Buzzards Bay Pilsner

Pours deep gold into a shaker. White head pancakes and recedes leaving spider lacing. Sweet caramel malt and saaz hop aromas. Crisp with upfront caramel turning astringent in the lasting metallic and pepper hop finish.

12oz Bottle - Downtown Liquors, Somerville, MA. Very subtle and light, herbally-influenced mineral nose. Pours a brilliant, shining clear pale gold, with a tall frothy mauve with good lace. Flavor is distinctly herbal and kind of flaccid. A bit wet and sticky. I’m digging here, but just not finding much to get excited about. Hop bitterness is tentative, metallic, tinny, and thin. It definitely has a characteristic Bohemian Pils ring, but it’s lacking good malt character and nice fresh hoppy snap. I suspect this bottle may be a bit older, unfortunately. However, it’s one of the last. I get the feeling I will miss Buzzard’s Bay, even though I don’t full appreciate that right now.

Has a nice golden color. Smells mostly of malts with a little bit of hops. Taste is full of malts. A true pilsener taste. Good job as always Buzzards Bay.

My Bottom Line:
This unfiltered blond lager’s peppery and spicy hoppiness develops arrogant bitterness once the hay-like pale malts and their silky ways are done establishing a comfortable mouthfeel.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A sticky tower of foam thrones over the nearly clear honeyed straw blond, lacing admirably.
-I wouldn’t say this is an authentic Bohemian Pilsener (the Magnum hops’ bitterness is disproportionate and inappropriate stylistically speaking), but hedonistically, this is a smashing quaffer.
-The nose does not express much of what is to come flavor-wise; subtle wooden noble hops, but that’s it. This Saaz must not be in fresh leaf form.
-Some citrusy fruitiness is perceived within.
-Honeyed undertones are tasted.
-The wooden ad leafy hop dryness is on the verge of being vegetal in its intensity. This hop-happy finish is not really balanced, but I don’t care.
-The soft carbonation is made of big bubbles.

Bottles and on tap at the Dark Horse Tavern, Southbridge.

Great lacing. Clean, grainy/grassy hop aroma and flavor. Good amount of hops to it. Very nice.

A remarkable surprise (though I should not be surprised no more to fall upon great lagers well below the radar). While not the most authentic example, this is a shining, bright and crisp pilsner with a hefty, much sharper than most hoppiness. It pours a deep golden, darker than most colour and immediately produces a lasting, generous white foam which clings up the glass. Highly grassy, spicy, herbal aroma where the gentle bready, freshly cerealic malt mostly plays a second role to the lively hops. Clean and bright in mouth with a rather lasting, slightly sulphury, slightly metallic, but dry and bitter finish. My goodness, this is dry and refreshing and the medium-full body is perfectly engaging with its sharp carbonation. To me, shockingly underrated and I’m cleaning the shelves of every Buzzards Bay out there the nest time I’m in MA.

Bottle. Pours a honey amber body with a fluffy white head. A slightly sweet aroma and loads of iron or copper. More metallic flavors, and some off hop character. Either this is bad or this is horrible. Im not sure i can even slug this while its still freezing, drain pour!!

Bottle and 1st rating at EBF weekend ’09. Pours with hardly a head. Aroma is metalic and peach, not a good sign. Flavor is cardboard and tin with a nasty hop bitterness. I doubt I’ll have a worse beer for a while, a few days at least.