If there's one beer style that I very rarely select (aside from anything w/ 'smoke' in the title) it's a pilsner. I may have had that fact altered for me slightly last week.

I was in the Old Port on Friday running some last minute errands for my wife's 40th birthday, which was the following day of course, and realized that Gritty's was well within striking distance. This is what guys do, right? So I rang a friend whose office was equally within striking distance, and like any good mate, he agreed my idea was brilliant and I suddenly had one more to-do on my list for precisely 15 minutes from that moment.
Upon selecting my patch of copper sheeting upon which to rest my elbows, I asked Leon, the man at the controls, what was pouring that was short term. He said they'd brewed a small batch of pilsner, that it was strong (I think he said 6.2%), and that it would be gone very soon. I said that I didn't normally care for pilsner, in response to which he offered me a taste. And it was really, really, really good.

Pilsners by definition are very light straw to golden in color, are not too strong - usually in the 4%-5% range, and all taste somewhat alike to me. They originate from Bohemia - think Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, etc. Like stouts make you think of Great Britain, pilsners make you think of those countries. Examples of classic, model pilsners would be Pilsner Urquell (the pilsner to which all pilsners should be compared), Beck's, Stella Artois, Spaten, St. Pauli Girl and so on.

This 'Gritty's Pilsner' was, I would say, a deep, rich golden color with a fair amount of body. Nicely and emphatically hopped. And really delightful and quenching. So much so I had to have a second in my short little visit.

Thank you Leon.

Still made it to Minott's Flowers before they closed.

Proost,

Scott Dutton

E-mail this entry to a friend