Winter is firmly in the rear-view mirror and we’re zooming toward summer like a beer-fueled Winnebago. The season of barrel-aged stouts, imperial porters, and other dark, malty, high-ABV beers is over. It’s time for the lighter beer to get their time in the proverbial sun.
Spring is a time for light, refreshing beers like IPAs, wheat beers, and of course, crisp, thirst-quenching pilsners. While we love all crushable, sessionable beers during the season of rejuvenation, we especially love the latter.
What makes a pilsner?
Pilsners are bottom-fermented beers brewed with pilsner malt and lager yeast. They originated in the Czech Republic and got their name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (or Pilsen in German). If you’re a Pilsner fan, you likely know the first-ever pale lager and have had a bottle or two over the years. This is because Pilsner Urquell was first brewed in 1842. It was the first pilsner, and it’s still brewed and enjoyed worldwide.
Pilsner flavors
When you pour a pilsner into a pint glass, you’ll first notice the amber-like, golden hue. Nosing the beer will give you some cereal grains, corn, citrus, honey, floral, and herbal hops. The palate is known for its sweet, malty backbone, honey, citrus, and floral flavors. It’s known for its crisp, refreshing body and dry finish.
There’s a reason people love pilsners during the warmer months (or any time of year). When made well, it offers a crisp, thirst-quenching, crushable, and well-balanced flavor. It’s the kind of beer you’ll sip after a long day at work, following an afternoon of mowing the lawn, or as an accompaniment to yard games.
The 5 freshest pilsners to drink this spring
A great pilsner is clean, refreshing, crisp, floral, well balanced, and most of all, fresh. To help you find the best examples, we did the work for you. We found five of the best, freshest pilsners to drink this spring. Keep scrolling to see them all so you can stock up your fridge.
Troegs Sunshine
With a name like Troegs Sunshine, you should have a pretty good idea about what’s in store for you when crack open one of these beers. This year-round 4.5% ABV pilsner is brewed with pilsner malt, lager yeast, and Hersbrucker and Saaz hops. The result is a clean, refreshing, crisp pilsner with biscuit-like malts, citrus peels, honey, and floral hops.
Firestone Walker Pivo Pils
Firestone Walker Pivo Pils is anything but a traditional pilsner, and we couldn’t love that more. This 5.3% ABV pilsner is brewed with pilsner and carafoam malts. Saphir, Spalter Select, and Tradition hops are added in the kettle, and it’s dry-hopped with more Saphir hops. This results in a beer that bridges the gap between traditional European and American craft lagers. It’s crisp, very hoppy, thirst quenching, and loaded with spicy, floral flavors.
Jack’s Abby Post Shift Pilsner
With a name like Post Shift Pilsner, you know this is the kind of beer you toss back after a long day of work. This year-round, Bavarian-style pilsner is brewed with hops from the Seitz Family Hops in Hallertau, Germany. It’s known for its clean, crisp, refreshing flavor profile featuring cracker-like malts, citrus peels, honey, and herbal, floral hops. Even if you didn’t put in a hard day’s work, you can still tip back a few of these bad boys on an unseasonably warm spring night.
Pilsner Urquell
No fresh pilsner list is complete without the beer that started it all. For more than 180 years, this award-winning, beloved beer has been brewed the same way. Simple and elegant, it’s brewed with water, grain, yeast, and Saaz hops. This creates a crisp, thirst-quenching, quaffable pilsner featuring notes of cracker malts, honey, citrus peels, and earthy, floral hops. The finish is crisp, hoppy, dry, and pleasantly bitter. Overall, this is a great beer.
Victory Prima Pils
One of the highest-rated pilsners available almost anywhere, Victory Prima Pils is as authentic as American-made pilsners can be. Brewed with pilsner malt and Tettnang, Hallertau, Spalt, and Saaz hops, it’s known for its balanced flavor profile featuring notes of sweet malts, lemon peels, and floral, gently spicy hops. It’s crisp, crushable, and perfect for a spring day.
Bottom line
Sure, you can stock up your fridge with all these beers and we’d be all for that. Or you can pick one at random and give it a try. But if you want to get on the pilsner bandwagon this spring, we suggest starting with the OG from Pilsner Urquell.
