Your opinion, pretty much mirrors mine 100%. If I had had this blind, I would have assumed that it was someone’s “Italian Pilsner“ with all the hop aroma. I hope more people in the general public share our opinion and buy this, so it does not go the way of Dankful which was another Sierra Nevada beer I really liked but ended up sitting on the shelves for months on end before being discontinued. I also don’t understand the big deal over the can size, like others have said, it’s pretty easy to open and pour two of these into a glass, it’s not like uncorking a wine bottle or opening a waxed barley wine, and it’s nice to have something smaller sometimes. But if the 8 ounce can is a make or break issue for most people, I wish they would go ahead and put it in a 12 ounce container.
It probably depends on your purchasing habits. If most of your beer consumption consists of 4 packs or 6 packs at home, then I agree with you. The current SN pils can size format is no big deal, especially given the price point. However... Personally, most of my beer consumption is on draft at taphouses/beer bars. I do bring home cans on occasion, but I like to mix things up when I do. So if I do bring home 4 or 5 cans, it'll usually include a couple ipa's, a pils or two, and something else that looks interesting. I could certainly bring home several cans of SN pils as well, but so far I haven't seen any individual cans for sale. I expect the can size is the stumbling block, as merchants aren't sure how to price it or where to display it. The other problem with SN pils is that it isn't a local product. I'm a fan of SN generally, but since moving to the PNW I hardly ever buy their beer. I prefer to buy local products, and there's simply nothing SN makes that isn't made just as well (if not better) by local breweries. All that aside, I'd likely still buy it from time to time on tap if I could find it. However, since it's release a few months back I haven't seen it around town anymore. I'm not exactly sure why that is... I can't imagine kegs are unduly expensive and everyone knows SN makes good quality products. Lagers generally are also very popular right now. The only thing that comes to mind is that taphouses would prefer to sell locally produced versions. We do have quite a few high quality lager breweries up here, and so I expect it may be tough for the SN pils to find a toehold in the current market.
My frustration is that SN Pils is distributed to Phoenix, but not Tucson. WTF? I was able to buy an 8 pack when I was in SLC Utah and I did enjoy it, but sadly, no Pils for me!
I picked up my second 8 pack today. My wife loves them, and I think it's a pretty solid pilsner for the price. Though like others have said, I do find myself pouring 2 at a time -- they're so light and drinkable that it really doesn't take long at all to get through the 8.4oz.
Is that four 8 packs? That seems like a pretty good price, it would be 40 bucks for 4 individual 8 packs on sale here.What part of Ca are you in?
Well, I realize that it might not be a common convention at some sorts of retailers in some states, but all packaged beer is or, upon request, can be sold by the case. Many retailers (again, sometimes depending on state or retailer) sell cases at a discount compared to the price they charge for 4-sixpacks (or, 6- 4pks, 3-8pks, etc). The weight and size of these would make them a physically easy customer purchase. That price tag, I assume, is for the beer shelved underneath it, since it clearly (well, actually a bit blurrily) says "Heineken".
You got me, I didn’t zoom in on the price tag, I just figured it went with the beer in question. Will supermarkets in your area give you a discount on buying four sixers, or is that just something that liquor stores do? I used to ask about case prices and they would just tell me four times the six pack amount, so I gave up on it. Of course the shitty beers seem to mostly be sold in the huge boxes of 24+ at grocery stores.
Very few grocery stores are licensed in New Jersey (it's up to the municipality to allow it and few do), although a number of chain grocery stores have separate liquor stores (sometimes owned by other entities which lease the grocery name as a 'dba' ). Some of those do discount cases, others don't. I recall finding cases of Nugget Nectar freshly delivered at a Wegmans Fine Wines & Liquors one day. Took it to the register only to find - no case discount. Returned it to the floor, drove a few miles down the highway and saved 2 or 3 bucks when I bought a case at a ShopRite Liquors.
Finally got a pack of these. I have to admit I don't love it. It reminds me a lot of Pfriem Pils, which is a little "green" for my tastes. It almost hits like an IPL up-front, but with way less bitterness on the back side. If I had to guess, it's the saphir hops doing that. To me, that's not what I want from a pilsner. I want a hop note that's less aggressively woodsy.
I like it more, but it isn't my favorite, either. To me, the hops in that one are less green/wet and less pungent. I know it's also dry hopped, so maybe that's actually dialing those notes back? I dunno.
Conventional wisdom would be that dry hopping would accentuate things vs. "dialing those notes back". Below is the flavor graphic that Firestone Walker presents for Pivo Pils on their website. Take note that for the flavor aspect they list as "Raw Hop (Myrcene)" is quite pronounced. From the internet: "Myrcene contributes a resinous, herbaceous, and green "hoppy" flavor and aroma to beer...". From my tasting the "green" aspect is much lesser in Sierra Nevada Pils as compared to Pivo Pils but that is my palate. We all have our own unique palates/preferences. Cheers!
I think we taste it just about the same, I would use the terms earthy and herbal instead of green and woodsy, but I think we’re on the same page. Those are probably my favorite beer flavors, so that’s where we differ.
I enjoyed one yesterday and I got a bunch of lemon on the palate. I made peace with SNPILS when I understood that it was a US/Germany hybrid. I get a lot of lemon in Summerfest too.
A few years ago in a NBW thread I discussed Lawson's Scrag Mountain Pils and I picked up some lemon in that beer: "Aroma: A vibrant and pleasing combination of bready malt & herbal/spicy and even a hint of lemon hop aromas." https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-756.621270/#post-6599777 Cheers!
Only way I could try this was (finally) on tap yesterday at one of our downtown restaurants. It's a unique, citrusy/hoppy pils that's certainly good but not your usual pils. But is it worth $10 (after a $1.20 tip) for a 12oz. pour? Once. Not twice.
I was able to try PILS over the weekend, and similar to you, I picked up a nice amount of lemon as well. "Punchy" came to mind. I enjoyed the beer.
I also was not the biggest fan. I was getting a lot of berry and some black currant character which didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the beer. I tried it again a week later, hoping it might have been a palate issue, but I got the same flavor results. At least they shipped something that wasn't another "little thing" beer.
