Murrays Pilsner

Brewed by Murrays Brewing Co.
Style: Pilsener
Taylors Arm, NSW, Australia

330ml bottle. Golden body, slightest bit hazy, with a fluffy white head. Quite a rich grainy melanoidin malt background, with in your face spicy hop character, and theres still more going on than that; leafy and herbaceous, the hops on the nose have a distinct tropical fruitiness that I can’t put my finger on. Palate is sensational for a beer of this style and strength; full-bodied, smooth and creamy, chewy malt body, carbonation is spot-on, delivering a refreshing hop sharpness. Sensational balance on the body; rich biscuity malt, complex within itself, setting a excellent sweet backdrop for a collage of amazing array hop derived flavours; i’m talking rockmelon, passionfruit, tobbaco, grass, lemon, pepper...I could go all day, but its like that! Finish lingers with quite a solid bitterness, yet clean with hint of bread. Can’t help but love the way Murrays brew beer. Consistantly pushing the envelope and this beer is no exception. Fantastic!

I’m glad it isn’t just me that thinks this is a brilliant Pilsener. Initial impression is almost perfect appearence for a Pilsener, massive white fluffy head that lasts forever and straw body. Aroma is distinct zesty saaz hops with spice and tropical fruit. Great clean upfront flavours of malt and icing sugar (thanks mullet couldn’t quite put my finger on how to describe it) which goes on to a great burst of bitterness that transcends in to a long finish which has some breadiness and light hop notes coming through. Murrays are cementing a VERY solid reputation.

Gotta love having access to fresh, bottle-conditioned pils. Tropical fruit hop aroma - pineapple, passionfruit, kiwi fruit etc. with some icing sugar and a faint touch of yeastiness. Firm but slightly sugary malt flavour, with fairly solid bitterness and some ephemeral yeastiness floating around in the back of my brain somewhere. The first bottle didn’t grab me much, but it’s really grown on me. Yet another flawlessly made beer by Murray’s. It could stand to be a touch hoppier and the malt tastes ’Australian’ (i.e. icing sugary) to me, but these are very minor points. A rare bottle Aussie micro beer I would buy regularly with confidence.

A heavy-duty pilsener that packs a lot of punch for its 4.8% abv. It’s the sort of beer that will rattle the tastebuds of the average Crown/VB drinker, and that’s no bad thing. As Ecze says, there’s a glorious bouquet of NZ Saaz. Quite tart in a lactic passionfruit yoghurt sort of way. Some gooseberry greenness. There’s the faintest whiff of the sulphur that some people find unpleasant in Kiwi-style pilseners but not enough to spoil the experience. Overall, it’s very summery and inviting. Doesn’t really prepare you for the "size" of the flavours.This delivers a big slug of bitterness for an Aussie pilsener. Tastes like a much "bigger" beer. Quite a chewy palate for the style. Big phlegmy citrus-and-spice finish. Lots of Saaz passionfruit and gooseberry. Can’t think of another Aussie pilsener as flavoursome as this. Murrays continues to kick goals with every new release. (330ml bottle courtesy of Bridge - thanks, mate. BB 22/4/09)

Super active head with stacks of rocky froth. Settles down very quickly. Colour is bang on - light amber. I’ll have to second (third?) the other comments re the Kiwi vibe; lots of very green hops and passionfruit, both in equal parts on the nose and palate. Nose shows excellent herbal characters as well, and not miles away from the NPA in this regard. Back palate gets quite firm and tight, and finishes with bitter hops.Might be shooting my mouth off here but this might be Australia’s best pilsner?

Light on head and murky orange colour. Nice citrus flavours followed by some vegemite and a big long dash of salt. A biggish beer for a pils

NZ saaz everywhere in the aroma - catpee/kiwifruit/vanilla/passionfruit/orange zest. a small amount of sulfur and diacetyl but not unpleasantly so. enormous creamy, lumpy, loose head that sticks. Plenty of carb and a darker than usual PU sort of dark gold colour, hinting at the "biscuitty malts" they talk about on the label. I’m not always a fan of the biscuitty malts in the murrays beers - great in the nirvana, not so welcome in the sassy, IMO. Here they are not intrusive or edgy, just providing a mild toastiness. Quite full bodied for a pilsner this hoppy. Very resinous and hop-fruity finish with zingy bitterness and acidity, like a marlb. sav blanc but the sort of sav blanc that has a bit of sweetness to balance the zip. The toast is still there in the finish with the bitterness, verging on too much toast for me for a pilsener. but gotter hand it to them, all their beers from pilsener through to IIPA have this house character of big malts and big resinous hops. an original sort of NZ style pilsener, like a heavier version of emersons.