750 mL bottle, capped. From Total Wine in Jacksonville, FL, USA. Typical pour into the DFH signature glass. Great looking golden pour with a large head head which is fluffy, dense and produces a lot of sticky lace. Lovely, whipped topping effect from the lace. Very thick. Nose gives a little white pepper but also some bitter, herbal notes. Some hops in the nose. Some sinus clearing menthol. Tastes are very interesting. Lots of Pilsner malts, but also plenty of herbal bitterness from the...
Notes on beers in the style
American Double / Imperial Pilsner
Midnight Project #3 Oxymoron
22 oz bottle. Well, this certainly lives up to the name, a strange beer to say the least. I don't quite know how to describe this, but it drinks like a dry, hoppy Marzen. It's odd because the last thing that you would associate with a lager of that basic description would be a dry character or a bitterness - odd. Perfectly clear, the beer pours with a disappointingly scant head, not much lace and golden orange hue. The nose is really rich and nice. It offers some classic sweet notes and some...
Sweetwater Dank Tank Magnum IP
22 oz bottle in the usual Dank Tank presentation. I've had this a few times before now, this is the bottled review. Poured into the DFH glass, the beer is truly a deep golden color with (considering the ABV) a decent head and some retention. The nose gives plenty of fusel alcohol notes but it's not overpowering. A little spice in the aroma too. The tastes give up the usual (and expected) malty, alcoholic bitterness. There is some white pepper (especially in the finish), and a little dryness in...
Krampus (Imperial Helles Lager)
22 oz bottle, many thanks go out to Scott & Rich at Charleston Beer Exchange, Charleston, SC, USA for hooking me up and giving me the chance to try this one. Pour is a surprisingly dark, bronze color. Must be using some darker malts. Head is good and the lace is superb. Aggressive, Saaz based, alcoholic nose. The tastes give the same aggressive hops. The tastes are bitter with a metallic edge and a lingering finish. The malt backbone is VERY substantial and to be honest it reminds me a...
Juxtaposition Black Pilsner
12 oz bottle as a single from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. Can't remember the exact price but I remember it as being very expensive for what I was getting. The beer starts off with a great looking black pour that appears totally opaque with little or no colored highlights when held up to the light. Head is small but the film across the top of beer is surprisingly complete. Looks good. Would have been better if I just looked at it rather than tasted it! The beer exudes a smell that is similar to...
Draft Bear
$11.99 from Green's, Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA, USA. Silver foil covered neck in the corked & caged 750 mL bottle. Nasty, synthetic cork - I dislike these. Partially poured into the 22oz Terrapin snifter - seems like the perfect glass for this beer. A slightly darker, golden pour with good head and some lace. I can't quite nail the nose, but it does seem a bit fruity. A little more bitter, but at the same time also a little smoother than the other Imperial Pilsners I have had. The malt...
Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner
New review - 2008 version (best before Jan 2009) === 12 oz bottle as a single from Total Wine. Great looking orange pour withe super head and retention again. Seems a little sweeter and less "upfront hoppy" than some of the earlier vintages but that may be because I am drinking this later in the season than in the past. Still ahs the aspirin bite in the back end, finish and aftertaste. Year after year this a great beer. Original review 10/2007 === This FINALLY makes it to GA. I had just about...
Terrapin All American Imperial Pilsner
2007 release on tap, Taco Mac, Marietta, GA, USA. Good grief! What happened to this beer? This release is a MESS. Huge alcohol and syrup, the beer is close to undrinkable for me. There seems to have been ramping up of the package that resulted in an offensive high gravity malt liquor. This beer has lost all its subtlety and is now drinking more like Special Brew or a high alcohol malt liquor from the gas station. Body is thick, alcohol is way too obvious and the slick mouthfeel combined with...
Heavy Seas – Small Craft Warning (Über Pils)
12 oz single, Best Before Feb 2007. I'm an increasing fan of these "Imperial" (or whatever you want to call them) Big Pilsners. I like the way the higher alcohol seems to sit in the syrupy, thick body and they really create a large drinking experience. This was a good example. Really golden color to the body, plenty of head and lacing and a really sugary, syrupy mouthfeel evident. Sweetness up front, nice alcohol too. The higher alcohol Pils certainly detract from the typical, dry, hoppy clean...
Golden Shower/Golden Era
Updated Notes (Golden Era): Sept. 2007 If there was any doubt about this not being the same beer as Shower, just take a look at that distinctive Golden Color! Really deep. Now in four packs of 12 oz bottles. Got mine for $7.49 at Mac's, I suspect this was priced incorrectly (should be closer to $11.49). Original Notes (Golden Shower): 05/06/06 More excellent stuff from DFH. 750 mL bottled on 03/21/06. Cheers to Tom (warriorsoul) for another great trade. Great looking pour with a darker than...
Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
OK, this review will be a little biased since I bought this for $3.99 rather than (up to) $16.99 that I have seen in Atlanta. At this price, this beer is a straight 5. At $12, $13, $14 or $15 a bottle it isn't. Great, butterscotch and lemon apppearance, with a massive head, chill haze, carbonation and a real viscous feel make up a wonderful look. Aroma? Well, the best way I can describe it is as an expensive Euro Lager (Stella on acid). Hoppy and malty, and at the same time, the viscous feel...
Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner 2005 Harvest
Review: 09/06 - thanks to SilentSabre for a chance to re-visit. Well past what Jim Koch recommends, but I wanted to experiment wih some age on this. Looks identical to ten months ago with great sticky lacing, and orange clouded body. From memory it appears that the hop profile has receeded alot (expected) but at the same time a strong grapefruit bitterness has replaced it. Almost as if a hop bitterness has been replaced by an acidic bitterness. Having said that, there is still a sweet alcohol...
Spring Brew 2005
Double Pilsner?? What's that? All I know is this a very hoppy beer to be considered still in the Pilsner category. Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter. Golden pour with a slightly disappointing lack of head, but some lacing. Very little aroma, but this may be my inability to pick it up. Tastes are definite hop-based bitterness with a distinct lack of malt backbone. This has alcohol up front and all the way through and finishes as bitter as it started. A nice, beer with strength of...