Franconian Beer Message Board
In search of a flowery pils |
| Posted by Jeff Romain on 2013-04-30 16:56:17 |
| Hi Don. When I think of Prima, rather than thinking of flowers, descriptors such as lemon verbena (Tettnanger), grass, pepper, and staunch bitterness come to mind...and the loathsome vitamin B and bread dough. Ick. As much as I want to embrace Prima (used to LOVE the stuff, driving three hours to score cases of it back in the early 2000s), I cannot help to now smell little more than vitamin B in this beer. Most of the beers at Victory are unclean like this, but Prima is the worst, which I just do not understand. I had the same experience with their Barumeister pils last year. Nothing but vitamin B. Love love love the bold hop hop treatment, though, but it's dirty to the point of being nauseating to me. I retry it every year with an open mind, but it never fails to induce a wince. The closest thing in Franconia that I have found to Prima Pils is Spezial Ungespundet (on separate visits, my notes of that beer range from "pretty nice" to "just shy of amazing" and Fischer Lagerbier. While the latter is exuberantly hoppy and predominantly lemony (presumably a mix of Spalt and Tettnanger, if I were to hazard a guess), I found the pils malt to be very husky. Michael adored the Fischer during our last visit, so the usual "to each his own" applies. Here is my two cents worth of thoughts on the Spezial (score was a 3.9 out of 5). Draught at Spezial in November, 2011 (on the hill): Lightly hazed chartreuse. Creamy, beaming-white head. Vibrantly hopcentric nose of lemon and pepper with accompanying sea air, haylike pils malt, and spruce tips. Wonderfully pungent, perfumey and elegant. Pillowy carbonation. Very natural in texture. Highly quaffable from the start as hops immediately unleash their herbal and spicy bitterness amid a salty mineral tinge which accentuates the dryness. Mild toastiness is present, though the malt is very clean with a feathery delicateness. Very complex and elegant hop character soars and zings with a minty and spicy interplay along with lots of bright grassiness and lemon zest bitterness. Champagnelike. Plenty of nectar to cover the palate and deepen the sharper, more herbaceous hoppiness. Trace lemon candy sweetness, but predominantly bright and zesty with some sprucelike accents, to boot. Rustic yeast signature adds heft to the core. Pils malt provides a beautifully sharp, firm, and dry crackery base. Closes dryly malty and staunchly mineralic with light a flowery succulence but largely zippy and vivaciously peppery with resounding lemony afterthoughts. A dazzling example of liquid harmony. Has pretty much everything I love about Franconian brewing, from the luxurious display of Tettnanger and skillfully extracted pils malt right down to the pronounced yeast bite. This is Prima Pils’ more attractive twin sibling. |
| Followups: |
 In search of a flowery pils by Jeff Romain on 2013-04-30 17:11:15 |
| In search of a flowery pils by Nick B. on 2013-05-01 01:41:57 |
| In search of a flowery pils by Jeff Romain on 2013-05-01 16:13:38 |
| In search of a flowery pils by Nick B. on 2013-05-01 23:40:45 |
| Deschutes by Nick B. on 2013-05-01 23:50:25 |
| Deschutes by Jason on 2013-05-02 05:03:39 |
| In search of a flowery pils by Jeff Romain on 2013-05-02 12:32:17 |
| In search of a flowery pils by Nick B. on 2013-05-02 23:52:43 |
| Deschutes by Nick B. on 2013-05-03 00:08:20 |