Thunder Canyon Dry River Pils

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

Sampled on tap at the brewery
This beer arrives with a half-finger thick, pale, white colored head. The color is quite gold and is not quite perfectly clear. The aroma smells very malt focused for a Pils; grassy grain notes, a touch of malt sweetness and even something that is almost like corn. There is a faint, herbal hop aroma here, but it is somewhat muted.

The flavor has more of a herbal hop character than the aroma suggested and there is a bitterness that contributes a nice bite to the finish. Sweet malt notes and a clean grain character are evident and in fact noticeable enough that this does not quite have the hop focus that a Pils should have. This has a fuller mouthfeel from the more noticeable malt character.

This is not really typical of a Pils in that it is more malty; the sweetness gets in the way of the crisp, dry character that is typical of a German Pils. The malt fullness is somewhat like a Bohemian Pilsner, but it does not have the malt complexity, nor the ample, balancing hop character of that type. Not bad, it just seems to miss the mark a bit.