Contemplating the Pilsner
New York Times’ wine critic, Eric Asimov, offers a very good contemplation on the pilsner style of lager beer. Using the new Yankee Stadium’s (boo Yankees! Yay! Red Sox! – just had to say) poor selection of beer (yet another boo Yankees point) as a starter, Asimov goes into a discussion about why quality pilsners should be the beer of choice for a baseball game. He then provides critiques of a number of said quality pilsners.
The article really makes me want to go try a couple of the listed pilsners (especially the Victory Prima Pils because I really like Victory’s beers). The truth be told, in recent years I have not drank very many pilsners or, in fact, lagers in general. Definitely been more of an ale type of guy. The one lager that I drink pretty regularly is Sam Adam’s Boston Lager (yay Boston again!), but besides that I can’t think of very many others. I feel like I need to get around to trying some more lager style beers, including the pilsners. Someday, assuming I live in a place with adequate conditions, I may even want to try and brew my own lager beers (they tend to be a bit more difficult than ales). For now I will keep my eyes open for any good sounding pils and make sure to give them a try.
Have you tried the Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils yet? It’s downstairs on tap at Barley’s right now. I liked it, even though I’m more of an ales gal. I love Victory’s pilsner. I’m not surprised it’s still on top.
I have not tried the Oskar Blues Pils (or much Oskar Blue beer in general) yet. I will have to keep that on my list of “must gets” for the next time I visit Barley’s. I sure love having that place so close by to try a bunch of the beers that I haven’t had before.
Victory Prima Pils is one of the best pilsners I’ve had. Sam Adams also has an “imperial” pilsner which is excellent if you want to kick it up a notch or three.