Pilsner Urquell rant

You should be sorry , you've put someone else's words in my quote. I didn't write that at all. This guy did:

 

No. I have been on the lookout; it is imported by Shelton Brothers (kegs). Just have found it yet but I am still hopeful.

Cheers!

 

I've tried Urquell once, and I really didn't feel like it worth a new try. Maybe someday I'll try it again, with a Stella or Heineken on side to make sure that Urquell is the same or not.

 

That's the way to do it- I think you'll definitely notice a difference that way.

 

Fair enough. I was just going by what I recall learning in my archaeology classes. One thing's for sure: we can all probably agree that dark, amber glass is the best glass to use.

 

I'm sure that's a treat. But the average German bier I had von fass the next country seemed superior to the Urquell to me. I only had a few from the barrel in Germany, they were great, but not head & shoulders above their modern day draft versions.

 

Brown bottles? Great news! Gonna scoop some up soon!

 

Back in the early '90s, a friend and I debated what the best beer in the world was. It came down to Pilsner Urquell vs. Newcastle Brown, with my friend taking the form and I the latter as he preferred pilsners and I darker brews. We agreed to disagree and respect each others choices. Our naivete was presumtuous as neither of us had ever had anything from Belgium, not a quad, tripel, dubbel or a wit. I think the discussion would be quite a bit different today.

 

Here is a great overview on Czech beer just posted today, it answers your question near the end.

http://beervana.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-brief-primer-on-czech-lagers.html

As an aside, this site still lists only one Czech style: "Pilsner"

 

I think you missed some of his info:

He then goes on to list different categorization by strength and color, and how to order based on both designations. But he's not referring to any of these beers solely as "Pilsner."

 

I have not seen the brown bottles here in Cleveland as of yet.

 

Sorry, when I said "this site", I was referring to Beer Advocate. One Czech style listed in the styles sections. A crime against lager.

 

Back in the late 1970s I considered a 4pk a real treat.

 

thanks again for the reply, chris! i guess that does help sort out the different urquell offerings. but it does still mean that the listings here are confusing, and one is left unsure if all the reviewers are rating the correct beer. it would help to know what urquell themselves call each version and which ones are only available in which specific venues or at least which types of venues.

 

Makes more sense, thanks for the clarification.

 

Currently Beeradvocate lists three, which to my knowledge is correct.

Pilsner Urquell Nefiltrovaný

Pilsner Urquell Kvasnicový

Pilsner Urquell 3.5%

I've only had the first, and I've had it here in the States more than once -- more frequently, Pilsner Urquell has been shipping over barrels of unfiltered Pilsner for special events -- like the Map Room event in Chicago that JackHorzempa shared above. There will be more in the States in November to help celebrate their anniversary.

Honestly ever since the new shipping and packaging changes (especially the brown bottle) I think every Beeradvocate who has reviewed Pilsner in the past should try it again and give it a new review and see how it stands up to their old one. I truly believe you'd see a marked difference in ratings.

More bars in the States are also adopting the Czech-style sidepour fount (there's two in Philly currently) which allows for different kinds of pours (like the creamy-foam milk pour -- yes, it's good!) which, if used by a knowledgable bartender pouring a fresh keg, can be a serious revelation for someone whose only experience with Pilsner was pulling a dusty lightstruck bottle off of the green-bottle import shelf.