Review: Trumer Pilsner

Awhile back I got an email from someone with a quote claiming Trumer Pils was the best Pilsner style beer in the world. Now, that quote came from a guy named Lars Larson (brewmaster for Trumer's Berkley brewery) and I make it a point never to trust a man who's first and last name are so similar. We got our hands on a few bottles of this brew awhile back and last night we took them for a spin.

Trumer Pils has taken the gold medal for german style pilsners in a number of the more prestigious beer competitions. Most notably the World Beer Cup in 2008 and the Great American Beer Festival in 2010. Now this doesn't absolutely prove anything. But these are double blind tasting competitions performed by professional alcoholics. So don't take it with too many grains of salt. (How exactly do grains of salt lead one to the truth anyway?)

Pilsner is a style of beer that arose in the mid 1900's in Pilsen, Bohemia out of people's frustration with Bohemian beers which were much darker and more inconsistant. Entire barrels were destroyed in protest until city officials founded a new brewery, in 1839, which brewed beer in the Bavarian style of brewing. It was called Bürger Brauerei or Citizen's Brewery and it produced a lighter, better flavored, more shelf-stable brew. And there was much rejoicing:

Freddie Mercury was particularly excited and wrote a song! Something about rhapsody...

In 2004 Trumer Pils built a distillery in Berkeley, California in an effort to share the pilsner gospel with these here United States. Everything is the same in Berkeley, right down to the hops and malt which are imported from the Czech Republic and Austria; where the original distillery is located. The only thing they didn't import is the water which I hear california has quite a lot of.

So is it the best Pilsner in the world? Seriously? Well, maybe after I track down every other pilsner in production I can answer that question for you. Until then I can say that it's a tasty beer. Even though its a german style brew, which are sometimes quite bitter, I was able to drink this happily without wincing. It's highly carbonated and produces a very nice head. So while I can't say if it's the best in the world I will tell you that its a very enjoyably brew that I would gladly pick up again. OH, and it has awesome looking beer ladies on the bottle caps.

Our Grade: A Price: $9 for a 6-pack. www.trumer-international.com

Lars Larson says there's even a perfect way to poor it.