the cheeks as well.

Drinkability: I don't want another, but I was very happy to try this one.

Hope this is helpful.
Cheers!