Warsteiner Premium Verum

Brewed by Warsteiner Brauerei
Style: Classic German Pilsener
Warstein, Germany

Bottled. A nice surprise with good mouth feel compared to other North German pilsners. Malty flavor with some sweetness balanced by some assertive bitterness.

A basic German pilsner. Very crisp with a quick bite, but no lingering taste. A light amber color with white head as expected. Nothing new here, not very exciting, but an all around decent beer.

Medium Head/. You can really taste the hops on this one. The malty flavors clings on your mouth for a while.

Draught at the Flying Saucer in Raleigh, NC. Clear light golden color with thin white head. Skunky, but not unpleasant hop nose and flavor typical of European pilsners. Dry with a hint of honey flavor. Pleasant grainy finish that reminds me of corn on the cob.

Re-rate: Bottle. Pours a light golden-yellow with a creamy thick white head and good carbonation. In the running for my favorite Pils. A semi-sweet herbal taste with a dash of bitterness. Nice, dark overtones, a good pour, a beautiful sight. [3.4]

Update in early 2008: Grassy nose with a goodly dollop of citrus, clear yellow-golden pour with heavy carbonation and a rich, soapy, rocky (brilliantly) white head. Taste managed to encompass both a rich maltiness with grassy, bready, citric overtones as well as a distinct hoppiness that unfortunately veers toward the macro level. Medium body with a touch of corn in the maltiness, but I’m not accusing anyone of adjuncts. Light bitterness in with the sweetness, and only an occasional dose of bitterness, in the abstract sense. Definitely chuggable, and a huge step up over BMC, but there’s still enough here for this to be enjoyed solo; it’s not a PIls I lust for, but it still more than gets the job done, here after four years! [3.0]

On tap. A nice pils/lager. Good quality hops and a little more malt than some pilsener types. Crisp yet smooth, very pleasant finish.

12 oz brown bottle. Pop the lid and get a whiff of cabbage family cooked vegetables. After it ends up in the glass it is much more attractive, has a plastic or chemical sterile aroma. The look of this beer is rather different than others. At first I thought that it was full of fine bubbles that was not rising to the top but upon closer inspection I see these are some kind of particles in there floating around. This is interesting and hypnotizing, I hope I just don’t have a bad bottle. I looked in the bottom of the bottle, like a wheat beer, and there is no sludge on the bottom, go figure. Other than that the beer is pale yellow with a ring around the inside of the glass for a head. Very smooth initial flavors. It has the same kind of flavor that the aroma insists. It’s not plastic or chemical in a bad way, it seems very refined and controlled. There is a slight hop or malt bitterness that builds on the back of the throat. Enjoyable with just the right amount of bitter personality. The carbonation provides just the right amount of tingle on the back of your tongue. The bitterness that builds as you drink keeps trying to insult the back of my throat but really never quite gets there. Overall a well mannered refined and cultivated German beer taste. I’m sorry I waited so long to taste this.

355 ml bottle. Golden color, quickly fading head. Pleasant aroma. Sits well on the palate with a very pleasant taste. Nothing spectacular but not a bad choice. I liked it because it didnt taste watered down like some other pilseners.