Thursday, August 15, 2013

German Pils Tasting

I'll start off by saying that this, my first official lager, turned out great. As long as my cellar and garage temps continue to be low enough I think I will continue to brew one each winter. Now, on to the tasting...

Gartenwasser Pils

Appearance - Clear, pale gold. Thick, foamy white head that persists. Looks like a Pils should.

Aroma - Overall mild aroma. Noble hops and characteristic Pilsner malt "Graham cracker".

Flavor - Moderate bitterness up front that lingers just enough...it's there, but could perhaps use more for the style. SOme non-distinct fruitiness - probably from the New Zealand hops. Although they were of noble variety, these hops were noticably more fuity than their German counterpart. Some more noble notes mid-sip. Overall clean and crisp.

Mouthfeel - Crisp and dry, but not thin. Moderate carbonation. Creamy head.

Overall - Excellent beer. Perhaps on the milder side of the style. In fact, a German friend compared it to Warsteiner and said she prefers her Pils more "herber" (she said this is German for "dry/harsh/bitter"). It is well balanced, but, for this style, it could definitely be more bitter. I think it is also a bit fruitier than most traditional Pils thanks to my hop selection. Regardless, it is perfect after mowing the lawn on hot summer day!

5 comments:

www.beerfridgedirect.com said...

Thats a very very good looking Pilsner. I'm not huge on lager but that looks so refreshing I want one now

HolzBrew said...

Great photos. This brew looks fantastic.

Jim Lemire said...

I have to admit, this beer turned out pretty damn good. It doesn't hurt that it also looked great - a couple months in the fridge and a beautiful day will do that. Actually, one of the reasons I get somewhat delinquent posting tasting notes of my brews here is that I want to make sure I have a nice photo.

I didn't used to care for lagers either...until I learned that "lager" was not equal to "Budweiser" or "Coors". Some spectacular lagers out there...too bad I don't have any real temperature control...otherwise I'd brew more of them.

Unknown said...

This sounds like a great beer. How cold does your cellar get in the Winter. I don't think mine gets much below 60.

Jim Lemire said...

Brian - I'm lucky in that I had three different areas for this beer. My garage, cellar and "mudroom" (adjoins the garage to the cellar). My garage gets cold - in the 30s and 40s depending on the day. The mudroom is in the lower 50s and the cellar is in the upper 50s to lower 60s. For this beer I started it in the mudroom, moved it to the cellar, then finished/lagered it in the garage. It worked great, but unseasonably warm weather would have complicated things.

If you can't get the beer below 60, you might try using a steam beer yeast like White Lab's San Fransisco lager strain - it will produce lager-like characteristics at higher temps.

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