In last week’s Bier Essentials I reviewed a fine example of Trappist ale from the Netherlands, showing my Dutch heritage whereas this week,I shall be reviewing an exemplar of well made lager, Pilsner Urquell. However, before I expound on the qualities of this Czech delight, I think it might be advisable to detail the difference between ale and lager. Many of you will have heard these terms bandied about, yet have no understanding of the differences.
Ale is the older of the two styles, and as such, for quite some time pretty much all beer was some sort of ale. Lager came about in medieval times when people started building castles, which had cellars. These cellars would remain at a consistently cooler temperature than the general surroundings, so beer brewed in these cellars would be brewed at a lower temperature than normal. Thus the lager was born! Lower brewing temperatures resulted in the prominence of different yeasts in the brewing process (top fermenting in ale vs. bottom fermenting in lager), which in turn provided different flavour characteristics in the resulting beer. I personally prefer ale because of the greater range and complexity of flavours, but let’s face it - it’s hard to beat a cold lager on a sunny afternoon.
And this particular cold lager is something special. When a beer goes on to define a style you know it must be a good one, and Pilsner Urquell is the beer that defined the well known and enjoyed style of beer that is pilsner. So named as it is brewed in Plzen, Czech Republic, Pilsner Urquell was first brewed ion 5th October, 1842 by Josef Groll. Pilsner Urquell is golden in colour and has a very well balanced flavour. It has a stronger hop character than many lagers, notably from the noble Saaz hops, and this provides the beer with a pleasant bitterness, which is set off against fruity flavours not found in many imitators of the style. The hops also leave a pleasant lingering aftertaste. Very refreshing, this is a beer that must be tried, for both its flavour and its history. It can be found at good supermarkets for about $16-18 a 6 pack.
