JosephsBrau Hopfest

Brewed by Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
Style: Classic German Pilsener
Palo Alto, California USA

12oz bottle. Glear gold, white head. Sticky honey malt nose with some light corn and fuesal notes. Light sweetness of front of corn and sugared grains, somewhat sticky and oily. Lacks definite crispness, sits flabby on the tongue, and develops a flavor of olive oil and corn.

Clear yellow-gold pour, aroma of bready pilsner malt and floral hops. Flavor follows aroma, hops are up-front and fresh, a nice kick that takes this brew up a notch to something interesting. Refreshing and drinkable, well made and different.

12oz Bottle - Trader Joes - Tacoma, WA
Aroma – Decent malt, with a good amount of hops in the nose.
Appearance – Golden in color, Nice head and clear.
Flavor – Good IPA flavor this had a nice malt backing and the hops where very nice.
Palate – Nice Mouthfeel, Decent texture with a good dry finish.
Overall – This was a pretty good beer. Liked the flavor and this beer was crisp and great for the hot day.

"HOP"fest? I didn’t think it was too serious anyway, since I’ve had few to no hoppy pilsners, but I thought I’d give it a try anywho. Poured a light/medium-bodied golden-copper with a thin white head. Smells very plain and barely any character except perhaps malt. It tastes just that--nothing defining or interesting about this, and DEFINITELY no hops. I mean, this brew was only $1, but the buck would have been better spent on a hundred mechanical pony rides at the grocery store. Bleh.

Bottle from Trader Joe’s. Sweet floral aroma with a touch of spice. Body is a sickly golden and head is a firm, brilliant white. Taste is light and bready, with light bitterness and a dry end. Crisp, clean attack, floral hops have disappeared somewhat but still left a bit of feel behind. Medium body. Not bad in a pinch, and no one here’s complaining about the price..

Bottle- fully chilled, so I’m not getting much hop aroma, a little dms (corn cob). Taste is sweet and malty, corn again (but minimal) low underlying hop bitterness (just enough), finishes out slightly watery with some mid tongue hops. For 5.49/sixer, this is a fair deal (considering the price of beer these days) a decent drinking, unoffensive brew that will please non-beer geek friends, but nothing that will impress anyone who knows anything about beer. Halfway between bud and a real pils. Still doesn’t get a 3 though.

12oz Bottle. A light cusp of hop leaf sugars and settled grain malt build a pilsener nose, a touch hoppy. Pours a middle gold-yellow, faintly translucent with a well-held rim in white. Flavor develops quietly. A medium-bodied grain sugar, with very distant and not distracting metallic and corn notes. Some deeper, toothier sugars show for a bit of complexity. Towards the end the hop finish comes on strong and rich. A good glowing Noble finish for a real crisp, bright smack. Not dusty. This isn’t bad! I think it’s a very respectable German Pils. Not much off-flavor, decent body, great balance and good hop finish. Suprisingly nice work.

What can be said; it’s a grassy lager. Crisp, yellow fizzy appearance. a hop-moderated barnyard smell. The taste was like enchiladas, maybe more the tortilla smell than anything else, but oddly consistent with the barnyard attribute. I actually like this more than most mediocre lagers though thanks to the added floral hop aroma.