Pilsners and such

Um...
http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...aise-ratings-from-the-craft-community.377630/

 

Sierra Nevada has some good lagers and pils going anytime I'm looking to drink some of those I grab them.

 

Agreed 100 percent on pilsners - though I'm not the biggest fan of helles.

SN's Nooner Pils is a nice year-round pils - definitely check it out. If you can get your hands on them, Victory's Prima Pils and Half Acre's Pony Pils are excellent examples as well.

 

If you check out the recent thread @steveh just posted, you will see that there is a dedicated core of BAs who are lager lovers.

I also want to add the obligatory comment that BAs are not representative of craft drinkers as a whole, a prime example being the popularity of Sam Adam's Boston Lager, a hugely popular beer with little BA "buzz".

Personally, I am a lager lover, but I have a love for any low to medium gravity style where balance is the hallmark of the style, whether its a lager or English or American style ale. I am much more impressed by a balanced beer with seamless flavor combinations and drinkability over a hop bomb or bourbon barreled whatever (eg Pilsner Urquell impresses me more than Zombie Dust or KBS). I'm not saying I dislike hop bombs or any other strongly flavored beer, I'm just not as impressed by them. Part of this I chalk up to my appreciation for drinkability. To me beer is to be consumed two or three at a time, not one. Another aspect of this is the homebrewer in me, who finds it easy to make a great IPA or imperial stout, but has never made a pilsner as good as Pilsner Urquell, or a hefeweizen as good as Weihenstephaner, etc. etc., no matter how often or hard I've tried.

 

Pilsner is the worst style of beer.

 

Nooner Pils is the best domestic pils, excepting Summerfest, I've experienced to date. Not saying there isn't better out there, it's just the best of what I've experienced.

 

The vast majority beer consumed in the world is some form of pilsner. Most are bastardized a bit, but they at least have pilsner in their roots.

 

Had a Victory Prima Pils a while back and thought it was excellent

 

Wish there were more craft Cream Ales being made.

 

I don't really like to pimp my own beers online, but this is by far the beer that I am the most proud of brewing at Blue Pants. It is a Pilsener with most of the hops (Mittlefreu and Hallertauer Gold) added in the whirlpool. We just started kegging the first batch and will be bottling next week.

 

Filtered or did it drop in lagering?

 

I think they get a little less love because Pilsners arent necessarily the canvas to get really creative with flavors.

that said, there are some mighty fine ones out there that hit the spot on a hot summer day. Buoy Czech Style Pils is fantastic.

 

We go through a coarse filter (7 micron) just to polish what doesn't fall out during lagering. This batch, the filter didn't have much work to do. I actually couldn't see a difference between pre- and post-filtration.

 

100% agree with you

 

Get your hands on some Pivo Pils or Troegs Sunshine Pils one of these days; they're a notch above.

 

Not so much underrated as under appreciated. Any brewery taking the time to make these styles (not enough) are doing a damn fine job, and the reviews/ratings reflect this. I feel craft lagers and pils are caught in the middle, no love from the AAL crowd, and ignored by the new/popular craft drinkers, and it's a shame. What used to be staples are now niches.

 

I agree. I would add Trumer to this as well.

 

Weedy, what is your lagering process? How long? At what temperature?

Cheers!

 

I may have to come up with an excuse to go to Chicago or Cincinnati when the time is right.