Pennichuck Shouboushi Ginger Pilsner

Brewed by Pennichuck Brewing Company
Style: Pilsener
Milford, New Hampshire USA

Appearance: Pours a hazy, pale gold body with a thin, wispy, white head. Smell: Pilsner malt aroma with floral, spicy hops and some sliced ginger root. Also, there’s a distant vegetal note, like a nearby opened bag of cole slaw mix. Taste: Crisp pils maltiness with a light sweetness and hint of grain. The taste of ginger is present, but it definitely comes up short and leaves one wanting. Very, very small hint of veggies. Slight Noble hop component with a light bitterness. Finishes dry with a lingering touch of graininess. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium-high carbonation. Drinkability: A bit disappointing. It is neither a great pilsner nor is it a good ginger-based brew. Take the ginger addition and PUMP IT UP and you may just have something.

Bomber from alldaydrinker. Nose is grainy wheat, grassy and floral hops, and a general good pilsener nose along with some background ginger spiciness. hazy copper with a medium, glass lacing, pale yellow head. Flavor has the ginger showing up more prominently, with some light bitterness, caramel, and grain. Finish is a nice lingering light bitterness. Nicely spicy pils, I could drink this every day.

Hard corn, malt, and medium wet paper on the aroma. Dark copper pour with tight head and lace. Medium maltiness and a light bitter. Medium bodied, fizzy, a tad thin, and no ginger(at least that is what Gilligan said)

Bottle. Spicy hops aroma. Gold amber body, small white head. Flavor is spicy and pleasant. Mild finish. Decent.

The idea of some ginger in beer sounded wonderful to me. I love ginger beer soda as well as ginger brad and pickled ginger. But this was not to special. With the first pour i was hit with a foul burst of smell that was akin to spoiled food. That mellowed out until the smell softened into a ginger cake aroma. The taste was a light pilsner with a faint spice. Just sort of plain, but someone else should do a ginger pilsner maybe.

A fairly vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass only produces a two finger thick head. The beer is a rich amber hue that shows an almost clear, bright copper hue when held up to the light; this is much darker than I would expect with something called a Pilsner, even the malty Bohemian versions. The aroma is not nearly as ginger focused as I was expecting; instead the first thing I really pick out is a sweet malt note and a touch of toasty grain towards the finish. There is definitely something else going on here, but I would be hard pressed to say it was ginger without knowing about it beforehand; slightly herbal, a touch fruity (like young pickled ginger) and perhaps a touch of vague citrus.

The taste is lightly sweet with a sweet grain note, a touch of chewy, lightly caramelized malt sugars, as well as a bit of a bite up front that must be from the ginger. This has a light, astringent sort of bitterness to it in the finish, but then the first really distinct ginger character starts to become noticeable in the finish about three seconds after a sip has disappeared from my mouth. The ginger note in the long finish is still light, but at least it has a distinctive spiciness that is reminiscent of ginger. This has a fair amount of body to it and is quite malty too.

Quite an interesting interpretation, I am really surprised how faint the overall ginger character is, I actually think a bit more would have been beneficial to balance out the chewy, sweet malt character. There is nothing wrong with this beer, it is just a bit less characterful than I would have liked.

Thanks to decaturstevo for sharing this one. Pours a clear gold with a fleeting white head. Clean malt aroma. Clean malt flavor, but I fail to pick up any ginger here. O.K. but not too exciting.

BOttle. Jessup Plaza. GOlden pour with a small white head. Lots of grain int he aroma with some mild hops and a faint ginger smell. Not much ginger in the taste, wish there was more, would have been more interesting.