Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner

Beautiful hazy copper color. Powerful hoppy aroma, more resiny and fruity than expected. Strong body, with a strong caramel-toffee flavor and an extreme hopping; the hopping is quite resiny; compared to an IPA it has less body and less fruitness. Very good.

Bottle, 2007, as "Hallertau Imperial Pilsner." Pours cloudy golden yellow with big, sticky white head. The aroma is hoppy and floral with some apricot and sweet cookie notes, too. The flavor is a toasty cookie sweetness, followed by an impressive burst of floral hops and some spiciness. It gets bitter as it moves through the mouth. The finish is earthy and dry, but somehow the aftertaste is sweet like honey and caramel. This beer is pretty impressive. I like.

Bottle - "Hallertau Imperial Pilsner" - Pours hazy amber with thin off-white head. Strong aroma of fresh hops - like freshly cut tropical citrus, hints of herbal character and juicy berry smells as well. Also some toasted malt deep below. Flavor - well, straight off there are a lot of flavors associated with the hop resins - an oiliness with a hint of bitterness coats the mouth and prickles the tongue and sides of the mouth. Lots of strawberry flavors and some pine and beneath that a nice sticky malt backbone. Fruity bitterness lingers for a while on the palate. Mouthfeel is full, creamy, and, again, oily - but overall pleasurable. Good, but I couldn’t have more than one in a session.

Pours a hazy but gloving orange-ish amber colour. Very fruity and hoppy aroma of apricot, orange, some pineapple, some strawberry jam, resin, light pine and flowers – mostly roses. Some malty, syrupy sweetness with light notes of caramel, almonds and white bread are also present. Flavour is hoppy up front with notes of resin, pine, flowers, and some citric tones. A malty backdrop of caramel, syrup and a nutty sweetness makes this beer well balanced. Also quite fruity with some apricots. Maybe some tiny hints of chocolate in the background. First a citric and than a resiny/woody, medium bitterness finish this beer. Crisp and dry mouthfeel. A really nice and surprisingly aggressive beer from Samuel Adams made in this relatively new and unexplored style – Imperial Pilsner. I like.

This is a nice beer. But my bias against it comes from the hype and the price tag (over $9 for a four pack). There are so many other brewers doing so much better than this. When Sam Adams does it, everyone gets excited. Without a doubt, the best Sam Adams I’ve had. Nicely hopped. It takes pilsners up a notch. But it is over-hyped.

The color was a hazy golden. The head was thick, long lasting foamy, and off-white. The aroma was light citrus hops with some sour notes. There was a little bit of malt sneaking into the aroma as well as alcohol. The flavor started out very light citrus and tart, moving onto a more pronounced bitter with lots of floral notes in the flavor from the hops, then to a warm smooth finish. The palate was smooth in general with a pronounced bitter after taste. The beer that I tasted

First rating
(12 FL oz bottle at The Rover, Göteborg)
Shady golden color, big white head. Hoppy fresh and sweet scent. Hoppy bitter taste. Sweet and bitter hoppy long aftertaste. Thick smooth mouthfeel. Huge bitterness. In a blind tasting I would have guessed this to be a top fermented beer, nothing in it is lager/pils for me.
8/4/8/4/17=4.1

Second rating
(12 fl oz bottle from Systembolaget)
BB 2008-03-31
On May 30, 2008
Shady orange color, big lasting orange head. Fruity, sweet and hoppy scent. Bitter and hoppy a bit harsh taste. Smooth nice mouthfeel, high bitterness.
8/4/6/4/15=3.7

12 oz bottle. I have had some decent brews from Samuel Adams, but nothing that has really wowed me. Until now. Holy crap this is good. Beautiful amber color, nose is fresh hops. Flavor is truly an explosion of hops. In fact, this is hoppier than most IPA’s and IIPA’s out there. This beer will make most hopheads pucker. Im dumbfounded. This is one of the best beers I have tasted in a long time.