Am I alone on Pilsners?

Living in south Florida with brutal summer humidity for me nothing I'd rather have to beat the heat when I'm floating in my pool than a crisp prima pils.

 

There are just not enough great pilsners and mediocre ones aren't to my liking...

 

Pilsners are one of my favorite styles. I Homebrew at least 3 a year to enjoy in the summer. Freshness is key, so many of the imports suffer from being old, just like IPAs will suffer from being old.

I have talked to some highly regarded Brewers over the years, and guess what beer they select for their shift beer? A Pilsner.

 

Far from being alone. I like them I love them I want more of them.

 

It's amazing how different great beers can be within what most would consider a simple style. OMB truck says water, malt, hops, yeast that's it. You take Sunshine Pils, and say Olde Mecklenburg Pils and they are completely different and both completely awesome. The Sunshine shows off more hops, the OMB more bready malty hits, light hops. I don't suppose at all it's a simple style to do well, there's no way to hide a flaw even if minor. Mediocre is out there , he'll any Bmc brew fits that description.

 

I feel your pain, IMO there's only three here that are dependably fresh and would qualify as great. Sunshine Pils, Prima Pils, and OMB Pils. Luckily 3 is enough to live on, I rotate them.

 

I usually do not buy pilsners, or choose them when they are on tap, but I have been to a couple Vermont breweries lately and tried their offerings. Hill Farmstead's German style pilsner Mary was very impressive. German hops and toasty malts. Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe makes only European style lagers. There pilsner did not disappoint as well.

Also have noticed a good amount of heavily hopped pilsners on the market recently. I like Ol' Factory from Two Roads in CT and Peak Fresh Cut is a Czech style pilsner that is a great warm weather beer IMO.

 

You're certainly not alone, but I'm not fully on the Pilsner bandwagon.

 

How does one get a hold of said glassware? I'm not above asking for any spare samples you may have floating around.....

 

Yes, I am a huge Helles fan and it seems like after about 2013, they just up and disappeared from shelves in my area, which is very disappointing. not sure about their presence in other areas of the country.

 

I wasn't overly excited about Pilsner Urquell until I went on vacation to Prague. After having it fresh there, I honestly wanted to drink it a breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.

 

Pretty much the same here in N. Illinois, but I see the explosion of craft beer taking up shelf space as a big part of the cause. Imports in my area used to be plentiful and now I feel like I'm hunting for them.

 

Nothin' wrong with a good Pilsner. Especially when I'm trying to hydrate before a night of drinking.

 

We drink a ton of Helles too!

 

As you can see from this thread, many of us don't like overhopped beers, particularly those that traditionally don't have a heavy hop profile. Prima Pils may appeal to BA hopheads, but it kind of misses the point of the style. I much prefer many of Victory's Braumeister pilsner series.

 

Does a high quality, gourmet, ground round burger also remind you of a McDonalds cheeseburger so much that you can't enjoy one?

 

When are we going to see the promised Victory Helles in N. Illinois? Have there been production problems?

 

True enough, but I was aiming my response at someone who says he doesn't like pilsners. I'm thinking a more hopped version might act as a gateway. It may have been a bit presumptuous, however. Maybe he likes barrel aged styles or brown ales or something. I generally assume a BA who doesn't like pilsners is probably a hophead.

 

There are some great pilsners out there, but I have to admit that no matter how good when I take that first sip one thought always enters my mind. "Budweiser."

 

Good thread, OP! I love Czechvar (Budvar) and a good local pils brewed in my home city of SLC (Bohemian Czech pils).

For all the talk about lagers/pils being underrepresented, we sure are expressing our love (whether it's love of the style or love for the sake of talking about it) for a good pils! I am not sure if they are so underrepresented in the beer world. They are made just about everywhere (AALs included) and consumed by billions of people around the world. Perhaps they are just a solid beer we can all agree are simple, crisp, tasty, and approachable. They can be consumed any time of year (IMO), and are easily quaffable in any social event. I echo some of the other BAs thoughts about quality micro lager/pilsners that are better than many macro lager/pils. But, there are a few really good international pils that remain consistently solid year round. I say we should all grab a good pils, head outside, and enjoy our approaching summer!