The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
We love craft beer! Each week we will taste a number of beers from around the country and give you our thoughts, not only will we talk about the flavor, but also the artwork and anything else that comes to mind.
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The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
Ep 158 - We Taste Six Pilsners And Rank The Surprises
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Six pilsners should be predictable, right? We thought we were about to drink six cans of the same crisp lager and politely nod our way through it. Instead, we got a full spread of flavors, finishes, and surprises that made us rethink what a craft pilsner can be, especially when you’re looking for lower ABV beer that still has personality.
We bring home a craft-only lineup from Total Wine and taste through it one by one, including Inbound Brewing’s Laser Loon Pilsner, Sierra Nevada Premium Pils in that tiny 8.4 oz “proper pilsner can,” Millstream’s Oom Pah Pah German Pilsner from Amana, Iowa, Oliphant Brewing’s no-frills Wisconsin pilsner, Modest Brewing’s Last Of The Best Strata Czech Style Pilsner with double dry hopping, and Venn Brewing’s Pills with its bold Czech-inspired promise. Along the way we score each beer, talk clarity and aroma, and keep coming back to one theme: subtle does not mean boring when the malt and noble hops are in balance.
We also dig into pilsner history and the different pilsner styles, then wrestle with the question that always pops up once hops enter the chat: what really separates a hoppy pilsner from an IPA? If you think craft beer equals hazy IPA or high-test stout, this tasting is a clean, cold reminder that lagers can still be interesting. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a fellow pilsner drinker, and leave a review so more people can find us.
Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at northwoodsbeerguy@gmail.com.
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Episode Kickoff And Spring Weather
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the guy. Okay, dude. I was expecting a whole different song there. When you started playing it, I thought, okay, this sounds familiar, but I thought, how's that going to tie into this? But boy, that was that was kind of funny.
SPEAKER_02So I didn't show you the video because it's a guy with a case, like an empty case with his cowboy hat stuck on the top. And he was like doing his little dance thing. Well, all right. So I hope that was a good intro for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was uh rather interesting because I had no idea. Yes, yes. So there you go.
SPEAKER_02I'm trying new, I was searching far and wide to find anything.
SPEAKER_01I hey, I give you credit, man, because yeah, I wouldn't have known how to tie a song into this group, but you did it. So save a craft, drink a pilsner. There you go. Do we really want to save a craft though? Well, well, for this episode, for this episode, we are yeah, we're gonna do the sacrifice. All right, well, hey, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. This is Mike, the Northwoods Beer Guy, and as always, I'm joined by Jim. Hey buddy, how you doing? Doing good, man. How about you? Enjoying this weather. Yeah. Boy, can you remember what? Was it two weekends ago that we were just getting blasted by snow? And today it was like 80. I know, it's just like the joys of spring in Wisconsin. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02And it's highs and lows, and you just never know what to expect.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And the just the time you think maybe, just maybe it's gonna dry up so the dog doesn't tramp in mud, things like that. Oh no, nay, nay. It's they're calling for rain for like the next however many days. So you did get one day of no good tracking, but now yeah, now it's probably gonna be back to it.
SPEAKER_02So yes, yeah, that's I would I wish we could have had a few more days like today, string them together. Yeah, it's actually, I mean, I don't know if it's still out there, but I know that I was watching the news over the weekend. I was it was like this extreme fire warning, too.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So everything, the top layer is so dry. So we I suppose we'd need a little bit of rain just to prevent that fire danger, but I mean, at least the wind wasn't blowing, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I I think you're right. I think I saw online or something, they were like, oh, extreme, you know, no like burning bands and all that. And and it's like, I'm sure because you got all the dead leaves and grass and all that.
SPEAKER_02So then I would pull in after coming from the farm, and our neighbors burning.
Laser Loon Pilsner First Pour
SPEAKER_01Oh no, I'm like, dude, really? It's like you apparently weren't paying attention, so the smoke is rolling right towards our house. Oh, nice, the nice embers and amber. Nice. Well, hopefully your truck doesn't start up fire. I was gonna say, or the house. Yeah, uh you know, either or either or we don't need either one to go exactly. Well, hey, we uh we have a little different lineup here tonight. All right, so as Jim's song pointed out, we're uh diving into now. Technically, these are craft beers, yes, they are, but they are craft pilsners. I believe none of these are like from a TV commercial, right? There's no big box nope pilsners. Nope. These are all small micro brews, right? Yeah, I see. I haven't seen any of these on a commercial, so we should be good. Got that going for us, right? So even though they are pilsners, we're still okay. We're still good, yeah. Yep, exactly. So do we do we want to crack into one to begin this extravaganza? Okay. Well, the first one that we have, now we should let people know you and I went over to Rochester to Total Wine, and we bought all of these, I believe, at Total Wine. Yes, yes, and then we we we decided that you know maybe we needed to have a few beers that are a little lower ABV, right? Intermix them with intermix them in the high dust. Yeah, so that's what uh we came up with these. We also have several other ones that we bought that are low ABV, but these all fit together. So yeah, nice little package. Yes, there you go. So the first one that we're gonna do is Laser Loon Pilsner by Inbound Brewing Company. It is a 4.3% ABB, ABV, and 22 IBUs. Yep. So let's see. So it's just that very top one there. The top one here. Okay. It says laser loon cuts through pew pew like a siren from Minnesota's lakes. A crisp, clean malt, zippy noble hops, and a snappy, refreshing finish makes every sip feel like it's on a mission. So there you go. There's a little bit more there, and that was all from the um about inbound, because they're from Minneapolis. Oh, okay. I was gonna ask if we saw what where they're from. So the the can is pretty much white with inbound pilsner. It's got a loon on it, though, like in the water. That's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_02So when I was looking online, they have a laser loon pilsner with sea salt and lime.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_02In the exact same can, it's just got sea salt and lime added. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01So I'm not sure what that one would taste like, but hopefully the sweet. Maybe a little saltier and limeier, maybe. Yes. So on the bottom here it says light and easy flavors with a crisp balance. It's a sweet sweet loon calls pew. A loon doesn't sound like that. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what the siren of Minnesota's lakes. So yeah, I don't I didn't understand. I just copied and pasted, and like there was no extra explanation, so I wasn't sure. When I said pew pew, I thought it was talking about, you know, a gun. Guns. Yeah. Because you can't really shoot loons, right? They're not no, no, those are that's the state bird, yeah. You you shoot one of those, you could be in Wisconsin or in Minnesota? Minnesota.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so if that's in Wisconsin, you're clear as that.
SPEAKER_01Probably not. It is considered a songbird type thing. Oh, so I do believe that they are protected. So you may be a guest of the state if you shoot one. Thanks for keeping me out of trouble. Yes. All right, all right. Here we go. Definitely looks like a pilsner. Yes, you can see your fingers through it. It's it's yeah, very clear. Very clear. Smells like beer. Yeah, it smells like beer. There's flavor. There is flavor. It's got bad, but no, it you you can tell that there's hops. I think it's a little more hoppier than than your standard pilsners.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01But not to the point where you're like, ooh, that you know.
SPEAKER_02No, I can actually there they because you said zippy noble hops. This is kind of zippy.
SPEAKER_01It makes sense, yeah. Yeah. What they said, it I think it is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, the flavor is very I I can't really describe it. I mean, other than an adjective zippy or snappy, right? But I don't know what that flavor is.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yep.
SPEAKER_02It is it is hop-ish.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, like I said, I do get that little bit of a hop. It's not a bite, though. It's just kind of gives you a little different, a little more flavor. Right. And it's not a it's not a dry hop flavor. No, not at all. It's it's that's interesting.
SPEAKER_02Actually, pretty decent.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's pretty interesting. I mean, for our first, I mean, this is the 4.3, so this is a little bit lower.
SPEAKER_02This is a bigger can, too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a pint cans, you know. And yeah, that's not that's not bad. I I would I mean, some of our cigarettes and yeah, coffee and cigarette beers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think those the people would actually not mind this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think they could drink this. Yeah, maybe not. I was sure they'd find something. They'd find something, but I think they could definitely drink it. Well, I tell you, that's it's actually not bad. I could I could drink a can of this. Sure. I see. I could probably drink a can of this, yeah. Without any problem.
SPEAKER_02And this is cool. I mean, it's not like the our higher test ones where we let them warm up a little bit. Right. These act just came out of the fridge.
SPEAKER_01I mean, they're they're still pretty chilled. I mean, this actually is pretty good, decent cold. These are probably the one ones that you want ice cold. Yeah. Yes, you know, for sure. So what do you think? It's not so from zero to five, as everybody knows, by a tenth of a point, two and a half being our midpoint on the scale. And how many of you, what's your last total for total beers? I think I'm at 6125. Not to cut you off your remember your train of thought.
SPEAKER_02I was just like uh, you know, doing the scroll through Instagram and all these people on there talking about their beers and stuff. Yep. And most of them are like in the three thousands range. Oh, yeah. So we're like double most these other people.
SPEAKER_01Now I am friends with a few people on Untapped that are way higher than than we are. And it's like yeah, and I'm like, how in the world? I'm trying to figure out how a person has enough time to drink that many beers, you know. Right, unless they started the app they could have started earlier, or they're just getting like little taster glasses. Not even a taster glass, you know. Oh, well, I don't know, but it's just like wow. Well, you are legit. I can vouch for you. Yeah, we're legit. Yeah, we're legit. Yeah. So score-wise on this, man, how do how do you so I guess okay, I'm gonna say for a Pilsner, this is probably a little bit better than average. I'm gonna go like a 2.6. I think it's got decent flavor. I do kind of like that little bit of a the hop flavor that it, like I said, it just gives you more flavor than kind of the the normal ones. It's still light, and like I said, it is a 16-ounce can, but I could drink a 16-ounce can of that you know, without a problem. So I think, yeah, on a hot day, ice cold, that'd be it'd be good. I'd I'd drink it.
SPEAKER_02It is pleasantly surprising with that flavor because and what's weird too is it doesn't have an aroma that has that hoppy aroma, it's not there, it's just a little bit on the on the flavor, which most I mean, we're not gonna expect to be a lot of flavor in these, so any little hint of flavor is actually gonna be good. Yep. I'm actually gonna go a little bit. I like I do like I'm gonna go 2.8. Okay, nice. I I don't mind it. I mean, it's could I drink? I could drink a couple though.
Pilsner Origins Trivia And Scores
SPEAKER_01Yeah, now as we go farther, I may have to change that score. You never know, right? But yeah, that's a good way to start. Yes, and like I said, we've never had that before. So all of we've never had any of these before. So we're again going out of this blind. So hopefully, you know, they're all like that where they're pretty decent. So since we're talking about pilsners, here's my first question for you. Okay. Multiple part question.
SPEAKER_02Dang it.
SPEAKER_01All right, so there is. I must have cut and pasted something. Uh-oh. I get it right then. So which city or what location did pilsners originate from?
SPEAKER_02That should be an easy one.
SPEAKER_01Like what country?
SPEAKER_02Or do you need I even got the city too? I got either one.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'll say country, I'm gonna say Germany. You got Germany?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay, good. How about what part of Germany?
SPEAKER_01The the beer region, the beer Netherlands, Bavaria.
SPEAKER_02Close, it starts with a B.
SPEAKER_01Boy, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02How about Bohemian city of Pilsn? Come on, buddy. I should have known that. All right, and then the next question is approximately what year did it start?
SPEAKER_01Oh that's another easy one. I don't think that's easy. I think Pilsners have been around for a while. Yes, they have about the same year that their beer purity law went into effect, like 14 something, 52 or something. So you were close, 1842. Oh, I had I had the first number and I had another number, right? So three numbers, right? I should get it. Close. But there's one thing that I do have to wrap in here. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So you said Germany at first.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I so because you know all those regions changed. Pilsners are Czech.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so they start okay.
SPEAKER_02So it was kind of you know, that Czech is southern Germany. Yeah, that's why they're Czech Pilsners.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02So that's where it came from. Okay. So in that region, I was close.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So you were close. All right.
SPEAKER_02So we'll we'll stick with that. We'll give you a minus 5,000. That's fine. We'll call it good. Yeah, we'll try the next beer. Okay. Now, on your second page, uh-huh, I actually did find why it's in that size of a can. Okay. Because there is a little write-up on it for you.
Sierra Nevada Mini Can Surprise
SPEAKER_01Okay, because I was gonna say we're going from a pint can to a can that's like the size of like the old V8 cans. Yeah, you see how many ounces on that's on the front, I think. I see it says 8.4 fluid ounces. Yep. And then that's why it says why. Why the proper Pilsner can. Smaller cans reflect European culture, a size that optimizes the true pills experience. The portion size ensures that pills stays fresh, crisp, and cold from the first to the last sip. There, see? That is kind of crazy. So we'll jump back to the front. There you go. Yep. And this is Premium Pills by Sierra Nevada. And it is a four is 4.7% ABV. Okay. Yep. It says the tasting notes say bright citrus and tangerine aromas arise from the glass, balanced with a subtle touch of sweet malt, a smooth malt body with upfront sweetness, pleasant hop character, and hints of citrus peel create a soft, dry finish that's refreshing sip after sip. Great beer isn't just about what's in the glass, it's about what's sharing unforgettable moments. Nice. That's a good role. I'm a little concerned when it says about the like orange peel or tangerine peel or whatever kind of peel that is in there. So we'll see. But that is crazy, dude. That is like those old cans. Our two taster glasses will pretty much empty this. Yeah, without even like trying it'll so we'll see. Again, looks very much like a pilsner. Yep. There it was. Done. Boom. There she was. And there's a whole bunch of writing on the back, but the color it kind of makes it a little tough to see. So that is crazy. That's the first can that size for beer that I think I've ever seen. Yes. So it does it almost looks hazy, doesn't it? It does. It is a little more hazy than that first one. So not not catch overly. No, but still, it's right. You can almost see it through it, but not too bad. It's slight hop. A slight hop. I guess if you know you're supposed to look for tangerine, you can kind of get that sweetness, but really it's not really faint. That's not bad. No, that's honestly. Can you put that in a bigger can? Yeah, I mean no. Like for the first one, there was a hoppiness.
SPEAKER_02This one there isn't the hoppy finish.
SPEAKER_01No, this one I do get a little bit of that dryness on the finish. Right. But it's not overpowering at all. It's you know, it really mixes together good. Yeah, yeah, that's that's pretty interesting. I hate to say it. I think the really the only knock I have is the 8.4 fluid ounce can. I mean, you you'd be like searching, you could go through a case by yourself. Just think, oh yeah. Look at all the beer cans you had. So the big ones are 16 ounce, right? Yeah. So this is half the size of that first one. So two of these to get to one of those. And it's still only 4.7%. Yeah. Yeah. So it's still not overly high in ABV. I'm the thing I'm glad about too is I don't like the the because when it was talking about the hints of citrus peel. You know, it creates a soft, dry finish. I don't really get because you know, we've had some where that bitterness from the peel is really there. This one doesn't seem that bad.
SPEAKER_02It's hard to say, you know, is it the citrus peel that's making the dryness or is it a hop that's making it dry? Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, they're saying it is the citrus peel.
SPEAKER_02But it's hard to say for sure, but yeah, without having that brew master here, right?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Well, what do you think of the Sierra Nevada premium pills?
SPEAKER_02I I like it. I mean, it's I guess my only negative thing so far is it's a tiny can.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I agree. I agree.
SPEAKER_02The flavor's good. I mean, it's a little the like I mentioned, the only difference from that first one to this one, just a little bit of that hoppiness. And it's not really over the it's not the IPA hoppiness. Right. Yeah. It's just that little bit of a dry finish, which is not bad. I mean, I I do not mind this. I I like this one better. I'm gonna say a 2.9. I like this one better than the first one.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah. Like I said, I think my biggest knock is just the size of the can, too. You know, taste-wise, I think this has a little bit more flavor than the first one. You know, a little maybe a little more complicated, not complicated, but just a little bigger flavor, I guess I should say. Right. So I'm I'm gonna agree. I'm gonna go a 2.7 on this one. Again, the only real knock is just that can. It's just kind of like, and I can't remember what we paid for that, but it wasn't that much cheaper than these other ones.
SPEAKER_02You know, well, what's weird is you're gonna have to have a cooler like right next to you. Yeah, or else you're gonna be going off the back and forth to the cooler.
SPEAKER_01People are gonna think you're just slamming beers. Well, dude, it's half the size.
SPEAKER_02And then they fill up your glasses, it's only like half full.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like, well, wait a minute. You know, then then the secret's out and they know you're trying to be cool. Right.
SPEAKER_02You know, all right. So jumping back to our good questions. Now I did find the question I was looking for.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02So who is considered the father of Pilsner? This is what that easy when I was looking for up front.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't think this is easy. And it is very familiar to a band member from Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. He was around that long. That that's that's my hitch for you. Dude, I know. I don't even remember who all was in Nirvana besides him. I don't know. Sorry. It's the one that's still playing. His name is Joseph Grawl. Oh, Dave Grawl. I was trying to think of his name too, but interesting. So what so he is the father of Pilsner, and his brewery was the Pilsner Ur Quell. Oh was the name of the brewery. That's where they made it and started 1842. Well, I'm glad I didn't say Baron von Pilsner like I was going to say.
Beer Fest Plug And VIP Details
SPEAKER_02Yeah, then we would have laughed. Oh, hey, we do we could move our selfless plug in there too on one of your pages towards the end there. Uh-huh. You get I put a little stuff in there about uh coming up here at the end of the month. Yeah, yeah. If you want, I don't know if I know we're getting we're getting just tens and tens of millions of dollars.
SPEAKER_01Billions of oh, there it is. I was like, where'd it go? Yeah. So coming up, if anybody is interested, Friday, April 24th and Saturday, April 25th, is the what used to be called Between the Buffs, the Between the Bluffs, Beer, Wine, and Cheese Fest. They've changed the name a little bit. It's Between the Bluffs, Beverage and Bites Festival. Right. So they've it sounds like they've changed some things. They're gonna have more, it sounded like more craft vendors or something. Right. THC area drinks, you know, like that, mocktail, non-alcoholic drinks. We're probably gonna skip the we'll probably stick with the crazy. If you remember our non-alcoholic beer podcast, didn't go very far. Didn't go very far. So specialty meats and artisan cheeses from the lacrosse region. Those are always good. And they put it in the in the uh Bloody Mary's. Yep, exactly. And that is at the Oktoberfest grounds in Lacrosse. Yep. So uh Friday.
SPEAKER_02I think there are still some tickets. I don't know how to do that. I believe so.
Umpa German Pilsner Takes Lead
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you'd have to look online for that. But and then Friday is their taster's eve, and that is different again this year. This year from 5 to 8 p.m., it's at the lacrosse distilling company. And it sounds like they're gonna be only opening that up to the first to like you have to register if you're VIP. The first 200 VIPs can get in. I think you get a couple drinks and you can do bourbon tastings. Oh, I think you should sign up. Nice, and they'll they have tours of the distillery. So sweet. So we'll see how that goes. There are a little plug for if you're not doing anything at the end of the month. There you go. Place to go and try some craft beers. That's right. All right. So what do we got next? Well, next, the I was gonna say the same size can, but it's just that it's a normal 12-ounce can, but you know, it was a little shorter than the eight and a half ounce one, but it's it's thicker. So this one is um papa German Pilsner by Millstream Brewing Company. 5% ABV and 25 IBUs. Nice. In this one, it says one sip of this easy drinking lager, and you'll start hearing polka music. Nice. Floral notes from Noble Hops waltz through a crisp, clean finish. And this is from it's out of Iowa. Does it say the city? Well, I think it's Amana. Oh, okay. Amana, Iowa, yep. And apparently, this is the original craft brewery for Iowa. Really? I knew I don't know that. So I was looking, I was like, I thought that was pretty interesting. We that we especially we haven't had many beers for it. I don't know if right, we've had a few, but not I mean, we don't really see them up in this right area. So maybe their distribution is probably you know not quite as big, or they're they're not producing huge amounts. Right. Well, you know, it says it all started in 1985 with a dream and a small batch of German Pilsner. There you go. So yes, so this one is looks a little hazy, kind of in between those first two where the first one was super clear, yep, and then the last one is hazier than this one. This is kind of in the middle. Looks like a pilsner.
SPEAKER_02Yep, don't smell much.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say not a huge amount of aroma. Aroma's not much there. Of course, I I don't think we're really expecting a lot from these pilsners, but boy, that's almost got a little bit of a a little sweeter taste, maybe.
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_01That's just a hint, you know, but it's definitely not the same as the first two. No, that's kind of crazy that I thought these were gonna be all pretty close, you know. But and not that the flavors have been drastically different, but each one has.
SPEAKER_02It's kind of a unique flavor to go because I I think before we I can't remember which episode it was, but we could even if you'd have been blindful, you wouldn't have been able to tell these. You can at least, even though they're pilsners, there are subtle differences.
SPEAKER_01There are subtle differences. Yeah, this one almost has a little more of a malty kind of flavor. Again, not like we're what we're used to looking for for malt flavors, but it's a little bit more I do like that sweetness. Yeah. That's actually not bad. I'm like so very surprisingly like taken back. I mean, this is an exact decent. I mean, these first three have not I would have drank any of these. Oh, yes. Sorry, ladies and gentlemen. We just had, I think your Alexa was talking to us all of a sudden. She's listening to us. Probably. You're gonna get all of a sudden you're gonna get like a beer truck pulls up and it brings like pallets of these to you. You guys ordered these. Yeah. No, we didn't. Did you keep them cold? Yeah. Exactly. I may be late to work tomorrow. That one is good. That's pretty good. That is refreshing too. I mean, that's yeah. So um pa German Pilsner. Boy, I I these have been all three of these have been surprising to me. I was expecting very kind of uh they've all had pretty good flavor. I'm gonna well, I'm gonna keep going up the ladder. I'm gonna go with 2.8 on that one. I do like that. And again, it's a German Pilsner, so I think that's a little different, you know, than what the first two were. Yep. But I like it, man. I I could drink a few of those. I'm even gonna keep going. I'm gonna say a 3.0. Nice. I I like it. I mean, it's I mean, especially for our friends, craft beer drinkers that don't like craft beer. Yep. The any one of these first three, you they should not be scared by no, not at all. I mean, these actually taste good. I'm very pleasantly surprised that they're all very good. Yep, I agree with you. Those are crazy. All right, cigar tier. Nice, crazy, easy. I mean, crazy question. I was gonna say, I thought we were done with the question. Dang it. So I got just a couple more, nothing. Okay. Easy ones.
SPEAKER_02I know these are easy.
Pilsner Styles Quiz In The Vault
SPEAKER_01I know. This might even be the last one. Okay. Digging deep into the Pilsner the Pilsner vault. Into the Pilsner vault, way, way in the back. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I was able to find one, two, three, four, five, six different styles of pilsners.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Can you tell me what those are? Well, there's German Pilsner. Ding ding, you got one right. Czech Pilsner.
SPEAKER_02Czech.
SPEAKER_01Got it right. Okay. There's probably like is there an American pilsner? Is that a style? Okay. There's three. Uh okay. How about like a New Zealand? Ooh, you were close. Was it? You were close. Well, Australian? Yep. Okay, it's like Fosta's. I don't even know. I've never had one of those. So you got four. Four of the six? What else? One of them ties into IPA. Like an IPA. Like a hoppy pilsner. Or is that not like East Coast, West Coast kind of thing? There you go, yes. So West Coast? Yes. West Coast Pilsner. You have one left. One left. What is gonna be And you've already hit it twice? I've hit it twice. I've had it twice, or you already said it twice. What did I say? I don't remember what you said. I know. Dang it! I don't know. European. Oh man. European Pilsner. So the Dutch and the Belgians couldn't come up with their own so they'd be called European. Okay. Wow. Hey, I did better than I thought on that one. You did very, very well. Because I was thinking, okay. I knew there was I couldn't remember if it was New Zealand, or Australia. You know. So hey, I'm happy with that. Oh, you're like you must have been voted up on your trivia. Yeah. Because I thought, boy, you don't want to I know two for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you don't want sermon in this. You don't want to lay a dud, no.
Olefant Pilsner Drinks Like Classic
SPEAKER_01No, it doesn't do good. Exactly. So what do we got next? All right. Well, hey, the next one that we have. Is that this one? Yeah. No. It's the we got these two mixed backwards. This one. No, that's oh no, I'm sorry. You were right. That's all I can find is like those 10 words. I overlooked that. There's not much there. Interesting. Okay, so this we've had a number of beers from this brewery before. This is from Olafant Brewery Brewing, and it's Pilsner. That's what it says. Pilsner. Pilsner. 5% ABV. It's from Somerset, Wisconsin. And here's their big write-up. The big write up. It says we couldn't get this on tap fast enough. Order one and enjoy it before we drink it all. That's it. Interesting. Yeah. So I wish I could. Yeah, even on the can, there's nothing. Yeah, there is a little bit of artwork on there, but it's like it almost looks like wallpaper. Yeah, that's like a some kind of guitar or sitting by a stream or something. I don't know. That's kind of weird. Yeah. So I oh well. So I have no idea what the how this is gonna taste. Well, they didn't give us much to go on. We like living on the edge anyway. So we're halfway through. So we're halfway through. And I've been pleasantly surprised. So far, so good. So we're gonna see what this is. And they've all had you know the very the white head, yep. Look like beer. So we'll put that there. All right. So Olafant.
SPEAKER_02Definitely clear, like the very first one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. This was does that much. I think this one's a little darker yellow, right color. The first one is pretty light, but this very clear. Right.
SPEAKER_02I can see my fingers through it. So it's yeah, there's not much there.
SPEAKER_01Almost no aroma. No, there's very, very little, if anything. This is kind of what I was expecting. I was thinking that other ones are gonna be right. Really, for me, not a whole lot of flavor. I mean, is that a little maltiness? It could be a little bit on the on the very first initial. Yep, yep. That's where I you get the most flavors when it first hits your tongue, and then it kind of goes away. Dissipates really quick, but I mean it's not bad. No, no, I mean ice cold. You could drink this, you could you could drink it for sure.
SPEAKER_02And it's only five percent. It's definitely not way up there. I mean, this is probably the for flavor-wise of what we had so far.
SPEAKER_01This is the lowest flavor of the first four. Or I shouldn't say the lowest, it's probably the more what you would expect from like a mass-produced pilsner. Yes, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, where those other ones had a little more uniqueness to them. This one's kind of yeah. This one's not shouldn't scare anybody away. No, no. If you drink regular beer, craft beer, any kind of beer. Yeah, this is if you've ever seen the beer, you know, you're not gonna be scared by this. No, not at all. I mean, there's no bad finish, smooth, it's this would be a lot more beer. Yeah, there's just no, there's just not a lot of flavor. Exactly. I mean, ice cold on a hot day, you could drink them and then like you said, five percent, even though that it's in a pint can. And the last three that we have are all in pint cans, but you could drink a pint of this and be on a hot, especially like today, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Up in the 80s, up in the 80s. I've already had a couple of these. I could have done that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so what uh what are you thinking on this bad boy? So the challenge is that it's it does not taste bad.
SPEAKER_02So my score doesn't reflect that it's a bad flavor, but for me, it just doesn't have a lot of flavor. The first three, I mean, they were not over the top in flavor, they were subtle, but they were very distinct. This one is just not a lot of there. So I'm gonna go 2.5. I'm gonna keep it right in the middle, just average. I think I I I don't know much. I can't because it's not one way or the other, it's just right in the center for me.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly what I'm going with. Just because the same reason, it's it's a solid pilsner, but it's exactly what you are you think about tasting when you have other you know what I mean. Right. I agree 100% with it's not a bad beer at all, even though we're saying it's the lowest of these four so far. It's still I would drink it, but if I had a choice, I'd pick one of the other ones first now knowing what we know. Yes, you know, so yep, yeah. Well, at least we're getting into summer, so maybe we have to see if we can find these again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. So let's see if I can squeeze out a question for you. Let's see here. Oh, that didn't sound good. So this might be an easy question for you. Okay, the Czech style Pilsner. You just told me one of the styles of pilsners, right? Yep, is synonymous with several other lager beers, and there are a couple examples. Okay, one of those is a very famous American maid. I didn't realize.
Modest Double Dry Hop Expectations
SPEAKER_01Okay, which one is it? Which which beer? I mean the style or the actual beer. The name of the beer. I'll give you two choices, and you can't miss that up. Okay, what are my choices? The two biggest beers made in America. So well, it used to be Bud Light. Budweiser. Budweiser. Right. So that's that's one and one of them. Is the other what is it like cores? Gambrinus. I don't know what that is. Kazel, Redigast, Star of Pramin, Staroburnal, and Krusevich. Okay, I can safely say I've never ever heard of any one of those other than Budweiser. That's what I said. I'm keeping to the Budweiser one for you. Okay, thank you. Because I'm like, I got no idea. So you weren't that was what your other guess is? Well, I I thought about it, but then I thought, no, it couldn't be that. No, I've never heard of that. Uh yeah, that one that was digging deep to find that one for you. That's crazy. All right. All right. So now let's hopefully get some something of the next one to find out what the heck's going on. Yeah, no doubt. So the next one we have is from Modest Brewing Company.
SPEAKER_02Modest. Modest.
SPEAKER_01And they're out of Minneapolis as well. And this is their last of the best strata check style pilsner. And on the can it does say double dry hopped pilsner. Oh. So this one is 5% ABV as well. And their little write-up says, Times have changed and times are strange. That almost sounds like an Ozzy Osborne. I was gonna say that like the lyric to a song, isn't it? It's almost like from Mom, I'm coming home, isn't it? Okay. Times have changed and times are strange. So you need to appreciate the greats while they're still around. There you go. You never know when things will go off the rails, like a crazy train. Yep. And the last of the best will be gone. Introduced it introducing last of the best strata, a Czech style pilsner with Pilsner malt, hopped, and double dry hopped with Czech Faz and Strata hops. Well, that's interesting. So this should be interesting. I'm assuming it might have some hop. Because again, we don't know. You know what I'm saying? Is it going to be like crazy hop or is this and they're not calling this an IPA either? No, they're calling it a pilsner. It's a pilsner, is what it says. Right. So I'll be the first one to let you know. So you let us know if they lied or if they're telling the truth. If it is like oof. Now, this one, color-wise, this is more like that first one where it's that lighter color. And I'm gonna have to pour you a little more because I apparently was a little aggressive with the pour on yours and got a little more head than see that. There we go. The head even almost looks a little yellowish. Yeah, from a little bit of the glass. A little bit. I don't know why that's very light color. It is a little uh hazy. I mean, you can see your finger, but it is kind of hazy. Um you can smell some hopage here. There's some hopage.
SPEAKER_02There is hops, I can smell them.
SPEAKER_01That is unique.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it's not over the top hoppy.
SPEAKER_01No, no.
SPEAKER_02I mean, and for double dry hop, which is at the end of the brewing cycle.
SPEAKER_01And that's more for the aroma, right? But you don't get there's not that aroma for hoppiness or the flavor's not. No. No, you get I do get a little bit, like on the aftertaste, a little bit of that kind of that grapefruity hop flavor. Oh, just a faint bit. Right. It's not but it almost reminds me of like a hazy IPA where it's smells hoppier. This one didn't really smell that hoppy, but you know what I mean, where the hop bite isn't there. I guess I hate to say this this word to be disappointed.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but I mean the write-up that we had, what's on the can, I was really anticipating this being super hot. Really hoppy, yeah. But it it is not. So I I mean, I don't know how that's gonna affect my score. Because I mean, if I saw this can and I saw the laser loon sitting in a cooler, I take the laser loon right away. Right, you're gonna automatically so for all the listeners out there, this is not one of the you don't have to be afraid of this. It is not the flavor, it is not over the top hoppy.
SPEAKER_01Yep, I I agree.
SPEAKER_02I mean, and if nobody if you have never had a double dry hop, this is probably the one to try if you've never had one before. Because this isn't it is very, very muted compared to other IPAs that we've had that are hoppy and double dry hops. You know, you're kind of insist you're looking forward a little bit more to it, right?
SPEAKER_01I I give them credit. I mean, I do get more of a hop kind of a taste out of this than the other ones. Yeah. I will give them that. I do agree with you. I was expecting it to be way hoppier, but it that but the fact that it's not is not a bad thing. It's it's definitely different. And like I said, the biggest thing I'm getting is that grapefruit pine flavor at the end after you've had it, you know, after you swallowed it and you're waiting, and that aftertaste is a little bit on that score-wise, because of that finish, I'm gonna go with 2.4 just because I think after I could drink a can of it, yeah, but after that, I think that aftertaste, I'm gonna be like, I need something to get rid of that, you know. Right. Because it does have that kind of that piney grapefruity taste.
SPEAKER_02So and I guess just to remind me to our IPAs are ales, right? They're not yes, they're not lager. It's not a lager or a pills beer. Yep, correct.
SPEAKER_01So then what would change this beer in that process to make it an IPA, do you think? That's a very good question. Because I mean it it seems like they're really close. Right. This is for sure. Yeah, I don't I'm not sure. I that's something we'll have to look into and see what's going on. I mean, but the even listeners out there know too.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I mean, because I don't know if their flavor they were going towards hoppiness or not, but I mean they've got a lot of hops in it, but they're calling it a pilsner. Right. What would they have to do to change it to an IPA?
SPEAKER_01Well, my my brother, the brewer, hey Brian, why don't you shoot me a text after you hear this and let me know what's the difference between a hoppy pilsner and an IPA? What's the difference of the two, if you'd be so kind? And then I'll I'll inform you, Jim. Thank you very much. Yeah, and I'm gonna I was had the exact same score too.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say a 2.4.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Just a little touch below average, only because it I don't have a lot of hoppy flavor that I thought I was expecting.
Venn Pills Finale And Disappointment
SPEAKER_01Yep, yep, I agree. And like I said, it is I give them credit because it is a different flavor than the first four. Yep. But I'm not necessarily saying it's a better flavor, you know. So 100%. So, you know, it's just kind of one of those things. If you if you really like hoppy beers, I think you this one you probably wouldn't mind it, you know. And and the fact that it's not as hoppy as an IPA, somebody that really likes hoppy probably wouldn't like it because it's not that hoppy, right? Right, you know, but somebody that doesn't like hoppy beers isn't gonna like it, you know. So exactly it's kind of one of those catch 22 jobbers there. So are you gonna be my ven? My ven? Yeah, sure. What does that mean? Norwegi, it's friend in Norwegian. Yeah, I'm already your Ven Ven. I and it actually came up on the search. Well, there you go. Oh, there it is. Yeah, it means Norwegian. It means friend in Norwegian. Interesting. See that? So this is Pills. Pills by Venn Brewing Company out of Minneapolis. It's 5.6% ABV and 35 IBUs.
SPEAKER_02So this is our highest EBV and highest IBU one.
SPEAKER_01Before I read into this, I do like that label. That's a pretty classy looking. You know what reminded me of the Dossardania. It kind of does, but this is black, and all the lettering is like gold, and it's a very fancy. You'll see if you see our social media posts, you'll see the can, and it is definitely very kind of a classy look.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01So here's what their write-up said dry, check, hoppy, check, bitter, check, as in C A C Z E C H the country. Yes. Our pills pays homage or homage to the fancy folk, to its origins. Pills, pilsn, check. You know, if I'd have looked at this before, I'd have had that answer. And you had it in your hands. I had it in my hands. So Pilsn Czech Republic. But we got a little carried away with it in a very German kind of way. Crisp and carefully crafted with 100% Pilsner malt, laurel, and Tetnang hops, and German lager yeast. It's an old world beer made for the modern day drinker. Nah, how do you say that? Nah Zedrabeat? Yeah, there you go. I'll take your word on that. I don't even know what that means. I don't either. They didn't give us the uh definition of the So this is a big can, too. This is a big can, a pint can. Final one for the episode. Final one. We're on our last Pilsner, and it's gone surprisingly better than I was expecting. Yeah, I mean, these have all every one has been unique. Yes. We haven't had two that have tasted the same. No, and that's Sprite. That's my biggest thing was I thought, boy, we're gonna have six cans of the same thing. Of Miller light or bud light, or couldn't have been farther from that. Right. So this one, again, a little bit darker than the first one and this last one that we had. But not by much. Not by much. And you can I can still see my finger through it, but it's still kind of little hazy. Not too bad. Not to scare anybody away. No, I get a little bit more aroma. Yeah. Than especially the the olefant one. Right, right. That's different again. Not a lot different. I mean, there's not a lot of flavor in this one. No. There's I do get a little bit of the the hop dryness. But flavor wise. Flavor wise, not a whole lot of much. Now I because now comes the hard part with my the scores because it's like I was all excited because the all the artwork and the way this can it's a totally black can. Yes. And the wrapping in gold. With and black and gold, and I mean very fancy writing, and it looks really cool. It looks far and above all the other ones. Yes. Yep. So I was expecting big things out of the product inside. Exactly.
unknownGosh.
SPEAKER_01It's not quite as much as I thought it was going to be. I'm glad you have to go first on this one.
SPEAKER_02I know. It's like like the last two. I guess the last three. The Olafant didn't really have a flavor. Yep. Uh, last of the best was a hoppy, but not as hoppy as I expected. But this one kind of falls right with the olefant. So get a lot of flavor with it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for me, I think I know where I'm going to put it, and it's on the aftertaste. As I'm sitting here when you were talking, my tongue was getting drier and drier. So a little more hoppiness. A little more hop character. Not really the flavor though, but it's just that aftertaste. And you just kind of like Yeah, I'm I'm gonna have to go with 2.3.
SPEAKER_02It's it's not bad. I mean, I don't I wouldn't pour it out. Right. I would finish the can, but I'm just not sold on I was we were really spoiled by that first three. Yeah. They really spoiled us. I was ex I mean, we just were like stepping it up right up the ladder, and all of a sudden now it kind of went back down the ladder again. You know, I it just covers up, must come down. It just worked out that way, but I mean we I we didn't plan it for it to be like that. No, I was just kind of kind of looking for a little bit more. I don't know.
Final Rankings And Craft Pilsner Pitch
SPEAKER_01Yep, I agree 100%. I was going to 2.3 again, not that it's bad, but that would be this one. I it's just to me that that aftertaste where it keeps drying my tongue out, right? And it just kind of like do I really want to drink a lot of that, you know, especially with some of those other ones, those first three, I'd have drank those. Even the even the Olafant would have been an easy drinker. Well, honestly, even the modest would have been right. This one here is the only one that I'm kind of like, yeah, not not 100%. Not my biggest favorite. So all right. Well, here, let me give you your scores. You tell us what you think, what your top ones were, what you thought. Well, uh, first off, I'd say again, I was really shocked because I was expecting just six cans of the same thing. Right. And it was anything but that, you know, very interesting, different flavors. And I'm glad we did it because it's been we've probably done pilsners before, but it's been quite a while. And I don't know if we've ever matched pilsners against each other. Yeah, I don't we may have added like with uh a brewery, we had like one of their pilsners and some of their other stuff. Yeah, or we had, oh, we're just gonna do low ABV, and there might have been a Pilsner or two in there with other stuff. But yeah, so this is six Pilsners. So yeah, I I would say uh overall my favorite was the umpa, the German Pilsner that I thought was very good flavor. Then second, of course, was the Sierra Nevada V8 can, you know, which you can just pound them and people are thinking you're a superstar. So I guess our recommendation is them just turn into a pint can or just a 12-ounce can would have been fine too, you know. And then third was uh, of course, the uh the laser loon. I thought those first three were really very good. And the last three were good too, but those first three I think were above the other ones. So would I recommend these? I'd recommend any of them, you know. Honestly, give them a try, especially if you really like pilsners. I think you'd be shocked at the amount of different flavor that we ran into with these. And again, you know, they're craft pilsners and they cross they check two boxes. I think the the pril the pilsner drinker would like them, the craft beer drinker would like them because they're different than your mass produced beers. Oh, for sure. So, you know, go out there and find them, try them. I think you'll be surprised. Yeah, I mean, I'm echoing exactly what you said. My number one um pa.
SPEAKER_02I really like that one. I just wish it would be sold around here so we could try it more often. Yeah, Sierra Nevada, the pills. That was my number two, the laser loon, number three. But I like you said, I liked all of them, and I think people would be pleasant. Surprised, especially if they like the big box beers, they don't have a lot of flavor. But these are not over-the-top flavor, they just give you they let you know that there's something there. I think you kind of hit it, alluded to it. If you we did a blind taste test, I think we could have both picked out which ones were which because they do they're very subtle differences, but they they were not all the same. Right. Which is good. I mean, that that's kind of we don't want if you want every beer to taste the same, you just give your recipe out there, but right.
SPEAKER_01You know, you want to make it a little bit different. Yep, exactly. So yeah, this was pretty good. Yeah, this was not bad. You know, like I said, I I was totally surprised in a good way because I I thought, oh boy, we're gonna have six of the same, and it wasn't. So that's awesome. So cool. Yeah, you know, we're I'm glad we went over and picked these up. And we we do have, you know, we'll have a few other episodes coming where we've we we have a number of. Oh, I'm trying to remember. I know we got some ale, we got some ale. We got some oatmeal stouts or like lower ABV stouts. We've got some other stuff too that we can uh match up with things. Yep. So I think it'll be it'll be a good thing, you know, kind of put some of those out there in and amongst the the heavy duty duty just stuff. So yeah, awesome. Cool, Jim. Thank you so much for uh going with to find these, yes, for buying the V8 can say we should buy that, right?
SPEAKER_02Because that was not in the same spot the other ones were no, no, it was kind of searching.
Where To Message Us Online
SPEAKER_01We did find exactly and uh yeah, and for partaking in the Pilsners, man, that was it was good, and for all those craft beer like naysayers, this was their chance to get on here with us to actually show us what you're talking about. So there you go. We're gonna have to give some more opportunities for all the maybe we'll see. So, yeah, well, awesome, man. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you enjoy this. And like we said before, go out and find these. Uh, you know, if you're a pilsner drinker, you don't have to stick to just the big box or the big, you know, the big brands. There's all sorts of craft uh pilsners out there, and I think you'll be a surprise at the different flavors that you're gonna find, and I think you'll probably like them. So, you know, I think a lot of people think that craft beer is either really hoppy like IPAs or really heavy, you know, high ABVs, and they don't, they're not, you know, they're they got these options as well. So make sure you go out and check those out. So, anyway, Jim, thank you so much. We will reconvene and figure out what we're gonna do the next show. If you're in the lacrosse area at the end of April, make sure to well, before then you better go online and buy tickets, right? Because I know they still have some for sale, but it's probably running out soon. So let's hope this weather will be nice like today. If the weather is like like today, then the beer will be a flowing. Yes. So awesome. Well, cool, man. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, thanks for listening. And like we always say, we hope your campfire is always warm. Your beers are always cold. See, thank you for listening to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, a comment, or a beer you'd like us to review, please feel free to send us a message at northwoodsbeerguy at gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you're on Untapped, look up Northwoods Beer Guy and send a friend request. Until next week, I hope all your campfires are warm and all your beer is cold.
