Goose Island Beer Company Four Star Pils Pilsener at 5.1% ABV | 44 IBU (C$2.55 at Oak & Vine, 341 ml, no bottle date or best before, acquired 26-Apr-2017, reviewed 27-Apr-2017)
Appearance: clear straw with one fat finger of pillowy ivory head, excellent retention and patchy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: grainy pale malt, floral, lemon. (6/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-low bitter. (6/10) Palate: medium-light body, moderate carbonation, crisp short duration and lightly spicy finish. (3/5)
This comes perilously close to smelling and tasting like an adjunct lager, with a corn-like sweetness dominating. But, it’s decently clean and crisp, the bitterness does start to assert after a while, and it ticks the boxes of the style. (Well, sort of – if you pick and choose from BJCP’s German, Bohemian and American styles, you can sorta kinda assemble a profile that matches this one’s.) No sulphates, DMS, or diacetyl, but could stand to be dryer and crisper in my opinion. Not my favourite style by a long shot, so I’m trying hard to be fair here – but at the end of the day, there’s not a lot going on. (12/20)
6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
