New Glarus Unplugged Bohemian Lager

Brewed by New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

Pour is a deep golden body with a sufficient tight bubbled white head. Aromas of dry earthy hops with hints of honey and cereal grains. Seriously, this is mind blowing. Easily the best pils I’ve ever had. I bought a 4 pack and couldn’t stop drinking this. It’s that good! Normally this style doesn’t blow me away. I love me a good Prima Pils (which may have been my favorite pils up to this point). But I think this easily beats it. Normally I put the New Glarus wheat beers as their pinnacle type beers. This competes with those. Don’t get me wrong, the fruit beers NG puts out are great, yet fruit beers never seem to blow me away. This beer is absolutely stunning. Just a wow!

Bottle thanks to SoLan, thanks for helping me acquire a bottle of this beer I have wanted to try. Poured a crystal clear golden-yellow color with a fluffy, inch thick off-white head that faded to a thick layer and left the sides of the glass coated in lacing. Aroma of pilsner malt, dough, light cracker, a bit of grass, soft hints of fruit (apple and pear skin), and some Saaz hops. Smooth, lightly crisp entry with some light cracker leads into a light fruity middle with a bit of apple paired with a soft doughiness that finishes crisp with a grassy, snappy Saaz hoppiness with some soft, lightly spicy yeast undertones that round out the flavor. Crisp, clean, and easy to drink, but never watery. Very nice beer, I wish I could get it fresh all the time. Thanks again Alan.

Bottle thanks to ucusty. Aroma of dank, leafy hops, a very woody leafiness, not sure if that’s from the tanks or just the hops, a surprisingly rich, caramel malt as well as a musty, doughy feel, and cherry notes, again quite musty. An endlessly fascinating aroma that my nose is frankly incapable of translating. Flavor again dank with a good deal of bitterness, but really the sweet malt is the highlight, and is un-ending in its complexities. Bohemian Pilseners really aren’t my thing, I’d generally rather have a pils in the German tradition, so at first I wasn’t really feeling this one. However, the more I got into it and the more I got out of it, the more I grew to really love it and admire it. Truly phenomenal.

Aroma is bready, like sticking your nose into a bread loaf bag, with hints of acidity. The color is brassy gold and pours with a thin white head. Flavor is initially sweet followed quickly by a crisp bitter tinge on top of a hearty, malty base. Finishes bitter on the front of the tongue with a pleasant bready flavor throughout the mouth. Mouth feel is somewhat satiny. Not creamy but definitely not thin. Fantastic beer.

Pronounced malty aroma. Golden color. Great balance of malt and hops slightly more pronounced hops. Little on the thin side.

This is one of the most highly anticipated beers of the year for me. A solid pour produces an almost two-finger thick, frothy, pale tan colored head in my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip glass. The beer is a clear, orange tinged, gold color that shows an almost brilliantly clear, bright, rich gold hue when held up to the light (more color than a German Pils, but not quite as much as the darker, traditional Bohemian versions). The aroma has a nice spiciness to it and is definitely influenced heavily by the hops; aromas of hay, lemon zest and a nice savory herbal note are noticeable. The malt plays a definitive role here too though, with aromas of biscuit-like malt, grain sweetened cracker notes, a touch of honey-like malt towards the finish and perhaps even a hint of ripe melon. This definitely has a nice chewy malt and hop nose to it; exactly what one would expect from a good Bohemian interpretation.

This has a light medium heft to it that coats the palate with some lightly sweet malt character. The hop notes easily cut through this though, providing a staunch bitterness and a nice herbal note both of which linger on in the long finish. This definitely has a nice, savory, spicy, hop character to it that fully expresses itself on the palate. The malt plays a supporting role in the flavor (more so than it did in the aroma), but does contribute a substantial impact to the mouthfeel as well as contributing back end flavors of buttery malt, grassy / lightly toasted grain, honey-like malt notes that become noticeable in the finish, . This has some definite notes of lemon zest that become more noticeable as the beer warms up, this also has a certain palate coating character that makes me think of oak-barrel derived tannins (though it could just be green hop notes, but I don’t think so, at least not entirely). I really like how the zing (bitterness, spice and herbal notes) of the hop character is lightly held in check by the textured, soft, yet inviting, malt backbone.

This is easily the best beer I have had from New Glarus. A simple, yet substantial Bohemian Pilsner, complex in its sparse ingredient choices; this beer grows on me more and more as I work my way through this beer. This is just so quaffable, a 12oz bottle isn’t nearly enough and I would definitely love to have a couple 6 packs of this in my fridge.

Rich grain aroma,that wonderful fresh cereal scent of a great pilsner,taste of Morovian malt and tangy field hopping,with that perfect amount of mild bitterness in finish. Exhibits all that is fine about Pilsners

Light gold color with a medium dense head. Earthy hop aroma along with bready yeast. Crisp taste, notes of grass and old world bitterness, not sweet at all. About as close to a Pilsner Urquell as I have found. Very nice.