Pilsner Hate

Pilsner isn't extreme enough. It's not aged for twenty years wth maple syrup and coconut fiber, and it doesn't taste like pineapple juice and barely contain the properties of a liquid. Consider yourself lucky. People who spell whale with a z are not fun to be around and don't tip worth shit. Ha Kanye Twitty, I get it.

 

Sounds like a bunch of elitist asshats to me.

 

It may be a style that has kind of a low ceiling for creativity. They are sort of more simple by definition than other beers. I don’t think that they’re is anything wrong with that though. It’s like a classic cheeseburger. It’s not going to be as highly rated as something with cream cheese and truffle shavings, but it’s still good. I think this also brings up the issue of people rating styles that they don’t like. I cringe a bit when I see a post along the lines of, “This is an awful lager like every other lager stop making lagers they are bad.”

 

If you like hops - all hops, not just juice - then you should like a good German (especially northern) or American craft pilsner.
Seems simple to me.

 

It could just be that some people like pilsners, and some don't.

Not every "foodie" loves German food...but it doesn't make them an idiot who knows nothing about food.

It's OK to love pilsners, but understand that a lot of beer drinkers prefer English-derived styles...or Belgian-derived "wild" ales...or sahtis or whatever.

The idea that if you love beer you have to love ALL TYPES of beer is unnecessary to me. No one should just shit on beer styles they don't like, certainly, but claiming that people who greatly prefer the currently trendy styles of beer aren't REAL BEER LOVERS is gatekeeper bullshit. In my opinion, anyway.

 

There’s a difference between loving a style and calling it a shit beer. I don’t like sours, that’s just a personal preference, but I’d never call them a shit beer. Calling an innocuous beer style like lagers a shit beer I find curious. Light fizzy, a bit watery, generic, I get compared to other styles. My favorite beers are big DIPAs, I much prefer them to a more bitter IPA, but I can certainly appreciate a great Pils as well. I like Braggots, I like BA stouts like most. There’s preferences of course, but it’s tough to call a beer a shit beer because you don’t like the style. You just don’t like the style, and that’s ok, but to hate on Miller Lite is strange because it certainly doesn't offend in any way.

 

The Pilsner style does seem to lie simultaneously on each end of a spectrum. The idea that it’s simply approachable and easy on the palate appeals to one side of the spectrum that may not care what a beer tastes like as long as its drinkability is high.
Then there’s the other side of fine-tuned and tenured palates that can fully appreciate a well-crafted Pilsner when they taste one. I know that there are exceptions in the middle, the “new wave” of craft drinkers (considering myself one) who get hyped and genuinely excited about a good Pilsner, but those people seem few and far between.

The style doesn’t seem to consistently land in between the two sides since it’s so simple and based off of balance. The majority of American palates weren’t built to appreciate subtlety, balance, or restraint. Although I think most people get there at some point in terms of beer.

 

Can't beat a good Pilsner. When restricted to it though (recent ski holidays in Austria), it gets tiresome very quick, in a way that ales and stouts don't.

 

When I started drinking good beer, there wasn't a 7% beer or greater that I didn't try. Stouts, IPA, IIPA, IIIPA bigger the better. I probably drank a handful of pilsners the first couple of years. A few years ago I started to appreciate the style more. I went to Wroclaw Poland for work and there was a restaurant that pretty much only sold pork schnitzel and Pilsner Urquell (I ate there 4 or 5 times). I became hooked then and had several other pilsners over there that you can't get here. Now it is my go to beer when out. It is easy going, pairs well with food and sessionable. I was literally pissed off tonite when I went to world of beer for their schnitzel and a pint of PU and they were out of PU. Everything else on the tap list was pretty much 6.8% and above, but was saved when I found out they had Scrimshaw in the cooler.

 

Frontrunners from all over the USA, including NE PA!

 

I wouldn't say Boston Lager is representative of a Pilsner, but what's wrong with Boston Lager otherwise?

Holy crap, Summerfest is out already? I'm not complaining, I love that beer, but damn.

I guess it shouldn't be surprising, their Oktoberfest has come out as early as July in recent years, so it makes sense.

I'm not a chef by any stretch, but is German food particularly hard to make? (I have no idea) I think many consider a well crafted Pilsner an art of sort.

Would a "foodie" look down upon a burger with fried mac n' cheese, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, french fries, bacon, and american cheese ON it, covered in golden BBQ sauce? (this is a real burger by the way)

I think people see the trendy styles as over the top, with excessive flavor. As opposed to something "artfully crafted" and well balanced like a naked Pilsner, with nothing added.

Not saying I entirely agree or disagree with these viewpoints, but I can sympathize with them.

 

You wouldn't, I wouldn't but you know who would?

 

I've always enjoyed pilsners and other similar light, crisp beers. But it's not until I homebrewed a Kölsch for the first time that it really "clicked" for me. Once you smell freshly cracked pils malt mashing away like that, it's impossible to hate a beer that embodies those aromas and flavors.

 

That's when it's nice to mix in a Dark Lager

 

I've never see those quotations before, thanks for those. It's really interesting he modeled Boston Lager after PU.

I wonder how history would have went with Boston Lager if it actually resembled Pilsner Urquell...would people have liked it more or less?

Pils malt is my favorite flavor in beer. The first time you taste it in a beer that truly brings out the depth of its flavor, you'll forever be in love with it.

 

To show how palates differ, mine is 180° from yours. I can drink a good Helles all day (and have in Bavaria), but a Stout will weigh heavily on me after a couple.

Look up a YouTube Video on Rouladen. The upside is that you get a huge sense of accomplishment when you're enjoying dinner (much as you do when your Pilsner turns out great).

 

Agreed, the roasted bitterness from a stout really gets to me after awhile. With the exception of a Dry Irish Stout.

I mean, a pale Oktoberfest is basically a stronger version of a Helles. And that's just about the most sessionable beer on earth for a three week period in the fall.

 

@Hoppsbabo Or German Pils (the Czech variety can weigh on my palate).

 

I don't drink macro because I don't want to, but have no problem putting away a few bud lights (even bud light lime during really hot summer days). Might just be me, but my god, Miller Lite is such shit beer. I don't begrudge anyone for drinking it, but I just cannot stand anything about it.

 

I can certainly understand not liking a specific beer within a grouping, I don’t really like Bud Light. My response was in general to classifying all Macros as shit beers as an example. There’s beers within all styles that for whatever reason I don’t care for, but it doesn’t damn the style.