Branko's B&A Pilsner (Paisley India Pale Ale)

Branko's B&A Pilsner

So TimmyMcOwnsYou recently sent me some of his home-brewed beer. Tonight I had some time to sit down and try his Pilsner.

This bottle has apparently been maturing for over 3 months, en lees. In fact, this is the first pilsner I've ever had en lees, which was interesting in itself. The colour was also darker than any pilsner I've ever seen, a medium brown, murky as is the way with unfiltered beers. There was definitely some hops present in the taste. I wouldn't peg it on the level of an Urquell or a Budvar, but definitely some presence. More of a flowery, endearing hops flavour rather than a strong bitter punch as is the Eastern European style. The overal taste was however robust and full, without any unpleasant imbalances. There was some malty flavour too, something I'm not used to getting from a pilsner, but it was good none the less. The body owed much of itself to the yeast, so I'm curious as to what a filtered version would taste like. Definite congratulations are in order for keeping the alcohol level strong while the beer stayed smooth, again a charactaristic owed to the yeast being left in the beer. Was it a pilsner true to the eastern european style? No, I don't think so. The colour, the robustness of the yeasty flavour, the lack of bitter hops bite all point away from proper charactaristic pilsner. Even the headfoam wasn't anywhere as tight and stable as I'd expect from a pilsner. Was it a good beer? Definitely. I really enjoyed it, and was actually surprised at how good it was. Re-label it as a brown ale or even an IPA, and you have a winner.

 

Branko's B&A Pilsner

Then whoever labelled the bottles definitely gets the failure prize for today.

Is the one labelled IPA gonna be the pils?