Graf Pilsner
The Blue Ridge Brewing Co.

On tap at the Blue Ridge Brewing Company, Greenville, SC, 12/26/2008.

Appearance: A hazy, pale, pale yellow body with a one-half-finger of white head that fades quickly and leaves a fluffy ring and light sheen of lace. There's actually a surprisingly large amount of sticky, glittery lacing on the sides of the glass on this one. So, yes, the lacing is nice, but the color really isn't.

Aroma: Very faint, but also very straightforward and simple - pretty sweet, crisp pils malts and spicy, floral, hay-like hops. It is what it is.

Taste: Very sweet, a little sweeter than most examples of the style, honey-like, almost, but also with a fair amount of spicy hop notes and faint bitterness. Stylistically solid, though a little on the sweet side for my liking.

Mouthfeel: Crisp, uneven, big-bubbled, and thin - seems about right for a Czech pilsner.

Drinkability: An enjoyable brew, stylistically accurate, with a low abv% and straightforward characteristics. Makes for a very drinkable beer.

Had chance to go down yesterday afternoon and try a couple new ones on tap. This was the first. Served on tap and poured into a pint glass. This one was consumed on 10/02/2008.23

The pour was very nice with a very hazy and cloudy yellow color coming forward. An unfiltered pilsner, gotta love it. Huge head of three inches settled down to a soft pillow but not before dropping copious amounts of side glass lace.

The aroma was light, lots of grain and bready malts stealing the show here, with crisp, clean and light fruity texture hinting around in there. The flavor was more of the same, light, highly carbonated, and very crisp. Nice follow through from the bready flavor on mid palate with a light dry finish that left you looking for more almost immediatly.

Overall this was a very solid pilsner, which is hard to come by lately. I would have loved this one earlier in the year when it wa hotter as it seems to be well suited for that task. Never the less, a solid beer all around.