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“I got my first brewing job (where) I wanted to make lager more than I wanted to make anything else, so when it came time for my partner, Bill Eye and I to open our own brewery, we knew exactly what we wanted to do-make the beers we wanted to drink,” says Ashleigh Carter, head brewer and co-owner of Bierstadt Lagerhaus in Denver. The result is a beer that has the drinkability of your everyday lager with a bit more heft: a spicier, hoppier, or maltier quality are all possible when drinking a pilsner. His solution was to add Saaz hops, which help prevent the beer from spoiling while also altering its flavor. Enter the pilsner, a style that originated in the 19th century when Josef Groll came to the aid of the people of the Czech city, Plzeň who were plagued by a batch of “spoiled” lager. They go down easy, are smooth and refreshing, and typically lower in alcohol, all of these reasons are why I grab pilsner style beers.Sometimes you just want a beer-nothing fancy, nothing loaded with so many hops that you can’t taste anything except bitter pinecones for the next three hours-just a beer. But pilsner beer is just the beer for me - and brewers alike. “ IPA after IPA can just lead to a blurry night and obliterated taste buds and if you drink too many sours, we all know the crippling feeling that settles in from the acid content of those beers. “I have been brewing for almost ten years now and have been to my fair share of festivals, market launches, and other events where I find myself with a beer in hand for way too many hours of the day,” says Max Shafer, brewmaster at Roadhouse Brewing in Jackson Hole. Most in craft beer will admit that if you can nail a pilsner, you can nail just about any style. The latter appreciate its simplicity and the elegant touch needed to make it taste just right. Today, it’s championed by casual drinkers and brewers alike. Crisp, polished, and thirst-quenching, the pilsner has not looked back since 1842. It was the perfect pairing with a lighter style of malt, developed around the same time by the British.
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It’s considered a noble hop and beloved for its combo of earthy, spicy, herbaceous, and mild flavor (it features in Stella Artois and tons of other popular lagers).
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The classic pilsner hop is called Saaz and is a huge export in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe. Purity laws only allow for three main ingredients in a pilsner - hops, barley, and water. Another key factor is the purity laws that govern German brewing styles and many other styles in Europe. That’s ideal for brewing, especially when your specialty is lagers which depend on a clean flavor profile.
Pilsner beer vs lager free#
Pilzen was known for its soft water, meaning it was free of any harsh mineral content. Legend dictates that a big reason for the beer’s success was the resident water supply. On October 5th, 1842, a Bavarian brewer named Josef Groll presented the first pilsner to the public. Drinkers wanted consistency and drinkability and thanks to a city-owned brewing outfit in the Czech Republic (known today worldwide as Pilsner Urquell), that beer arrived. It was like a scene pulled straight from Prohibition, only it wasn’t sobriety the masses were after, it was better suds. To this day, ale implies top-fermented while lager stands for bottom-fermented.Ībout those bottom-fermented beers? One batch in Plzen was so bad that citizens drained barrels in the streets to advertise their disgust. The process tends to be a bit slower, involves lower temperatures, and almost always yields a cleaner beer. The pilsner was the first true bottom-fermented beer. Brewing this way requires higher temperatures and could result in irregularities and off-flavors or aromas. Essentially, this means that the wort was pitched yeast on the surface to get the fermentation process rolling. Prior to its invention in the mid-19th century, brewers top-fermented their beers.
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One of the most interesting aspects of its origin story is that pilsner literally turned the game on its head. It has since become one of the most brewed and guzzled beer styles anywhere. Named after the Czech Republic town (Plzen) it was born in, pilsner is the planet’s original pale lager. Of all the beers, pilsner has one of the coolest histories.