Review based on bottle #3 and #4 of the four pack.

This is a bit of conundrum for me. I’m philosophically opposed to the use of such adjuncts in addition to the words ‘Czech’ and ‘Pilsner’ on the label, since for me, their addition atomically makes this not a ‘Czech Pils’ at all. In short, I’d much rather that they call this a fruit beer, be honest, and leave a classic style well alone in terms of declaring what it is (or isn’t).

Having said all of that, pears and tea are a couple of my favorite tastes and in addition they would seem to be (if one were inclined to mess around with the style) a potentially good fit (or at least fits that would not destroy the beer and screw it up entirely).

Anyway, the pour is a golden one that produces some nice white head and some decent lace.

Nose and tastes do not give away much of any pear notes, except for perhaps a slight sweetness followed by a gentle acidity in the back end – a slight, sweet and sour affair if you will. The Saaz hop bite of a typical member of the style is definitely missing, and the beer seems significantly less ‘noble’ than it should be in that regard.

The beer has a nice liveliness to it, with some good, prickly carbonation and in that regard it stays true to the (bastardized) style.

In the end it’s all a bit odd. I’m annoyed by the reference to this being a Czech Pils since I think it’s a fruit beer, but ultimately (and paradoxically) I actually wanted more fruitiness. The beer failed to deliver the pears (or the tea) that it promised so I was strangely disappointed in the end.