Classic Pilsener
Nicolet Brewing Company

Poured (retired) a typical BMC yellow, but with less clarity and a more difficult task of head retention. Aroma was mostly grain. Farms but clean.

Taste was mild and inoffensive stuff. Dare I say bland. Light bittersweet feels. Its basically a local beer that was made for someone who drinks a lot of Miller, Pabst, Old Style etc. . . I guess where there might have been a market for it would be that crowd who wanted to buy local artisan tacos or whatever trendy bullshit is going on in the beer world.

Back in 2003, I was living on the east side of Milwaukee, and there was/(still is) this little Polish market (Koppa's) a block from my apartment. They carried some decent Wisconsin microbrews, many of them in the old Bavarian and Germanic traditions. Nicolet appeared to be one of those breweries they carried. So I picked up a six pack back in the day, $6, and did what us Marquette kids did back in the day and drank them.

Poured out a pale straw yellow. Frankly, looked closer to BMC than I would have liked, but it had a lazier carbonation that showed the beer wasn't in any hurry, plus the head was .5" that had some decent retention. Aroma was fairly mute, most descriptive thing you could say was that it was non descript grainy in a cereal bran and corn flake kind of way. Slightly bitter, slightly sweet, with barely perceptable hop quotient, they don't jump out as if they are big in the Noble hop tradition with a lemony zestiness, no, this is fairly bland, hot weather beer. Definitely not made for a Lake Michigan winter.

I never revisited this beer after that first and only six pack. Still have the cardboard side though, amongst all the other wallpaper, where this review was written on the backside, before the day of this poor student having internet in his home. . . ah the good ol' days.

A light, sparkling orange color with small white head. The aroma is lightly grainy with some floral hops. The body is light and crisp, with some good hop flavors coming through a good malt base that's a little bready. It finishes dry with a little hop bitterness. A step in the right direction for a pils when fresh. I wonder if Bighuge and Zap had an aged bottle in their review?

A bit cloudy on the pour..frothy, creamy head that stays..sour smell on the nose, but also some cinamin if you can believe that? I even looked around to make sure there wasn't some cinamon bread laying close by throwing me off...It's subtle, but it's there.

Taste wise this is very poor...sour cidery...almost like someone poured 3 ounces of lemon juice into the bottle. Very disappointing. I've got three bottles of this..I am finishing #2..I'll be hard pressed to drink #3... It is this poor. I would take ANY macro over this ANY day of the week...now that tells you how bad this is...

Pours Golden, but has a very evident haze. Nice head. A bit pungent on the nose. Very tangy taste. I think it is acetyl. Very bitter after taste (in a bad way). Fizzy mouthfeel. Very poor beer overall. Not even close to what a classic pilsener should taste like. The bottle says best before March. I'm sampling on March 12. This shouldn't be that bad though.