Could This be the BEST Pilsner in America?
Written: Mar 30 '00 (Updated Apr 02 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Big hop aroma and flavor
Cons: Limited distribution area
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Rothaus Tannenzapfle Pils |
Every beer has its time and place, and while I normally favor dark or heavy-bodied beers, there are always days when the beer that's absolutely right for the occasion is a well-made pilsner. Fortunately for Baltimore denizens, DeGroen's Pilsner is one of the top pilsners available anywhere. Sharply hoppy but smooth, it's a classic.
Style Notes:
If there's one beer style that everyone probably recognizes, it's pilsner. To varying degrees, all of the top-selling brands in most of the world are offshoots of the pilsner style. In it's classic form, pilsner is a very light yellow colored lager beer, brilliantly clear, with a very assertive hop aroma and flavor. The world-class model for the style is the Czech brand, Pilsner Urquell, although regional and brand variations are more common than the cold. This is an average bodied beer (12 Plato) with average alcohol levels (4.8 to 5%).
Sample Conditions:
I love this beer and have enjoyed it hundreds of times! Mostly on draft at the brewery. The beer is also served in pubs everywhere around Baltimore, and is sometimes available in half-gallon jugs (called growlers).
Evaluation:
Appearance: Light golden color that will probably seem a little darker than you're used to if you usually drink standard U.S. industrial beers. Probably about a 2 on the SRM scale. Very slight haze, but generally quite clear. Huge, dense, rocky white head that lasts and lasts, leaving a beautiful trail of Belgian lace down the side of the glass.
Aroma: Sharp, pungent aroma of noble hops, comes across to me as mostly spicy, like a fresh ground black pepper. Quite assertive, although you do get a little bit of soft biscuit-like notes from the underlying malt.
Flavor: Predominantly a deep-seated hop bitterness, but with a soft malt body carrying some sweetness though little complexity. The bitter hop flavors hang at the back of your tongue long after the last swallow is down the hatch. Balance was decidedly hoppy, and very clean, with no noticeable defects.
Brewery Notes:
Baltimore Brewing Company has now passed a decade of operation at its beautiful brick brewpub at the corner of Pratt and President in downtown Baltimore. Baltimore Brewing is different from many other U.S. startup micros in that it wasn't started by beer enthusiasts who became brewers, but rather by someone who was bred to brew. The brewmaster -- a real gentleman named Theo DeGroen -- was educated at the prestigous Weihenstephan institute in Munich (the place where Germany's top brewmasters have been educated for some 600 years). Originally from the Netherlands, DeGroen comes from a family brewers.
Beers are made using traditional German practices and ingredients. Most of the malts and hops used at the brewery are imported from Germany.
The brewery itself is surprisingly large and modern, despite the impression you might get when you first walk in, that the brewing takes place right behind the bar. While those gleaming copper kettles are real, much of the brewing work takes place in the cavernous fermentation and lagering rooms in back. Rows and rows of refrigerated stainless steel tanks bear witness to the intensive equipment needs of a lager craft brewery.
Overall Impression:
DeGroen's Pilsner is an oustanding beer -- perfectly crafted and utterly delicious. Balance is spot-on with the emphasis tilting decidedly towards the earthy, spicy hops flavor that you typically get from Noble hops. In terms of comparing it to the world's best examples of the style, DeGroen's stands tall and proud. While it's probably a bit softer than Urquell, it comes very close to some of the top pilsners that you find in Bavaria. An excellent beer!
Recommended:
Yes
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