Day #220 – Saint Arnold Summer Pils

Well I’m at my usual Tuesday stop. Unfortunately Ginger Man is featuring a beer that I reviewed way back on Day #10! Holy crap that seems like so long ago. Funny thing is, I haven’t gained a pound, even after drinking daily for 220 days. How about that!! Anyways here’s a pic of the beer they featured:

I may provide a link to my earlier rating later; we’ll see. Anyways, since I was left with this dilemma, I basically got to choose any beer that I wanted to feature for today! I doubt I will have the appropriate glassware for this beer, (which doesn’t happen often) but oh well. I missed out on reviewing this particular beer when it was featured at Ginger Man twice now and I still don’t have the glass for it! Since it is a Texas beer, and a seasonal at that, it’s pretty much now or never. Especially since I already noticed the first Oktoberfest beer of the year on tap today!!!!

Saint Arnold Summer Pils

Saint Arnold Summer Pils is their summer seasonal beer. It is a pilsener listed at 4.9% ABV.

This beer pours a very clear light golden color, which pretty much touches on yellow. It has a big foamy white head that remains throughout the drink.

The aroma is pretty light and subtle to be honest. Maybe some gentle grains and bready notes but that’s about it. A light sense of hops emerge as it warms though.

Flavor is bready and grainy, with some sweet touches of grapefruit edging though. The finish is light as well with only a small bit of bitterness. A good refreshing summer beverage.

Cheers!

Day #173 – Avery Joe’s Premium American Pilsner

Avery Joe’s Premium American Pilsner

I am getting ready for a trip out of state this weekend, but while I’m packing I think I’ll have a beer!

Avery released this beer not too long ago, and it comes in a lovely can. It is classified as a Pilsener and holds a 4.7% ABV.

It pours a clear light golden color with a foamy white head.

The aroma is strong grains and is actually pretty hoppy. There is a definite hopped presence in this beer. More so than the regular pilsener.

The flavor is also pretty hoppy, with a sharp bready grain taste. Almost a bitter spice.

Well for a pilsener this is pretty strong on the hops. Very interesting but not surprising coming from Avery. They often times will push the limits on styles, although some hop aromas are acceptable. Cool!

Cheers!

Day #107 – Victory Prima Pils

Well, I had planned on a very BIG beer for my review today. Literally everything about it is big: high in alcohol, 22 oz bottle, intense and in your face flavor…it is gonna be awesome. After I came home however, I made a nice spaghetti dinner complete with garlic toast….and then a 2 hour nap. Something tells me I don’t need an extra reason to fall asleep tonight so I’ll keep the bastard in the fridge. (hint hint)

Victory Prima Pils

My first beer from Victory Brewing Company; that’s surprising. Surprising considering they are ranked #29 on the top US craft breweries list! (By the way you can check out that list for yourself HERE.) Victory is based out of Downingtown, Pennsylvania and they make some very good things that are distributed to our area. Again that’s why I’m a bit taken back as to why I haven’t had any of said beers before now. Man I need to get on it. It’s already Day #107 after all! Only 258 left after this.

Victory Prima Pils is a regular old Pilsener at 5.3%. I’ll be honest and say the first time I tried this 2 years ago I didn’t much care for it. That’s part of the reason why I’m excited to try it again today to see if my tastes have changed.

Pours a very clear golden yellow color with lots of carbonation bubbles apparent. The head is formed after a bit of agitation and forms into a foamy white crest.

The aroma is dry and malty, with a strong element of grains and a hint of citric fruit. Fairly straightforward by style standards. Smells very dry.

Flavor is dry to be certain, with grainy flavors, bitter malts with a hint of fruit with a dry and bitter grainy finish. Hops are felt and tasted as well and appear as a sharp bittering agent. As far as the style goes, this is very representative of what it should be. It’s just honestly not one of my favorite styles, but I can’t knock em for that!

Cheers!

Day #67 – Oskar Blues Mamas Little Yella Pils

What?  Beer from a can???  Blasphemy!  Believe it or not, canned beer is on the rise.  A large number of craft brewers are making the switch to cans and for very good reason too.  I’ve just posted a new page detailing the pros and cons of cans and bottles for beer.  Check it out HERE.

Oskar Blues Mamas Little Yella Pils

Oskar Blues is one of the pioneers of the craft canned beer revolution.  8 years ago they opened up in Lyons, Colorado and immediately started canning.  At the time, this was unheard of, as basically the only people canning were the macrobreweries and you wouldn’t even think about putting anything other than colorless, tasteless beer in a can.  Oskar Blues did just that; they put craft beer, and heavy craft beer in cans and took a risk.  That risk paid off as brewers soon realized the benefits of cans.  Today the majority of mid-sized craft breweries have some sort of canning capability, with more joining in all the time.  One of the benefits of cans is it’s portability.  I joined a kickball league on Tuesday nights and the park doesn’t allow glass bottles.  So I will be picking up different cans for that, and figure why not toss them on the blog?

Today’s beer is a pilsener, and was the first lager that Oskar Blues tried.  5.3%, so it’s quite sessionable.

This beer pours a clear golden color with a very large head response.  I even had a larger glass and the head still came billowing over the edge.  Tall white head.

The aroma is of soft hops and pilsener malts.  Grainy smell with something that is just a bit funky.  Not sure but there is something like a soured grain note in this as well.

Slick mouthfeel with bitter grains.  It has a dry finish with a very bready/grainy flavor.  Not much by way of sweetness just straight up grains.  Reminds me of the steeping portion of a homebrew where you drop the grains in hot water and let them sit for awhile.  This is kind of watery too.  Meh so-so I suppose.  Makes for good kickball beer though.

Cheers!

Day #62 – Shiner Blonde

Well Shiner week is almost over, and I’ll be honest when I say it hasn’t turned out quite like I was hoping.  Several of these beers I haven’t tried in several years, and I’m noticing that as my palate changes and my knowledge of beer increases, several of the beers I used to love early on haven’t impressed me as much the second go-round.  Either way, I’ll still love Shiner no matter what.

Shiner Blonde

Shiner Blonde is classified as a Pilsener at 4.4%.  This one came out long before the horrendous Shiner Light Blonde which all but ruined my Monday night, so I’m hoping that this recipe will not offend me so.  It’s also my first Pilsener for my review which is way cool.  A Pilsener style is kind of a catch-all style for light, decently hopped lagers.  There are also German Pilseners and Bohemian Pilseners which make up most of the well known ones, which is why the Pilsener category is a bit odd.  Our beer tonight fits right in.

On we go!

This beer pours a very clear light golden color that touches on yellow.  It also has a fairly decent head response that billowed up and tumbled over the lip of the glass upon first pouring it.  It has a nice foamy white head that begins to dissipate not too long after the pour.

The aroma is fairly straight-forward.  Some peanutty-grains with a light light hoppy bite.  Altogether not too much going on but it’s also not offensive either.

The flavor is dry bready malts with some wheat grains.  Also some corny notes as well that remind me of a pale lager.  You know I’m trying so hard to find good things to say about this, but I guess the best thing I can say is that I also can’t find many bad things to say either.  It’s just kinda………there.

Cheers!