what is your favorite commercial pilsner? i been on a real pilsner kick lately and it would be cool to get some pilsner recommendations, my beer distributor does not have a big selection of pilsners everything is IPA these days, but so far im really impressed with victory prima pils
Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils
Prima is a great one. You can’t go wrongh with either Heater Allen or Pfriem. In the summer, Bitburger is my beer of choice.
My fav Pils is Schmucker bier Meister Pils
Keesmann Herren Pils, in and around Bamberg.
pFriem, Pivo, Nooner, Never and Koenig all hit the spot.
I like Keller Pils by Summit Brewing. Their Dakota Soul is good, also.
Nobody’s mentioned poor old Pilsner Urquell. They’ve taken measures to improve shipping and it arrives fairly fresh now. Of course the stuff in the bottle bears absolutely zero resemblance to the genuine, pre-1990 beer. But it’s a decent beer vaguely the north German style now, and fresher than most imports, so usually a safe bet at the bar if not an interesting one. I can’t find Bitburger or most others that aren’t quite stale. Then again I have the same problem with Prima, it’s always hazy and dull. Distributor issues. I had Prima fresh only once, and that was very nice indeed, but maybe a little out of style, for European style at least, maybe not US craft. There’s a big distinction to be made there. If, and only if, you can find it very fresh, Krušovice is a fine Bohemian beer, but owned by Heineken, its handling is not given priority attention. (First SAB Miller and now Asahi seem to have better appreciated what they got in Urquell, but that’s for another topic.)
I like Bitburger but wouldn’t even say it’s a favorite. Gordon Biersch makes phenomenal lagers. And locally around here, no one makes them better than Copper State in Green Bay, which are every bit as good as imports.
GABF German Pils Gold Medal Winner; Netflix & Pils
Bit is a guaranteed fresh Pils in a can no less. I get fresh 4 packs all day where I’m at.
I would say either Ayinger or Weihenstephan.
I envy you for your distributor, sir.
Central NY is a hell of a beer region.
I like prima a lot. I’ve never tried Bitburger, it’s definitely the right price. I think it’s $5.99 a 4 pack (tallboys) or something like that. Any idea on how to figure out what distributors carry in the area? There’s a sizable AB Inbev distributor in town.
If you Google “beer distributors in [your area,]” their websites will list their portfolios. If I have stale beer, I find out who distributes it locally and avoid wasting money on the other brands they carry if it doesn’t seem to be the retailer’s fault – and I know my retailers well enough. Sadly that doesn’t always leave a lot of choice. But hey, homebrew is always fresh!
While its not my favorite Pils of all time, Northcoast Scrimshaw has been tasting pretty nice lately. They’ve apparently made improvements in their recipe or production methods.
Really? I buy 4 packs at Trader Joe’s and they’re always great.
Just looked at a 4 pack of Bitburger in my regular, trusted supermarket today, it was packaged just shy of 6 months ago. One problem I think I’ve detected with imported beers, is distributors apparently getting one big fresh shipment, warehousing it, and doling it out to their accounts over the course of a year. This makes no business sense to me, having stock that’s not out in trade, unless warehouse space costs you virtually nothing and offsets some cost associated with multiple individual shipments. If warehouse space costs nothing, it probably isn’t climate controlled either. Which I’d buy, since even seasonals like Oktoberfest from the distributor(s) in question arrive in pretty bad shape.
i just picked up some super fresh prima and i think its brewed to style, idk what would make this “out of style” its hoppy, its clean, grainy pilsner malts, but as we all know when we get imported G pils they are alot of times stale but if you drank the same beer in germany the hops would be alot more assertive and much more pronounced flavors anyway drunkn ramble, prima seems to fit the style in my mind
Of course this is the moment when my brain goes “Damn… I had a really good Bo Pils recently, but what was it?”
I’ll second the pFriem as a really good one, albeit very local to PacNW.
I’ve had Pilsner Urquell a couple of times and it can be hit or miss. As mentioned, based on freshness. Urquell also has a very distinct “off flavor” (one of the ones that is OK is certain styles but bad in others) that I am blanking on right now… light diaceytl or maybe light DMS? It’s often used in tasting classes as an example of that off flavor. Even when it’s “allowed” in certain styles it’s hard to turn that away from being “bad” in your brain.