Victory Prima Pils

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company
Style: Pilsener
Downingtown, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Flute, Footed Pilsner

Aroma: This is in fact a pilsner, weird cause it smells like an amazing IPA! Huge citrus hops on the nose, like a bouquet of freshly picked backyard hops thrown into one of those fizzy yellow beers we’re all supposed to dislike. Very impressive! Appearance: A nice pale straw to golden color with tons of CO2 bubbles fighting their way up the glass to escape. The head is maintaining a sturdy two finger height despite my best efforts to restrain it to fit in my favorite pils glass. A very nice champagne looking pils. Taste: Wow hops! This beer should be its own style IPP because I don’t know if you can have this much hop character, at least the huge fruity hop kind, in a pils. After the blast of hop flavor a very pleasant malt accent comes through lending a bit of rich and delicately sweet flavor to balance all those alpha acids. Then the beer hops your face off again. Palate: Light and spritzy on the palate due to the great acidity and carbonation. This lager is very light in body and left my mouth very refreshed and yearning for another sip. Overall: The best pils I’ve ever had, ever. This beer has so much character and flavor it could be overwhelming to find it in a pils but the balance of flavors comes together to create on extremely hoppy and satisfying lager!

12oz bottle. Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a thin white head. Aroma is of floral hoppiness with a background of sweetness. The taste starts with a nice bitter punch in the front. Some floral notes. There’s some lingering bitterness on the back. The slightest bit of sweetness near the end. Mouthfeel is light-bodied yet lasting; very interesting. Refreshes the palate tremendously.

Pours golden yellow with a fine white head. Aroma of floral/piney hops, fresh grain malt, hints of herbal character. Flavor is light and sweet with quite a pronounced hop-bite for a pilsner, but it all balances off to a crisp finish. Body is light and smooth, finely effervescent with resounding bitterness. This is a king among pilsners.

Ok, Im not a fan of pils, but this one was a bit more than tolerable, so Id call it a win.

12oz bottle in Flute glass (expired though, but can’t taste any defects). Pours bright, opaque golden color with a thin white head. Earthy, breadlike aroma. Bitter, with the hops clearly dominating the aftertaste. Full, creamy body. A great pilsner, which normally isn’t my style of beer.

This one is too hoppy for me. To me, this isn’t quite balanced as I would have hoped. The aroma and appearance are good, but the taste is not everything I had hoped for. This bottle is only a day or two prior to best by date so could have lost a lot from fresh. For those taking note, I’d say Boulevard Pilsner is one of my benchmarks for the style. I think it is a nicely balanced super easy drinker.

I find myself newly sympatico with the pilsner cause. Maybe it has to do with the warm springlike weather. Or with having had almost nothing but double IPAs and barleywines all winter long. But I am so ready for this. A nice crisp pilsner like from the old country. I would give it a 9 or 10 in the taste category if there just slightly more bitterness.

UPDATED: APR 25, 2010 On tap at Pizzeria Paradiso, Washington DC, 6 March 2010. Attractive clear gold colour. Moderate white head. Biscuity malt aroma. Not too bready. Good balance of grassy hops and light toasted malt on the palate. Some lasting bitterness. Very refreshing and crisp.