Black Forest Imperial Pilsner

Brewed by Black Forest Brew Haus
Style: European Strong Lager
Farmingdale, New York USA

Tap at Blind Tiger. Rich pale golden colour with a thick creamy white head. Aroma is loaded with sweet spicy Saaz hops. Lemon citrus, zesty spiciness over a rich bready pale malts. Soft minerally character on the nose as well. Flavour is richly hoppy with lots of fresh herbal/floral flavour over the sweet cereally malts. Bitterness is quite soft and balances the sweetness quite nicely. It could be hoppier yet, but it is quite a nice fresh example of the style. Soft palate but still a bit carbonic tasting. I still like it.

Draft at the Blind Tiger. Blond pour with some white head that dissipated quickly. Aroma is clove, banana, lemon / citrus. Flavor is grainy malt (similar to the outstanding miller high life) with some sweet banana and clove / spices. Interesting and refreshing. The spicing was a little too much at first, but got better further into the beer.

Growler from Brewpub: Pours a rich golden color with a slight haze and a creamy white head. The aroma is a nice crisp and spicy German hop character with some mild orange peel fruitiness and some doughy character. The body has a nice thick velvety carbonation. Has a near perfect Pilsener profile. The body has a rich bready malt base with a very subtle sweetness. The German hops give it a great balancing spicy zest, which is mildly orangey and peppery. The finish has the perfect amount of zesty bitterness to make it dangerously drinkable. Just damn delicious, with no evidence of the high alcohol content. An outstanding Pilsener!

Poured a lightly hazed gold with a nice long lasting white head. The aroma was of light biscuity malt and just a hint of floral hop. Earthy and floral hop with toasty malt and sulfur taste. Moderately bitter dry finish. Light-medium body.

Quite a good beer! Cloudy (ie - unfiltered) golden yellow body, nice frothy head. Very pleasant and easy to drink despite the higher alcohol content. Very well-balanced, with a good amount of malts and a refreshing, yet subdued hoppiness.

All I can do is pretty much reiterate what Eugene has said about this beer - nice cloudy pour, with quite a frothy head - beautiful, full nose, loaded with sweet floral character and a nice, fresh hop profile - I, too, would not have guessed the ABV - it just seems like a nicely hopped, full-bodied, hearty pils - the floral characteristics combine perfectly with the hops, and the medium sweetness adds a honey-like quality that compliments the flower flavors well - one of the better "imperial pilsners" I’ve had.

Was at the brewpub to try the Smoked Cherry Dunkelweisse and the Smoked Hefe was kicked. As I am sitting there enjoying my beer the bartender throws me a sample of something and says Imperial Pilsner (this is one of the few times writing notes in a brewpub pays off). So I enter this as a Pilsner for now, though these types seem to usually go into Euopean Strong Lager categories. The reason: if I didnt know what I was drinking I would think this is just a good, malty, thick pilsner. Pretty much its just a slightly thicker, a more cloudy yellow, and slightly more hopped version of their regular pils. I mean nothing in the category of a DFH Golden Shower. Cannot see through the beer at all. Nice thick head. Aroma and taste have a good lemon aspect. A good subtle hop character of some sort, nothing too strong and nothing American. A meduim-low bitterness. Would never guess 8.5 alcohol.