Beer of the Weekend #603: Polestar Pilsner
High school football kicks off in Iowa tonight and my dad and I are planning to attend the Cedar Falls–City High game. Instead of cramming a post-game report and beer review into my schedule before I go to bed tonight, I am moving the traditional BotW to this afternoon. It is something I may do a lot this fall.
The beer of the weekend is another recommendation from the beer peeps at the Co-op: Polestar Pilsner, brewed by the Left Hand Brewing Company of Longmont, Colorado.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. “BEST BY 12/23/14” is printed on the shoulder.
Appearance: Pours a light straw color into a pilsner glass. Two fingers of dense, white head dissipates slowly. A couple streams of bubbles rise from the bottom of the glass.
Smell: It is simple, crisp, and very zesty with bready pale malts (the beer’s webpage mentions “biscuity malt”), a little grassiness, and a big dose of sharp lemon zest.
Taste: Very bold with a lot of zest and hop bitterness. It mostly mirrors the aroma with lemon zest and biscuity malts, but the hop grassiness is much more prominent. The front end offers light apple and a little strawberry, and the tail leaves a lingering bitterness that works the tonsils. The mouthfeel and finish are very dry.
Drinkability: Damn, this is good stuff! Flavorful, crisp, and dry, it puts macrolagers to shame.
Fun facts about Polestar Pilsner:
-Style: Pilsner.
-Price: $8.99/sixer at the New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City.
-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.
-Serving temperature: 40–45ºF, according to the back label. (Kudos to Left Hand for providing the information!)
-IBU: 33.
-Color: Left Hand pegs the color at 4 SRM.
-Here is the description via the beer’s webpage:
-One of the selling points of Polestar Pilsner was a story the beer guy at the Co-op told me. He recommended Polestar Pilsner to a German who shops at the Co-op regularly. The German picked up a sixer and returned a couple days later and claimed Polestar Pilnser was the best pilsner he has had while in the United States. Having tried it, I think I partly know what he means. (At some point I will visit Germany and drink fresh German pilsner. Then, and only then, will I truly be able to compare European pilsners with those brewed here.)
-On that note, Polstar Pilsner was named the “best lager in America” by Men’s Journal.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
The beer of the weekend is another recommendation from the beer peeps at the Co-op: Polestar Pilsner, brewed by the Left Hand Brewing Company of Longmont, Colorado.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. “BEST BY 12/23/14” is printed on the shoulder.
Appearance: Pours a light straw color into a pilsner glass. Two fingers of dense, white head dissipates slowly. A couple streams of bubbles rise from the bottom of the glass.
Smell: It is simple, crisp, and very zesty with bready pale malts (the beer’s webpage mentions “biscuity malt”), a little grassiness, and a big dose of sharp lemon zest.
Taste: Very bold with a lot of zest and hop bitterness. It mostly mirrors the aroma with lemon zest and biscuity malts, but the hop grassiness is much more prominent. The front end offers light apple and a little strawberry, and the tail leaves a lingering bitterness that works the tonsils. The mouthfeel and finish are very dry.
Drinkability: Damn, this is good stuff! Flavorful, crisp, and dry, it puts macrolagers to shame.
Fun facts about Polestar Pilsner:
-Style: Pilsner.
-Price: $8.99/sixer at the New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City.
-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.
-Serving temperature: 40–45ºF, according to the back label. (Kudos to Left Hand for providing the information!)
-IBU: 33.
-Color: Left Hand pegs the color at 4 SRM.
-Here is the description via the beer’s webpage:
Once you have tasted a true Pilsner, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have seen the light, and there you will always long to return. Let Polestar guide you out of the wilderness, just as the North Star has guided explorers to their destinations and back home again. Light, crisp and elegant, pilsner is the true test of brewing prowess. Less is more.
-One of the selling points of Polestar Pilsner was a story the beer guy at the Co-op told me. He recommended Polestar Pilsner to a German who shops at the Co-op regularly. The German picked up a sixer and returned a couple days later and claimed Polestar Pilnser was the best pilsner he has had while in the United States. Having tried it, I think I partly know what he means. (At some point I will visit Germany and drink fresh German pilsner. Then, and only then, will I truly be able to compare European pilsners with those brewed here.)
-On that note, Polstar Pilsner was named the “best lager in America” by Men’s Journal.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
