Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: European Strong Lager
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Hazy and deep orange; frothy head with sticky, long-lasting lace. Lively carbonation; medium body; kind of chewy, especially toward the finish; the hops even seem to add some texture! Forest of hop flavors/aromas (glad to see the BBC still has it in ’em), which were earthy, wholesome, strong, acidic, grassy, citrusy (grapefruit) and tree-like (pine and spruce). Malts were wheaty-grainy, bready and toasty. Good beer. Surprisingly large balls on this puppy. RERATE, 2007: Wow. Tons of hop flavor. Like chewing on a Hallertau pellet. Large dose of flavor; aroma throughout; tame bitterness. Hop flavors and aromas just keep on keepin’ on, well after the swallow. Great stuff.

Poured a cloudy orange color and was more like an Imperial IPA than a Pilsner. Also, why does Ratebeer.com refer to it as "A" European Strong Lager? This beer has so much hoppiness, that it is an IIPA regardless of what anybody says. My tastebuds don’t lie! By the way, I loved this beer.

Poured from bottle. Aroma dominated by hops - no surprise. Pretty beer, medium light amber, lacing. Hops galore in the flavor, with a sweet malt aftertaste - quite nice. Alcohol not really noticeable. Finished well. A real pleasure to drink.

Vintage 2007. Bottled at Bishops Arms, Helsingborg. Amber coloured. Extremely hoppy aroma. Definately Hallertau. Fresh hop flavour. Very juicy and very bitter. Very unbalanced in a very pleasant way.

Any first impressions?
-Generous, huggable foam sticks over the cloud-filtered twilight.
-Booming pine and orangey perfumes soar through the foam summit.
-Gusty yeast swirls around the million pine needles and juicy oranges, a wildly beautiful expression of nature.
-Frothy carbonation and nutritious, creamy rye-like malts reward the climb to the heights of the forest.

What if you dig deeper?
-This isn’t the malt structure of a pils at all, but maybe that of a Double IPA. Then again, I’m not really on a mountain, am I?
-The earth under this dry wooden world complements its thriving.
-The peppery and resinous finishing hop bitterness isn’t too long or too short; it’s there just long enough for you to want to come back for another sip.
-There’s nothing like a slightly foggy northerly mountain in the morning.

How can you not be a nature lover after this?
-No idea at all.

Bottles; best before January ’06 and on tap at Willimantic Brewery in 2007.

Bottle Clear light copper with a fluffy white head that laces. The smell and taste brims with hops, hops and more hops. A very good beer if you’re a hophead. If you’re not it’s still crisp and enjoyable. My favorite Samuel Adams beer.

Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner, 2005 Harvest, says the front, plus, "brewed with Noble Bavarian Hops from the 2005 Harvest." Backside, it refers to itself as a malt liquor. Stupid label laws. Ferociously cloudy appearance, a deep, hazed orange hue...imprentrable apricot...with staying, though slim, dotted, lace-leaving head...good enough... Aroma: WOW! This is what we expect from a Fresh Hop Ale, or a Double IPA, but not from anything that calls itself a pilsner, and though the hops are all Bavarian, this screams as loud as the big boys from the West Coast. Caramel-y, appley, fruity, fresh, and so alive and up-in-your-face, herbaceous, piney, very lively. I like it! Taste: thick, muddy, as hoppy as all hell. Again, I wonder, is this really a pilsner? A malt liquor? Didn’t look like it, doesn’t taste like it, so full of flavor, yet still containing the hoppy snap and smoothness of a great pils. Yet not thin in body, and too clean in mouthfeel. Mouthfeel is immense. Unfiltered? You think? Dry-hopped? You betcha! Dangittidangittily delicious, let me tell you, partner! This Imperial Pilsner designation is so early in it’s usage, but may I say that Samuel Adams has upped the ante, for none approaches this approach. A tasty mess that I must recommend to one and all. Wondered if the $5 for my 24 oz. bottle was too much, but now know that’s silly, as other craftbrews has charged more for less. This hophead throws up huge props on Sammy for this one...so insistently full in flavor, so intense in taste, so huge in delivering the goods...got to love it! $5 well spent. Get hop-loving friends around you and enjoy!

Bottle: Pours to a beautiful mostly opaque/cloudy orange-amber body with a huge, eggshell head that lasts. If you’re not giving this a 5 on appearance, you’re crazy. I’m not really sure why we continue to classify this as a European Strong Lager, but that will probably change. Aroma is a lightly fruit/earthy spicy hops, with hints of citrus, light grapefruit (different from cascade), peppered lemon rind, green tea, toasted dough, and light bready malt. Very aromatic. Taste is wow, very different from many other "imperial pilsners" I’ve tried. There’s much more body to this and lots more bitterness, though it’s not at all like drinking a west-coast IIPA. The hops dominate with earthy, fruity, sweaty, grassy, spicy notes. Then there’s bread dough, sweet malt, orange, toasted malt, light pepper, and more spicy/earthy hops. Full bodied, though not quite that of a stout, medium natural soft carbonation, finishing with spicy, earthy, bitter hops and just a hint of citrus later on. This is really good, well above what I was expecting. The hops have just a fantastic and unique character and the palate and mouthfeel are just flawless. Yeah, I didn’t see myself getting that excited about this either, but there it is.