Lightning Elemental Pilsner

Brewed by Lightning Brewery
Style: Pilsener
Poway, California USA

Draft. A golden beer with a white head. The aroma is sweet with notes of malt and caramel. The flavor is sweet malty, leading to a dry straw finish.

On tap. Clear golden with a white head. Good malty nose. Medium body with sweet malts and flowery hops that leave a decent bitterness. Good, clean and well crafted. 070709

From tap at Stone Bistro. Pours hazy/cloudy yellow with a white head. Mild and classic pilsner aroma. This goes into the flavour with a smoothening biscuit malt base. Light fruity and hoppy finish.

Bomber from South Bay Drug. Golden color with a multi-finger white head. Smells a bit grainy, and there’s not much bitter. Medium body with creamy, but sharp, carbonation. It’s a bit bready or yeasty. There’s a nice sensation in the mouth, but it is rather flavorless, except for the b/y. Finally in the finish there is the slightest suspicion of hop bitter. That said it drinks fairly well, but it just isn’t right as styled: "While the definition of “pilsner” is open to much debate in beer community, it generally refers to pale, hoppy lagers, ranging from 28IBUs and up. Pilsners that do not meet the specific characteristics of a German or Bohemian pils will be given this generic classification" Agreed it doesn’t meet the Czech or German style, but does it deserve the generic? Is it weak malt liquor or good pale lager? For me it didn’t improve with time and continued consumption.

Draught pint at PP Carlsbad on 3/25/07
Been eyeing this one the whole weekend, but having heard nothing of the brewery, I didn’t jump on the chance to try it right away. Hair of the Dog brunch seemed like a good time for a pils, so here it is.
Rapidly failing white head atop a clear, true-bronze colored body with sporadic carbonation and little/no lacing.
Sweaty, hay and straw-like maltiness in the nose also shows a true lager yeast, with definite moments of crispness and plenty of the mineral character I associate with it, but alas, this one had a good deal of acetyldehyde as well. Not overly concentrated and thus not producing a strong green apple aroma, but lighter and adding a large amount of dry paperiness to the nose that works against the crispness of the malt and yeast. Seemingly pretty well-attenuated from the nose and with no diacetyl or DMS, it’s a shame that it’s got that strong paper-blandness. Hops are extremely minimal. Probably wouldnt kill them to throw in some more, even if it was just more saaz. Not expecting any huge, vibrant, bitter aromatics, but what’s there is a rather boring mess of soggy hop leaves and light nuttiness. Alcohol not apparent, medium to medium-low aroma strength.
Papery-blandness from the acetyldehyde being present in the flavor as well, the beer just never is able to muster much flavor or crispness. Right at the start there is a little flutter of hop bitterness and some light floral/herbal notes, with crisp yeast and light graininess from the malts, but it’s gone almost immediately, passing in to a slightly-too-loosely-carbonated middle that is quite bland, and yields a toasty maltiness that builds up on the palate and gives the mouthfeel an almost chewiness that it shouldnt have. Tough to finish, can’t remember if I did or not. Alcohol not present in flavor, nor any diacetyl/DMS.
Sure seemed like this was in pretty poor condition. Not sure how much of the blame rests on Lightning or Pizza Port.

Bomber poured a hazy gold with a small disapating white head. Aromas of bread dough, light straw and light citrus. Palate was light to medium bodied and crisp. Flavors of bread, straw and lemon with a crisp lightly bitter finish.

Pours light gold from the bomber with a decent white head. Aroma is light dough and subtle hops. Flavor is more on the sweet side, as it tastes like a light tripel. A bit of lemon zest does not help and the Saaz hops are hardly noticeable. Not very good.

On Tap @ Hams. Pours clear yellow with a bright white head. Nose is nice and has some good citrus notes. Taste is sweet and robust with a nice full mouth feel and light hops.