Klášter Svetly Special (Premium Lager) 14°

Brewed by Pivovar Klášter
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Hradiště nad Jizerou, Czech Republic

Pretty nice brew for me, grassy, hoppy for the style. My bottle seemed very fresh although bought in California! Smooth and very nice to drink. I will try more from this brewery.

Gold pour with small white head and a lot of big carbonation bubbles. Aroma of big fruit, some pale male, honey, Brett, and candi sugar. Tastes malty, with hops, fruit, candi sugar. This one tastes a lot like a Belgian ale. Smooth, crisp palate and finish.

0.5l bottle. Golden and clear in color with a white head. Sweet grassy aroma. Malty flavor with a slight hop character. Hoppy finish. Slightly sweet flavor. Decent beer.

0.5l bottle. Golden, clear, white head. Very grassy sweet aroma. Malty grassy flavor, with a lingering hop bite. Slightly sweet. Finish is hoppy. I can see why this is not a favorite of many, but decent to me.

2004 bottle. Deep gold beer, with some corn-yellows and light copper tones. Huge white head, good lacing and great retention throughout the whole glass. Very clear and filtered. I must say, "Premium" beers are usually quite the opposite, but this one I enjoyed thoroughly. Good aggressive malt and hops aroma, saazy and spicy, with notes of perfume and yeast. Very strong herbal sense to it, like basil and sage almost. Flavor begins with a ton of honey pils malt, warm and quite thick. The medium to medium full body holds up nicely and there is no alcohol or skunkiness. Initially quite hoppy, lots of spice and grassy-meadow appeal. This beer can go either way, really as far as preference. On one hand, it loses it’s hops flavor quite quickly and the carbonation dies off as well. This presents a more thick, malty beer with less a crisp finish, though the yeast is still there. It certainly as the requisite 28-30 IBUs, but not a whole lot more. Not caring for hops all that much, I think this one gets them out of the way quickly and focuses on malt. Warm honey bread, lots of sweet dough and grains. By the end of the glass, I will admit to wanting more crispness on the end, but I also did let this beer warm up a good deal (I cant help it, I always do) and maybe that’s not such a good thing as far as crispness and carbonation. Ok, ramble over, I liked it.

Served cold in a fluted pilsner. Golden, if almost on the pale end of gold, average white head. Aroma mainly hoppy, if mild, slightly of dead leaves, grass and a touch of lemon. Rounded malts up front, hops well integrated into a balanced, not bitter, finish. A touch of buttered corn shows up in the aftertaste, not as clean as I’d like. In the end this beer is OK, but rather cold and lifeless (and I’m not referring to the temperature)...it’s just there.

Dark, amber with lots of bubbles. Had a head in the bottle immediately after opening. Poured with a decent dense, lathery head. Very strong roasted malt flavor with good hop bitterness and notes of fruit, especially lemon, nuts, and coffee. Aroma is apple, pear, flowers, herbs, slightly metallic, but pleasant. Unusual in that this is Czech but not a pilsner. The Klaster brewery makes mainly this and a dark lager. According to them they use Saaz hops and pilsner yeasts. Yet this beer is dark and even pours a little hazy. Perhaps its the aging they do. If the recipe really dates to 1570, there must have been some happy monks in Hradiste nad Jizerou! THIS IS NOT A PILS!! Why do people insist all Czech beers are Pils. This LAGER is dark and cloudy, with flecks of sediment from bottle aging. That is not a Pilsner!

Bottle. Golden amber colored with a decent white head. Slight lacing left behind. Grassy aroma, decent hops in nose. A bit sharp in flavor, slightly drying. Light bodied. Fair malt and hop balance with the hops prevailing towards the finish. Pretty good Pils.