Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

I've had Polestar several times but only before coming over to Germany. I'd love to try it again now that I know what a great pils should taste like.

We've visited Left Hand Brewery several times over the years and it is one of our favorite places and makes one of our favorite beers - Left Hand Milk Stout (and Nitro).

 

Actually in AZ for the time being. Local spots have stuff like Radeberger/Bitburger/Krombacher/Jever/Furst Wallerstein Classic/Koenig. Anything out of those that are especially worth seeking out (though, let's be honest, I'll be trying all of them eventually)

 

Of the beers you have listed I enjoy drinking Jever and Furst Wallerstein Classic. I have a few bottle of Furst Wallerstein Zwickel in my basement for holiday drinking; I am a BIG fan of the Furst Wallerstein Zwickel!

Make sure to check the dates on these beers. They use a best by date with a timeframe of 1 year. My personal 'limit' is 6 months or younger.

Cheers!

 

Fresh(ish) Koenig -- especially from the can -- is IMO a very nice, light, perfumy "Northern" German pils. Bitburger is passable. Haven't found much Jever Stateside that is anything but a shell of itself as found at the source. Was never a fan of either Radeberger or esp. Krombacher.

 

My review of the Polestar from just about a year ago.

My commentary from the "Overall" section of the review:

But I'm picky about German beer styles.

If you want to try a good, very fresh take on a German style Pilsner, try Trumer. Ought to be easy to find in Cali.

 

Agree 100% with your review. I didn't want to totally write off the lack of that good melanoidin, bready malt character because my bottles weren't the freshest. But that's a hard note to hit for most U.S. brewers of the style, so maybe it's just not there even when ultra fresh. Still, a good drinker.

 

The complaints about Polestar's malts are pretty common and I don't disagree. I've heard 'em from other brewers, too. I think it's an acceptable replacement in most situations, but it isn't perfect.
While I haven't had any in a while, I recall Stoudt's having a fantastic pilsner. Penn's Kaiser Pils, too. For that matter, Pikeland's wasn't bad either. PA seems to be German pils central.
Outside of those (and some other regional examples) Trumer and Polestar are probably the only two authentic ones that have large distribution.
FW's Pivo is a fine beer, but I don't think it tastes like any pils I've gotten in Germany.

 

“While I haven't had any in a while, I recall Stoudt's having a fantastic pilsner. Penn's Kaiser Pils, too. For that matter, Pikeland's wasn't bad either. PA seems to be German pils central.”

Chris, in addition to the ones you mentioned above some other high quality packaged PA Pilsners are Troegs Sunshine Pils and Neshaminy Creek Trauger Pils.

Some brewpub available high quality Pilsners:

Victory: Braumeister series of Pilsners (Hallertau Mittelfruh, Saaz, Tettnanger, Sladek, etc.) and Hip Czech Lager (Bo-Pils).

Sly Fox: Charles Bridges Pilsner (Bo-Pils), Standard Pils (unfiltered German Pilsner with Spalt hops), and Keller Pils (unfiltered Pikeland Pils)

Iron Hill: German Pilsner and Czech Pilsner

Triumph: German Pilsner and Czech Pilsner. They also make a very tasty Kellerbier they call Aldstadt Lager.

Etc.

Cheers!

 

Can you get Summit in Colorado? They make a Pilsner that's right in line with most of the Ami Pilsners; good hopping rate, nice malts -- just not big in the German-style breadiness.

 

Not anymore. We used to maybe 4-5 years ago, but they pulled out of the area. Like a lot of breweries that specialize in 6-pack sales, CO just isn't a good casual drinking market. We have something like 100 breweries within an hour of Denver, but most are draft only and they tends to be where most casual/session drinking happens.
Locally, we have a few good ones. Grimm Brothers, Dry Dock, Prost (sometimes...), Platte Park, LowDown, Sandlots/Coors, & Hogshead all have examples on par or better than the Left Hand one.

 

Just saw these on the BA HP

Occidental Brewing with German-style beers in cans

Anyone try these yet?

 

Nice review, and I'll echo @herrburgess's sentiments in that your review is spot on for how I feel about this beer as well. Passable, but not something I actively seek out. Also, the 5.5% abv has always bothered me, as most of my favorite German pils fall in that tight 4.9 - 5.1% range.

That being said, the addition of American 2-row pale malts aren't necessarily a deal breaker for me. As @steveh and I have discussed before, some breweries can use these malts and make some excellent lagers. The best example being Sierra Nevada, who uses American 2-row pale malts in their Summerfest along with Munich and Vienna. They have a way of bringing the best out American pale malts. I know their Summerfest is labeled a Czech pils (probably due to the use of Saaz) but it drinks like a crisp German pils to me. An excellent lager I enjoy more than Polestar.....and at 5% abv too.

 

According to the SN web site they use 2 Row, Pilsner, and Munich.

Or taming what can turn out badly when using them. As I said in my Polestar review, there's a certain graininess that I almost always find in a beer using 2 Row as base. If the brewery works it right (like SN), the 2 Row lets the specialty malts take the spotlight.

 

Here's their web page too: http://www.occidentalbrewing.com/index.html

They had my interest piqued, then I read more...

Have to wonder how different their Dunkel is from their Alt.

 

If they are brewing the dunkel with an ale yeast, you have to wonder if they are also doing the pilsner with the same yeast. I know guys who like to use Altbier/Kölsch yeasts for the described dunkel (simply for practical re-pitching reasons), but they never get quite as clean as a lager yeast IMO.

 

But it has a "hint more flavor complexity"

 

I went to Occidental in July. My wife and I had their Altbier, Kolsch, Dunkel, Pilsner and Maibock. I don't have any notes, but they were all enjoyable. At the time, I thought the Altbier was the most authentic, I have had in the US. But @hopfenunmaltz was there after me and disagreed. Maybe batch to batch variance or I don't know what I'm talking about. Your choice.

 

Dunno if I've asked you this, but have you had Olde Mecklenburg's Copper (Alt)? It is -- and I really don't say such things lightly -- the singlemost accurate/authentic interpretation of ANY German style I have had from a U.S. brewer. I have no idea how they managed to nail it so perfectly.

 

No, I haven't had any of their beers yet. I intend to get there one day.

 

I had their beers at a couple of places in Portland, on was Horse Brass, who know the age of the beers. Next time I will go to the brewery and see if it fresh is better. They are off the streetcar lines, so a bus might get us up there.