JosephsBrau Hopfest

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

This pils pours a light golden- orange colour with a decent sized white head. It has plenty of hoppy aroma and taste but ends with a watery hop finish.

Clear gold body, dense stark white head. Very floral aroma. The flavor is full of noble hops and bread. The palate is quite fizzy and rather full bodied for the style. Overall quite enjoyable.

12oz bottle from trader joe’s. Clear gold color with a fluffy, lacy head. Aroma of grassy, spicy hops, light bread and bread crust. Bready malts under and herbal, spicy hop kick. I like how the hops make themselves known, but they don’t gel quite right with me. Noble hops tend to do that with me though, when they are more forward in the flavor profile. A little fuller than I expected for the style, but refreshing and crisp. A tasty pils; not bad for the price, and way fresher than most German imports.

This is a good beer at a good price. I don’t know, some of these reviewers are a little harsh, if you ask me. It looks good, has a nice aroma and tastes really good. The body is on the heavy side for a pilsner, but I like that. I hate light beers. There is a nice bitter finish and no off flavors. I could drink a bunch of these. I am really impressed with Gordon Biersch products, especially from a quality-to-price standpoint. I know this is not some super-duper imperial pilsner with 9% ABV and 65 IBUs, but hey, it’s a good pilsner that’s way better than the macros and about the same price.

12 oz bottle from Trader Joes. Light golden in color; crystal clear with some head and lacing. Aroma is typical of a pilsener, as is the taste. Some bitterness backs the floral sweetness. The name leads me to believe this might be hoppier, so it left me disappointed.

12 oz bottle from Trader Joes. Pours a light amber with a white head, average taste with bitter dry finish.

Pours a light amber with a few fingers of white head. A little bit of light hop odor. Starts off clean without much real taste, and ends with a bit of a hop aftertaste, but there’s nothing particularly stand-out about this beer, flavor wise. A drinkable beer, but I’d probably reach for something else if I had the choice.

12 oz. bottle, blurb and batch number on the back label, sampled in a pilsener glass. Purchased at the Trader Joe’s in Chesterfield, Missouri. Clear in appearance, poured a bright orangey golden with a frothy white head, decent retention, settled into a sudsy lacing, a light amount of sticking. Light hop aroma, floral and touches of Hallertau spiciness, pretty much like it states on the back label. Mild grassy, honey grains and pale malt sweetness, overall, better aromatics than I was expecting. Crisp light body, smooth drinkability with a dry clean finish. Honey grains and buttery biscuits, not most substantial of malt backbones, but passable. Soft hop presence, lemony herbs and enough spicy bitterness at the finish to cleanse the palate. Nothing great, but for what it is, a low priced pilsener, this will do quite nicely in a pinch.