The great pilsner conundrum

It's all fair game to me - local, regional, national, import. The ones that I'll stick with are the ones that work best on the price/quality/freshness scale. And for $5 a can those other two qualities better damn well make up for it.

 

Just my 2¢ but I think there's always that part of your brain that equates pilsners and lagers to Miller Lite and whatever other piss water beer our grandfathers swilled on hot summer days. Personally, I find the style refreshing but Im guilty of thinking to myself that $5 for a 12oz can of pilsner is nuts when I can get a 40 of Coors for about the same. I will say, however, you are always better off not opting for the can-o-piss.

 

Given a choice between a 6 month old imported Pils and a quality locally brewed Pils that is a month old I'll take the quality local every time.

But then I've never seen any Victory Prima Pils, Troegs' Sunshine Pils, Neshaminy Creek Trauger Pils, Sly Fox Pikeland Pils or Stoudt's Pils going even as high as $4.00 per can/bottle when purchased as a single. I enjoy Pils beers enough that the minimum package size I buy (of those I know) is a 6 pack where the price is no where near as high as $4.00 per can/bottle in a bottle shop. (Not to mention buying 12 packs or full cases where the price per bottle is even lower.)

BTW, and FYI, while some of those breweries you mention may be as much as 500 years old or more (i.e., having a brewery of some kind on site for that long), there are no breweries that have been brewing Pilseners anywhere near that long. Also some of the US based brewers of Pils beers were trained in Germany and have all the benefits of having learned to brew a Pils beer at the same time and place as some of those folks now brewing at certain German breweries.

 

Pretty much agree with what your are saying. I wouldn't want to turn this into another thread that whines about how overpriced craft beer has become, but if you can get reasonably fresh Weihenstephaner, that's a no-brainer. For 4 bucks a can, it had better be something that blows me away or I can't get anywhere else.

 

No, it's certainly not a coincidence that Pennsylvania is home to such great lager breweries. We have a embarrassment of riches here.

Just drink more unsexy beer, man. It's OK. Everything that you drink doesn't need to be local craft beer if you can find a great beer that you enjoy that doesn't cost you > $0.25 per oz.

 

Interesting, I never thought of it this way. That is very true that you can get a 4pk or 6er of authentic imported German/Czech pilsners for a much cheaper price than some smaller local breweries. For me personally though I like to try different beers and only buy packs when there is no option, if I need a lot of that specific beer, or if it's a limited one time or once a year release that won't be back anytime soon. Thinking about it this way I realize that I could've got a 6pk of a European pils for cheaper than 2 cans of some that I've tried from smaller craft breweries around here. One that I really liked was Finback's How Soon is Meow? pilsner brewed with rice and dry hopped with Hallertau Blanc that cost around $4.50/can. Part of me doesn't mind it because since I have a pretty large cellar I don't need to get 4 or 6 beers that can't age well, so the extra cash or same amount spent on less goes toward the uniqueness and creativity of the beer. I don't want to pay $5/can of a Pilsner Urquell clone, but if it is something really different and nice then I'd grab one or two. There are some other local pils here in the $3.50 - $4 range per pint, maybe some higher too. It's definitely not as good of a deal, and if the beer tastes just like a regular imported pilsner then I don't really want to pay that. I guess I don't mind paying for the innovation, creativity and the unique brewer's product. I definitely don't want to spend $20 on a 4pk of pint cans, but $3 a bottle seems in line with some other Euro imports and local beers that may not even be as good, despite the style. Like you mention, breweries like Jack's Abby and Zero Gravity that can make that style and make it affordable are the ones doing it right around here, even if they may be a little more generic and less interesting. Good point on the perfected old recipe too. I guess sometimes my curiosity and willingness to try new beers gets the best of me, and my wallet. I still usually only buy singles though, and don't want to pay more than $15 for a pack of pilsner, whether it be 4pk pints or 6pk 12oz.

 

Palatine Pils from Suarez is the best Pils I have tasted, and great to note that it is just one of three Pils Dan makes. They are canned now, not sure the price due to I always get growlers. The growlers are 7.00 for a 750 fill, and I will pay that every day without complaint.

Von Trapp is also an exceptional Pilsner, in bottles for 10.00 a six, and that too is a price I have zero complaints about.

Sure I can save a few $$ by getting Bitburger or Warsteiner, but the better freshness and quality of the ones I mention make it more than worthwhile to spend the extra few dollars.

 

I find that once you get to the point that every beer that you drink doesn't need to be a new beer, a beer that you know is solid will do just fine. Example? Was really in the mood for a Pils last weekend, so I bought a beer that I knew was awesome, Prima Pils, and proceeded to crush a 12 pack of it. Happy day.

 

Yeah, I love a well made Pilsner too but rarely buy packaged stuff, besides the occasional SN, Left Hand and other regional breweries because their quality to price is usually good.

From a raw materials standpoint it seems like it should be cheaper. But from a fermentation time you are holding up a fermenter for as long as it takes to pump out two IPAs (which probably sell better too). So they are actually pretty expensive to make because time is money.

There is an exception in Denver called Bierstadt Lagerhaus and they are making world class tradional lagers and the best part is they sell crowlers for $5-6!!

 

This is true too, the only problem right now is I have too many new beers on hand to stop drinking new beers all the time. Usually the only beer I buy in packs or over and over again are the tried and true ones that get released often. Hopefully one day I'll get to the point where I don't have any pilsners on hand and I can go to the store, buy a 6 pack, and drink it over the next few days...

 

Understood.

But your OP and comments suggest that part of your conundrum is related to the difference between per bottle/can purchase as a single and purchase of 4 or 6 pack. The latter will almost always be priced per bottle/can lower than a single.

Also notice you were comparing small, locally brewed beers with prices of large brewery internationally distributed beers.

 

I understand exactly what the OP is saying insofar as I have (grudgingly) become accustomed to paying $3-4 a can for locally made D/IPAs but I tend to balk at doing so for lagers. Part of that is perhaps irrational but part of it is also that the local D/IPAs I buy offer a taste profile that isn't very available at lower price points (though you can bet I jump on them when I see them. Born Yesterday was the only IPA I drank for about a month last year. And we have a great local brewery (Fort Hill) that is carving out a niche as a low priced option).

Rather than seeking out imported pilsners though I generally go with the regional/national/larger-local breweries which thankfully are fairly plentiful around here and priced reasonably. I'll grab an import on occasion, but they're not that cheap around here and freshness can be an issue.

 

Depending upon how long you're lagering, it might be quite a bit longer than that.

Awesome feature on them from the BA magazine. Never had their beers, but love their philosophy of brewing.

 

Why would you wait so long?

 

Assuming it all can't get drunk at once of course. Maybe 2 days...

 

There's always an excuse from the hot breweries putting out $16-$20+ a 4-pack of cans. Expensive IPAs? The hops cost so much! Expensive lagers? They take so long to make!

Sorry, but I'll stick with the imports (when I can get them fresh enough) and, more likely, the solid regionals.