William Brennans Golden Pils

Brewed by Capital Brewery
Style: Pilsener
Middleton, Wisconsin USA

12 oz bottle

Coming from Capital, this looked promising. Unfortunately it did not meet my expectations, even lowered as they were. Even at $1.49 this is overpriced. Don’t be fooled - unless you like bland pilsener like beers, this one is not for you.

Aroma / Appearance - The golden body had little to no carbonation. A two-fingered head fizzled slowly, taking more than five minutes to peter out. Hints of banana chips, wheat germ, grain, malt, honey and a general sweetness which I could not pin down all intermingled as I explored what this pilsener had to offer for my nose.

Flavor / Palate - After the initial inspection, I thought this could actually be decent, if not average. Instead I got a bitter first impression of malts and honey that is smooth but far from pleasing. The mouthfeel was too flat. Despite the bitterness eventually settling down into something palateable, nothing else caught my attention. Extremely inoffensive, this is one you culd drink a 12 pack of esaily without ruining your tastebuds. I consider that a shortcoming; even a pilsener should have some taste to it. Overall it is slightly off, as if only a half-hearted attempt was put into making this.

Bottled. Poured a bright medium golden with about an inch of creamy white head. Nose was of pleasant sweet bready malts, honey, and the faintest hints of lemon. Flavor found sourdough bready malts, spiked with somewhat sour lemon and light spices. Lighter on the palate but never watery. Decent feel. I could drink this again.

Pours to a golden straw colored body with a beautiful rocky white head and awesome lacing. The aroma is light Saaz hops. The flavor is a basic boring caramel malt, sourdough bread, and subtle hop. Not overly exciting. The palate is lightly drying and minerally. A beer I could live without.

2006 bottle from StewardofGondor, drunk on 4/18/06
Brimming over the top of the glass with rocky white head that is both well-retained and lace-forming. A highly clear, baked-straw golden body shows a flurry of medium-small sized bubbles.
Rather muted straw and grassy hops, not overly crisp or aromatic, seem to hover above the liquid. Little more than fluffed grain in a warehouse, as far as malt goes. I first pass it off as the large head impairing the the aroma, but after swirling the glass some and allowing it to breath further, the most I get is a bit of light honey and sourdough or cedary-oily notes. A bit more sweaty hay emerges, as well, but it’s a far cry from crisp or lively on the nose.
Flavor is rather heavy in water to malt ratio. Not loose/thin in texture, but just lean on malt. Dry cereal and some moderately crisp straw show redeeming qualities, as the palate adjusts to the wetness. Moderate carbonation and certainly drinkable, but there’s a bit too much dough on end and I can’t shake the initial cidar-cedar note. Ultimately too round for a pils and especially for a Bohemian Pils (which this is not). Dry finish at least, with no alcohol.

12 oz bottle from the Brennans in Brookfield, WI. Snowy largish frothy head topping a clear gold body, moderately lasting...rather sickly-sweet malty nose, very perfumy, dogwood and honey, bit too much really...body also very sweet for a pils, some lightly metallic bitterness at the finish, reasonably crisp but not enough body at the end, perhaps just a bit stale and really quite dull. I didn’t expect too much from these Brennans beers despite Capital’s presence, but my expectations weren’t even met, sigh.

Kinda had a clearish light sunset color to it. Light floral hops in the aroma and just a bland light hopped flavor in the body.

Gold and clear... white head. Sweet perfume aroma. Slightly caramelled perfumey Czech hop taste. Dry finish. Not bad, but light.

Clear yellow/orange in color with no head or visible signs of activity. Aroma is the classic pils aroma - crisp, lemons, honey and hops, as if they’ve been stored in a forgotten crawl space. Flavor is crisp, lemony and bready. Light, but the hops butch it up a bit. Musky connotations. Light and smooth. Trademark pilsner. Slight dry feel left from the hop stop on the back and center part of the tongue. Nice summer refresher.