DeGroens Pils

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Orangey yellow in color, more orange hues than your average pilsner. Very generous initial head, great retention, solid lacing, a pretty nice looking product (although those pilsner steady stream of rising bubbles weren't there). The aroma was caramel (pilsner?), light tea bags, some honey. The flavor was all of that, again more caramel than I'd expect in a pilsner, strong bitter hop touch, although not overly grassy. This thing is hopped like an IPA, rather original in that regard, but not really my cup of tea (or tea bags). Mouthfeel was moderate for the style, carbonated, but not overly so."

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Orangey yellow in color, more orange hues than your average pilsner. Very generous initial head, great retention, solid lacing, a pretty nice looking product (although those pilsner steady stream of rising bubbles weren't there). The aroma was caramel (pilsner?), light tea bags, some honey. The flavor was all of that, again more caramel than I'd expect in a pilsner, strong bitter hop touch, although not overly grassy. This thing is hopped like an IPA, rather original in that regard, but not really my cup of tea (or tea bags). Mouthfeel was moderate for the style, carbonated, but not overly so.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

The better of the two degroen’s selections I picked up at a wine bar in Maryland (the other was the Marzen). Nice and hoppy, lively effervescent aroma with a pleasant and quick finish. Doesn’t quite bite the throat, but really has a nice kick to it. Very enjoyable.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

One of seven beers that I brought back with me from my recent short trip to the Norfolk VA area -- after a run to Total Wine, of course.

From the very first sip, to the very last, one thing and one thing runs through my head when drink this: "Wow, there's a lot of Saaz in this beer!". In fact, at the risk of upsetting the legions of DeGroen's fans, it's almost too "Saazy" for my liking.

Poured nicely, with a thin but sturdy head of foam atop the golden body of beer. And of course the Saaz hops make themselves known early in the game, with the pleasant pugentness almost leaping out of the glass to greet you.

From the initial sip, it's pretty obvious where this beer is going -- that is to say, the dry and spicy Saaz hops taking full charge of the situation, and not backing down one bit, even at the very end of the glass.

This reminds me of an experiment that the homebrew club I'm a member of conducted a year or so ago. Everybody was given as much (or as little) Saaz hops that they wanted for their batch, with the stipulation being that they could use any malts, sugars, or yeasts that they wanted, but couldn't use anything but the Saaz hops. Most folks made Kölsch's, Alts, and a few Belgian-style ales; even an IPA was made with nothing but Saaz. Later on, we had a group tasting, which was meant to judge the resulting "all-Saaz-and-nothing-but-the-Saaz" homebrews. Let's just say that after all that sampling of Saaz-ridden beers, our palates were wiped out for a spell.

And while I can't say that this is anywhere near that onslaught of Saaz-enhanced beers, it is still a bit much, when it comes down to the overall mouthfeel and drinkability, IMO.

Pretty much the epitome of the "Anti-Macro Lager", since this is anything but a cheap, lifeless, decidedly unbitter macro-schwill. But while I appreciate the intent, and the overall craftmanship, I just can't say that this was all that enjoyable to me in the final analysis...
//TB

Aroma: 0 | Appearance: 0 | Mouthfeel: 0 | Flavor: 0 | Overall: 0

I had this one from the botttle and on tap at the brewery. It has a good bite that a good pilsner should have to it. This is one of their flagship beers.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Pours with a crisp clear golden body topped by a thin quickly disappearing head that leaves good lace behind. Slightly sweet yet bitter hop aroma with a malty background. Slightly Sweet and bitter flavor with slightly fruity malt accents and a bitter finish. Light bodied and smooth with a surprising warmth.