Pilsners!

In Austria they call it a Maerzen, it isn't a Muenchener helles or an Oktoberfest.

 

I know I might get some flak on this site for praising Rogue, but I tried their Good Chit Pilsner tonight and it's probably my favorite American-brewed pilsner I've tried

 

I've only heard about getting Tannenzäpfle overseas (I so want dat!)

I really dug Rogues Good Chit Pilsner also... For German I dig Konig

 

The best I've ever tasted was New Glarus Unplugged Bohemian Lager - it blew me away, even back during my heady "MUST HAVE DIPAS AND NOTHING ELSE!!!" phase of beer geekdom.

Now that I'm more interested in trying all the subtler styles, I'm a huge fan of my local brewery's Elm City Pilsner (known until very recently - and still known on the current run of pre-printed cans - as Elm City Lager). It's a really terrific German-style Pils, hoppy enough to be interesting and balanced enough to go down incredibly smoothly. I always make a point to pick up some fresh cans whenever it's being packaged in the warmer months.

 

Sam Adams Noble Pils is by far my favorite. Herre in St. Louis Schlafly brews a nice Pilsner too. Cheers!

 

There's a place called King Brewery about an hour south of where I live that specializes in lager brewing, their Pilsner is excellent IMO. Tastes like it's modeled after Urquell, but with the benefit of being fresher and unpasteurized.

 

Anyone who feels that beer is a passion in their lives owes it to themselves to travel to the sources.

There's nothing like an ESB at the Fuller Brewery (preferably with a stilton and chutney on brown bread), a Guinness draught at the Brazen Head, a Helles among your 100 closest friends at Augustiner Salzburg, a Blonde Bock at the Forschüngsbräuerei outside Munich, or a rich and malty Dunkel at the Hofbräu Keller Biergarten. I'll get back to them all... some day.

 

Sadly (for a lot of reasons), I was passing along some misinformation. I e-mailed Rothaus about this and got an answer today - it is in fact not available in the US. They cite three reasons: (1) while they are growing and expanding, they can't meet demand in the American market at this time, (2) they fear their unpasteurized beer would suffer a significant drop-off in quality with oversees shipment, and (3) they re-use their bottles and would never get their bottles back if they shipped them off to the US. So that said...

FT: Rothaus; ISO: Something to help me with my memory...

 

Those of us who were around during the muscle car era know that the two big Chrysler engines were the 426 cu. in. hemi V8 and the 440 cu. in. V8, which wasn't a hemi engine. I'm with you on the idea of imperial pilsners - they're definitely frankenstein beers.

 

I must be getting old/bad cans...I've bought sixers on two separate occasions and they've been very cider-y tasting and kinda gushy.

 

I agree with all but the idea of having a bland, boring, Guinness at the touristy Brazen Head. There's always tourist busses unloading their hordes out front and those large groups ruin whatever atmosphere the pub may have once had. Give me a craft oyster stout at the Porter House brewpub in Dublin any day!

 

Man -- pretty cynical. The times I went I was hanging out with locals -- no buses. Maybe things have changed, don't know, but having a good beer (yes, it's perception), maybe a nice whiskey, at a centuries (centuries) old tavern is still a cultural change from the local sports bar.

Yeah, I was there too (drinking the same thing), but you missed the point of my list -- more traditional than new age. The Porter House is a great place, but not exactly what I'd call a true Irish Pub. And Temple Bar? You want to avoid tourists?

How about we settle on a pint at Mulligan's?

 

I'll beg to differ. Prima Pils is very highly regarded and I've seen plenty of beer critics say it's the best American Pils made and possibly the best Pils made period. To say it can't touch the Germans is wrong. I love a good German Pils, but Prima is absolutely right up there with them, if not surpassing many of them.

 

How many German pilseners have you had and what was their freshness level? Unfortunately for American tasters there are a slew of problems regarding the judgment of these beers. I have had about 168 different pilseners at all different locations and freshness levels and Prima pils is not near the top, it is a good pilsener for an American attempt but just being able to go to any tiny little brewery in Germany and have a pilsener that is better than Prima is an easy task that pretty much debunks the prima pils being "the best pilsener in the world" myth. Of course it is all about peoples taste buds and personal experience but I guarantee you most of the people who claim Prima is the best have never been to Germany. And the brewers of it know this, it is aggressively hopped to cater to American taste buds. And I am a hop head but I realize that there is a proper way to use noble hops and a proper way to brew the pilsener, the German brewers have tradition and foolproof recipes on their side. Prima pils was likely an experimentation that didn't get nearly the R&D of a German made pilsener. You also have to want to like a pilsener, many American tasters end up liking the hops in Prima and not giving a flying fuck about any other pilsener or the experience ever again.

 

The thing with imperial pilseners is that in some cases the brewer isn't looking to make a pilsener even. They shoudl almost not even call it an imperial pilsener. The one from lakefront just tastes like an IPA. And it is good, but I don't think they were trying to fool anyone into thinking it was supposed to be a pils just stronger.

 

I've had a few, I was in Germany once years ago. Granted it's been a few years, so I'm only dealing with memory, but I can distinctly remember great pils' and I can distinctly remember not so good pils'. To blindly say that Prima is not nearly as good as any pils made in Germany is flat out not an accurate statement.

I get it, you love German pils and you are defending them to death. That's cool, but while doing that you are dissing anything made in the USA and that's just flat out wrong.

There are a ton of garbage pils' made in the US, no doubt, but there are also some very good/great ones.

 

Speaking of pils.. Switching gears, Heavy Seas and Devil's Backbone are doing a collaboration and making a black pilsner..

 

Yeah, I won't dispute that Elm City doesn't always hold up well with age. I pretty much only buy it fresh off the canning line, or from one or two stores that I know have high turnover. Within those first two or three weeks, though...

 

im not saying that there aren't bad pilseners in Germany, I have had plenty of mediocre ones, but in general, especially if you are in Franconia it is hard to go to a brewery and not get a solid example. And I am not dissing anything made in the USA this is your problem you are just thinking that I am blindly hating on the US, quite honestly I like more US beers than German ones. I am just using my experience and a sound generalization (that there are more examples in germany and they have time tested recipies and arent afraid of R&D and that most if not 99.5% of American brewers lack these two elements, among other elements in pilsener producing) to make my argument. If you do a taste testing with 25 german pilseners and 25 american pilseners you will notice a large difference, I guarantee it.

 

Sounds pretty clear to me you were hating on US pilsners: