McNeills Pilsner

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Pilsener
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Bomber - Poured a golden amber in color with no head and little or no carbonation. Aroma is of bready yeast with just a hint of fruity hops. Flavor is of fruity yeast... almost in a Belgian or Hefe kind of way. Not much hop bitterness. Nutty malt and slightly sour on the finish. Not a terribly distinctive beer, but easy drinking.

(22oz bottle) Purchased at Winooski Beverage in Vermont. Wow! Ray McNeill certainly doens’t want you to feel like you’ve been jipped - this is the second bottle in a row thats been filled to the cap FULL! Pours a medium, white frothy head with a partially clouded, amber body. Nose of tin, flat beer and bready. Very doughy taste with tones of flat ginger ale and citrus hops. When they say beer is liquid bread - this was the beer they’d referred to...

Bottle from City Market, consumed on 3/11/06. Hazy, golden-honey colored beer with plenty of white head that steadily fizzles to a small cover, providing little to no lacing, quite bubbly. The aroma smells yeasty, typical McNeills house character, with flowers, moss, hay and light honey grains all creating a soft and approachable nose. However, the more it warms, the more a sourdough-like note seems to creep in. Decidedly dry and bland, and working against the otherwise grassy, almost fruity hop crispness.
The flavor is very yeasty, though it’s just a dry, nutty yeast, with plenty of flowery hops, some straw, hay, damp moss and bits of lime and lemon adding a silght poignancy. Very grainy, almost a gritty texture were it not for the vigorous carbonation at first. A slight toastiness is apparent, on the back of the throat as the beer finishes, with some sweet, round honey notes balancing this well. Not overly bitter, but enough so to be refreshing and complement the malt. After the carbonation dies off, somewhat, the texture becomes rather chewy and yet lightly slick on the end. No alcohol apparency.

Was it the herb cheese I just ate, or was it the smoked beer? This stuff had a strong clove/esther taste a la German Hefe Weizen style. It was somewhat flat, also. Too thin, and not crisp enough. Did I just get a bad bottle? Not impressive.

Hazy deep straw in color with a large white head. aroma of floral hops. Bitter flavor with a buttery character and a crisp malt flavor. A fresher version would more than likely kick ass.

Hazy blonde with a mlaty grassy aroma. Astringent hops with a peppery finish. Lightly acid and sour. Salty afternotes. Medium bodied.

22 oz. bottle: Light malts and dull flowers in the nose, hazy yellow with a thin white head, decent lacing. Starts and ends lightly bitter with a slight sourness at the end.

March 2004: It’s McNeill’s, I expect great things -- even from a lager. On the whole, not disappointed. Nice bright golden, large diminishing fine-foamy head, spicy-sour but fresh nose. Good, balanced flavor, tending toward the hop at the end, but a little on the weak side at the front. Firm maltiness, lemony middle. 6/4/7/3 /14 3.4

March 2006: 22 oz bottle purchased today, presumably quite fresh, at City Market, served just above fridge temperature in a Christoffel glass. Pale bubbly slightly oily burnished gold, moderate to large smooth head dies into a shy cap....honey and lovely floral-grassy notes in the aroma, bit of juniper and dogwood, perhaps some lemon zest.....smooth, solid but restrained bitterness throughout, very very clean which surprises me from this brewer these days, lightly sticky at the front but getting progressively drier, herbal-inflected and slightly mineralic towards the long, bitter finish. Really quite fine, perhaps just a touch too smooth and light but I’m not complaining. New rating.