Pilsner Urquell Kvasnicový (Yeast beer)

Brewed by Plzensky Prazdroj (SABMiller)
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Plzen, Czech Republic

Tap, straight from the barrel in the Urquell cellars.
Pours a wonderful hazy coppery golden with the creamiest, most white-looking head I’ve ever seen. And it stays there for a million years - even after sipping. Afterwards, quite a lot of the head is laced all over the sides of my glass (not plastic cup, thankfully). Aroma is good, though it’s very subdued. Some oak, fresh grassy hops, grainy maltiness and a biscuity character shows up. Incredible mouthfeel for a pilsner, low carbonation, easily drinkable and very creamy. Flavour starts of with a pleasant sweetness, a strong malty character, very crisp and clean. Finish has good defining bitterness with great hop flavours and subdued oakiness. Aftertaste is amazingly long, dry and oaky... amazing!

Draught at Na Parkanu, Plzen.
Hazy pale golden coloured, medium sized long-lasting white head, light hoppy nose. Sweet malty, nice hoppy and grassy taste with pleasant fruity and yeasty notes. Moderate bitter finish. Very nice bohemian pils.

Tank beer, several at Na Parkanu, Plzen. Hazed gold with white head. Malty Pilsener with a light farmy nose, though this quickly dispersed, good herby hop notes giving quite a full palate for this type of beer. Some yeastiness with an acidic bitterness, nice and lasting.

Then the next day from wooden barrels in the Brewery. This was a little different, there was a sweeter touch to it with some hints of of a burnt caramel and just a tad more colour. I preferred the Brewery wooden barrelled beer a little more.

Hazy golden beer ith a lasting white head leaving a fine lace.
At the brewery tour: Top marks for ambience in this magical cellar with the wooden lagering barrels. Malty aroma with a touch of sulphur - but the musty cellar isn’t perfect for beer sniffing. Full bodied malty flavour quickly to be followed by a rich hop flavour and bitterness. A hint of tannin in the aftertaste, unless that’s just my imagination. 6-4-8-4-15=3.7

At Na Parkanu: Malty aroma with even less sulphur. Some grassy hops too. Lots of malt sweetness and biscuit flavour plays backbone to a fine hop flavour and strong bitterness. I far preferred this version, or maybe just that the setting was better for serious tasting.

Draught@the brewtour. Hazy orange colour, mediumsized creamy white head. Aroma is yeast, very sweet fruityness, some diacetyl and a bit mouldy. Flavour is diacetyl, zatec hops, sweet malts, grassyness. Very pleasant. 8 4 8 4 16.

Draught@Na Parkanu. Golden colour, big white head. Aroma is malts, yeast, some hints of bread as well as mild notes of eggyness. Flavour is malts, yeast, hops, some diacetyl and a bit of breadyness. 7 4 7 4 15.

On tap at Na Parkanu. I had been travelling all day from London to Plzen and I had humped my luggage halfway across town to my hotel, before heading down here to meet up with the rest of the RBESG. I hadn’t had a drink all day and it had been very hot by English standards. So by 19.30 I was gasping for a cold beer. Which makes this probably explains partly why I liked it so much. Slightly cloudy gold, thick off white head. Earthy aroma. Yeast. This is gorgeous. Some bitterness/yeast/earthy. So refreshing. Almost tastes as if it was dryhopped with earthy hops. That is awesome. 4.3/5.0. Re-rate 2 days later on the Saturday evening with Chris_o and Ruth. I still absolutely loved this, but I knocked 0.1 off now that I had time to reflect more on it. Still the best Czech beer I had over the weekend and the only one I conciously went back for. We had a filtered pint inbetween 2 unfiltered and the difference really was startling. The unfiltered is just so much better. Re-rate-unfiltered from the brewery from the wood. Hazy gold, thin lasting white head, slightly woody yeast, hoppy aroma. I think maybe more intense than the Na Parkanu version, bit more uncultured, more hoppy, but I prefer the Na Parkanu more 3.8/5.0

RBESG, on tap at na Parkanu, alongside (iirc) omhper, DSG and oh6gdx
Poured a hazy gold body with a big fluffy white head that went away slowly. Man I hate the fact that I might be underrating this, but I wasn’t as impressed as I was with some beers earlier that day. A very grainy nose with some nice hopiness. Taste. Notes of orange, lovely hoppy taste. Strong hoppy bitterness near the end. Herbal, chewy, somewhat dusty. I hope to try this again as soon as I can. I really have this nagging feeling that I’ve missed something.

This is the version to have. Whilst the bottled version is unoffensive enough, this version tells you what it is all about. Classic