Paulaner Premium Pils

Why I tried this: First off, before I want to get to why I grabbed this beer, I want to say welcome back to our viewers. Blogger was down for a couple days and we sadly could not post any updates. With that said, I was naturally sitting at the bar at World of Beer, and I wanted something light. However, not just any light style beer would do. I wanted a solid pilsner. I came across Paulaner's Premium Pils in the menu, and having had enjoyed other beers from them such as the Hefeweizen, this was a pretty easy choice.

Smell: Had a yeasty, bready aroma to it, combined with a mild floral hoppiness. It's how I would expect a good pilsner to smell.

Taste: First you get a pretty strong taste of yeasty bread and malts. The initial sip is moderately carbonated, and has a spice bite to it. As the malts fade, a mildly bitter hoppiness breaks out, which lingers on the back of the tongue as you finish your sip. It's crisp, that's for sure. For a pilsner, this is pretty top notch.

Overall, I'd give Paulaner Premium Pils an empty glass award. While a pilsner is not my favorite beer style, and admittedly its capacity for flavor is limited compared to, say, a belgian or stout, I found this particular pils to be excellent. Now that it's starting to get pretty warm out, these kind of beers really start to shine, because they are easy to drink, refreshing, and if brewed properly, can be fairly tasty. This Paulaner falls into that category, and thus deserves my recommendation.

--Jeff

Erie Presque Isle Pilsner

Why I tried this: It was just another day at the office...err, World of Beer. I was just looking for something new on tap that wouldn't kill me. I'd had a few beers from Erie before, and having been unimpressed with what I've tried thus far, I initially skipped over this beer. However, my choices on the draft list were getting slim, and a pilsner sounded like just the thing for me, so I went with this beer.

Smell: I didn't really get much from this beer. Had a slight earthy hop, but only very slightly. Perhaps a bit of a bready, yeasty smell.

Taste: Not much here either. You get a slight bitterness from hops, and a certain dryness that is probably one of the few pleasing qualities of this beer. There is a slight spic

e towards the end, but overall not a strong flavor, and what's there doesn't hold when it all finally goes down.

I think it's pretty fair to say this beer will only get a half glass award from me. It's a pretty forgettable beer that lacks a good scent and doesn't have much going on in the taste department either. It's not a very crisp or clean pilsner, and was honestly just too hard to figure out what they were trying to do with this beer. I did like the dryness of the beer, and that it was fairly easy to drink, but that's about it. A good pilsner should be clean, crisp, and have lots of good flavors blended together. This does not. I won't be trying this beer again, and don't recommend it.

--Jeff

Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner

Why I tried this: I was feeling in a pilsner mood. The name struck me as interesting, so I thought I'd dive in with this mermaid.

Smell: I was hit with a moderately strong smell of bitter hops, which I thought was a bit unusual for a pilsner. It had the profile of a pale ale. There was also an underlying sweetness to the smell. Overall, not bad. Time to dig in.

Taste: Yuck. I really think they tried to do too much with this beer. You get a very strong bitter hops taste of grass and perhaps oak. There was an attempt to balance this out with a hint of caramel malts, but it's too little, too late. The hops just leaves a bad taste on my tongue.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this beer a 4. Overall, this beer was needlessly complex to the point where it just doesn't make sense. The flavors don't work, and while the scent is fairly enjoyable and the beer makes for a nice looking pour, unfortunately taste is nine tenths of the law. If they simplified between a couple hops and toned down their intensity, perhaps add a bit of citrust, this beer might stand a chance. As is, I don't recommend.

--Jeff

Radeberger Pilsner

Why I tried this: While not normally a fan of pilsners, I've long been a fan of Radeberger. However, WoB had just gotten it on tap, so I of course had to revisit this classic.

Smell: The first thing I noticed was a distinct, and strong, hoppy smell. There were also light undertones of various herbs and grains, but it was mostly overpowered by the hops.

Taste: Bitter, crisp, hoppy. The hoppiness is never overpowering, and the crispness of the beer is really what makes it shine. The flavor is consistent and follows all the way down. An excellent beer of its style.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this beer an 8.5. For a pilsner, the taste of this beer is quite good. It's also very easy to drink, and pleasing to the tongue. The crispness is quite incredible, and truly feels like it's refreshing you. It's definitely something I'd recommend to any level beer drinker. Here's an interesting fact: Radeberger is one of the top 10 brewers in all of Germany, and this particular pilsner is imported nationwide.

Glasses up!

--Jeff

I really enjoyed this beer as well. I agree nothing with this beer was overpowering, all flavors worked together great and made this well rounded and delicious. 8/10

--Jon