Åbro Bryggmästarens Bästa Pilsener

Brewed by Åbro Bryggeri
Style: Classic German Pilsener
Vimmerby, Sweden

Serve in Flute, Footed Pilsner

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draft at the Green Lion Inn, Malmo, Sweden. soft, dusty and mineral-rich nose with light dishsoap phenols and touches of toasted corn kernels and semi-sweet grains. delicate softness and finese to the body and no glaring brewing flaws. medium-low hop rate with light prickly acid from both grain and hop, though the huskiness of the grains grows with time. still, it’s well-suited for its size and mostly clean. it’s not really that interesting of a beer, and flavor-wise it’s lacking personality and presence, but it’s clean and balanced at least.

‘Aufsturz’ in Berlin has a very large bottle menu, this caught my eye while in there (Jan 2012) as I perused the said menu: 33 cl bottle poured by myself into the correct glass. It’s a boring lager, OK, a boring Pilsner. If this was really named after the head brewer because he brewed it to his own taste, I’d hate to try the beers he thought were worse! I don’t know what I expected, something a bit more original and exciting perhaps: what I got was your regular golden clear bodied Pilsner with its white head that soon dissipates to a wispy covering. No smell and very little flavour in the mouth. The mouth is treated to a mildly sweet liquid that may well have had some malts and hops shown to it during its making, as the mouth dries the taste turns slightly metallic and somewhat bitterer. Having this in mid-winter might have been a mistake, but even during a hot summer this wouldn’t trouble anybodies taste buds: a beer to take after hard labour to slate your thirst before having a proper drink when you are cooler.

A pale looking lager. The flavour is quite thin and mild but it’s fresh and clean tasting. Low to medium carbonation.

Yellow color with small white head. Malty aroma. Malty taste with a little hops.

Bottle at the hotel in Berlin. Breakfast. Label says ’5%’. Pours clear, light gold with a fading, white fizz head. Cereal and light metal on the nose. Some citrusy hints. Medium sweet flavor, some grassy plastic, light toasted straw and grains. Light bodied with fizzy carbonation. Crisp finish, some mild dirty hop bite, light earth and grass, straw, toasted grain. Nothing special here.

My bottle at 5.0%, by 18 Mar 2012. Grassy, malty note with a spike in citrus. Clear yellow-golden with a creamy white head. Taste is sunshiny malt with super juicy noble hops, low bitterness and dry, nicely leafy with grass and citrus. Soft, creamy medium-body. I’d have thought, following the trend from Bavaria up through Northern Germany, that Scandinavian Piilsners would be even bitterer and brutaler, but that hasn’t been my experience. A grainy bit of hay in there, but overall a good one.

UPDATED: MAR 1, 2012 Bottle. Yellow colour with a small white head. Sweet nose. Sweet malty flavour with a dry finish.

Clear yellow with a white head. Aroma is sweet, malty and light hoppy - grass. Flavor is medium sweet and light bitter. Dry and light bitter finish. Light bodied. 110711

Bottle. Pale gold with a medium lasting head. Aroma is malt bread. Flavour is sweet malt and dry. Finish is a bit cloying and very dry

330ml bottle from berzwerg! This rating has been quite a few months ago. The bottle looks very classy, like it very much. In the glass is a golden yellow beer with good, medium-fine crown. Smells very pleasant spicy, aromahoppy. Starts sweet hoppy, very sticky, also artificially metallic. Also, the aftertaste is very stuffy and artificial. For the middle section is in addition a discreet malt-aroma which improves the whole thing a little.