Mikkeller Tjekket Pilsner

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

A good but odd pilsner. The beer pours a cloudy, muted golden-poppy color with a foamy white head that collapses into a small creamy cap. The beer really looks more like a hefeweizen than a pilsner, and this was a very conservative, careful pour, leaving a third of the bottle with all of the yeast sediment for later. The aroma is muted. It lacks the normal hop aromas that generally mark the style, and has more of a yeasty, slightly smoky nose. The smoke comes through in the flavor, too. I’ve never had a smoky pilsner before, so points for originality. The smoke is actually one of the nicest parts of the beer. Otherwise, the beer is good but not great. It lacks enough hop bite, but it’s rather dry, so it’s less of a problem. The beer is crisp but needs more carbonation to really push it further along this road. The smoke is the unexpected star. It’s relatively light and fits in surprisingly well with a light lager.

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

Pours out in a gazy golden colour with a small creamy white head. Grassy and spicy hop aroma with touches of biscuits and white pepper. Medium-bodied crisp notes of grass, mild pepper, herbs, grains and biscuits. Medium-bitter crisp finish of grassy and spicy hops.

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

Sampled on 10/23/2009. This Bohemian Pilsner pours a hazy medium yellow color from a 33cl bottle. Medium to large sized rocky foamy head. The aroma is grassy, spicy and grainy. A medium bodied Bohemian Pilsner. The malts are grassy and grainy. The hops are spicy and herbal. Lots of small carbonation bubbles. A nice crisp and clean pilsner. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean, crisp and dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.