Port Brewing Panzer Imperial Pilsner

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

Aroma - lots of grassy goodness in the aroma, a fair bit of honeyish malts

Appearance - crystal clear, golden body, 2" white head, nice retention

Taste - this is where I really enjoyed the beer. Bready was the thought that first jumped out at me. Bready, peppery, lots of floral hops...really enjoyed the spicy/peppery angle. Alcohol was well hidden.

Overall - another fine brew from Port. It’s always a pleasure to get the chance to pop one of their beers open.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Bottle from BOLTZ7555. Thanks Jason! Gold color and pours with a nice thick fluffy head. Excellent lacing after each sip. Bready in the aroma with grains, corn and herbs. Surprisingly not an amped up aroma. Very sweet and malty tasting. Corn, bread, sticky honey, grain, bitter hops. Ok, no hiding the Imperial part of this here. A sharp alcohol sting that is really distracting. A bit sour too. Shows every bit of 9.5% and then some. Meh. Once upon a time I liked the idea of an Imperial Pilsner and since this seems like a pretty good representation of one I guess I don’t anymore. It just doesn’t have the crisp and refreshing qualities I love from a good Pils. I guess sometimes less is better. I will say that this grew on me a bit after I wrote these comments. Of course that could have been the alcohol warming me up.

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

Bottled@Beer Hunters, Pori. Slightly hazy yellow colour, small white head. Aroma is rather grassy and hoppy with some slight malts and mild nuttyness as well. Flavour is quite much the same. Not all too balanced.

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

A nice clear golden orange beer with a huge frothy white head. The aroma is grassy malt and a hint of floral hops. The flavour was well balanced between the malt and the hops with a citrusy tang to boot. Good beer.

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

Bottle: Poured a hazy golden color lager with a small foamy head with minimal retention and some light lacing. Aroma of dry European hops with some grainy malt notes. Taste is a mix between some some dry European hops with subtle floral notes and light astringency. Malt is dominated by grainy notes and doesn't really fits well with the beer. Body is full with limited filtration and carbonation is too low for style. Not my favorite style but I still think the malt and hops were not in perfect agreement and carbonation was too low for the style.

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

Sampled on 11/17/08. This Imperial Pilsner pours a deep orange gold color from a 22oz bottle. Small to medium sized white/beige foamy head with nice lacing. The aroma is herbal, floral, fruity and sweet. A medium to full bodied Imperial Pilsner. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are floral and a touch grapefruity. This beer is very hoppy for a pilsner, it would be hoppy for a lot of IPAs! It still has that spicy crisp character of a pilsner, but the hops just blow it out. Yet, it is fairly well balanced. Lively carbonation. Pretty much hide the 9.5% alcohol, except for a touch at the finish. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Pours with a frothy, initially three finger thick, light tan colored head the is held up by a persistent carbonation. The beer is a lightly copper tinged, deep gold color that shows brilliantly clear, bright gold color when held up to the light. The aroma is definitely hop focused, though perhaps not quite as whack you in the head expressive as I thought it was going to be (and this is not necessarily a bad thing). Grassy and lightly herbal up front, the aroma finishes with a fruity tropical fruit note that is a mix of mango, kumquat, lychee and sweet orange zest. Quite a bit of cracker-like grain character contributes a nice malt profile.

Lightly sweet up front, but soon picks up a nice herbal hop note that turns towards bitter, but then piquantly fruity in the long finish. I have never had a hoppy beer get bitter and then fruity in the finish; it is quite interesting that the tropical fruit notes are what lingering on the palate. Up front the herbal hops contribute an almost peppery bite that is something a bit like arugula, with all the sharp herbal note one would expect. The fruity hop notes are also noticeable up front, it is just that they mix in with the herbal hop notes so are not quite as prominent. The hop fruit notes lean towards lychee, ripe peach, kumquat and citrus oil, but they intermix quite well with the previously mentioned herbal notes as well as hints of hemp oil, raw-herbal notes and a touch of chive.

I like that this has the crisp character and herbal hop notes of typical Pilsner, yet it has that something else in the background with the fruity hop character that is not so typical. This is definitely interesting, more quaffable than beer of this strength should be yet (which is good for something with the name Pilsner on the label) with a certain heft and definite palate presence. Not as abrasive as double IPA; I was expecting this to be more harshly hoppy, but it is not and this is quite nice. This is actually really good and I am kicking myself all the more that I somehow missed out on Tovarish at GABF.