Northwoods Prickly Pike Pilsner

Brewed by Northwoods Brew Pub
Style: Pilsener
Eau Claire, Wisconsin USA

light yellow nice white head. Very light aroma some odd sweetness and yeast. Good coated and carbonated beer. Odd flavor some perfume hop and touches of bitterness... not very good.

the label has the words "pilsner" and "kolsch". i was as confused by the label as i was by the beer. i caught no malt, no hops, no snothing in the aroma. there waws not much more in the flavor, but there was a slight sour feel left in my mouth. i was deceived by the fairly pleasant, apricotty appearance, and the nice head. but i won’t get fooled again.

Dark Gold Coloring. No Head. Light Malt Notes, Plenty of Bitter/Sour Flavor. It Slowly Fades Away to Watery-ness in the End, but It’s Not Enough to Make Me Ever Want to Try it Again.

It’s a lager! It’s an ale! It’s Prickly Pike Pilsener/Koelsch lager/ale from Northwoods. Weird sour apple flavor and way too carbonated! No malt, no hops, no more please!

What is this?? Called a Pilsener by RB, it’s description reads, "A Koelsch style golden ale with light malt character, medium bitterness with low hop flavor and aroma. " ("Kolsch" also appears on a border on the label.) Gold with an erupting head, it had nice bubbling and beading. But the smell was sweet with a crabapple sourness added on. The carbonation was intense like a soda and became annoying rather than prickly. The flavor was something with a sour cider finish. No trace whatsoever of hops. I don’t know what it was (neither did the other members of The LoSBD who attended the meeting), but I know I won’t be drinking it again.

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Dark gold color with no head. Musty hop aroma. Ugh... rotten bitter taste up front that fades into nothingness. Thankfully I didn’t have to taste it all that long, but then again, no taste is not what I’m looking for in my beer.

Drab, off-gold color, virtually no head. Much like the pale ale I just had, only slightly hoppier, still stuck with this caramel-y sweetness. Odd, for a pils, though it is clean, and not terrible. On we go... Taste: weird. Hot on first swallow, too fierce with the hops, too unfriendly to the tongue, with little to back it up. Mouthfeel is nothing, again, thin and watery, with the unpleasant memory of the foretaste lingering in the mind. "Prickly" is an apt word for this beer, but you really don’t want that in your pilsner, now, do you? I notice on the label they’re calling it a kolsch. Nuh-uh, fellas. It’s not even close, and it’s barely drinkable.

Tap. Ok name it a pils, yet give a description of a koelsch. The beerkeep even indicated that it was not a lager brewed beer. Golden color with a smaller off white head. Sweet malt, ester and mild hops aromas. Esters abound and not crisp of clean. I rated this as a pils as that is how it was presented. It may be slightly higher as a koelsh.