History of Pilsner

Almost every pale lager you have ever drunk descends from one beer made in one Bohemian town. In this video, Matthew and I dig into the history of Pilsner. Then we do something I will remember for a while. We taste regular Pilsner Urquell side by side with the unfiltered version Matthew brought home from Plzeň.

That version came straight out of a giant cask at the brewery, the freshest pils you can get. Matthew packed three of them into his suitcase and crossed his fingers. They all made it.

Why golden beer was a big deal

Before Pilsner Urquell, beer was generally darker. The English had been making pale ales, but the maltster's kiln changed the game. You could finally dry malt without any smoky, roasty or burnt flavors, so the result was light in color. Before that, you lit a fire under your malt or left it out in the sun, which was risky if it rained.

Timing mattered too. Trains, refrigeration and a growing understanding of microbiology were arriving. Glassware had just become cheap enough for everyone. If you drink from a stoneware mug you do not care how clear the beer is. Put a crystal clear golden beer in a glass and people were obsessed. Porter had been the most popular beer in the world by a huge margin. Dark beer lost ground fast.

The short version of the story is that the wealthy burghers of Plzeň, in what is today the Czech Republic, were tired of bad beer, so they hired a well-known German brewer, Josef Groll, to make something new. He used the local Czech malt and Czech hops. The Germans then made their own take and call it German pils, out of respect for where it came from. The American and international light lagers all trace back here too.

What makes Pilsner Urquell special

Matthew lists the hallmarks, which are extremely soft water, a soft mouthfeel and high hopping rates. That makes it a pretty bitter beer. That is unusual when you consider how rarely the world's most popular beer styles are bitter. It also shows some diacetyl, the yeast byproduct that reads as buttery and sometimes gives a slick mouthfeel. In the Czech Republic only one beer is called Pilsner. It is poured with a ton of foam and served very cold in huge heavy mugs.

I like Matthew's point on diacetyl. In Cicerone training it is taught as a flaw, but here it is a choice. All yeast makes it and pro brewers know how to get rid of it, but these brewers keep it. As Matthew says, it is only a mistake if you meant not to have it. He asked people across the Czech Republic whether Pilsner Urquell tastes buttery. Everyone outside the brewery looked at him like he was nuts.

The tasting

The regular version first. We get baked bread on the malt side (Matthew calls it brioche) and on the hop side peppery lavender, wildflowers and mace from the Saaz hops. The bitterness balances the richness from the bread and butter.

The unfiltered cellar beer was visibly cloudier. We found it pretty damn similar, but with a few differences.

• A touch more diacetyl.
• A little more yeast-derived fruitiness, like raw apple skin, plus a whiff of sulfur, which is not bad in a lager.
• A softer, rounder mouthfeel and a more aromatic hop expression, with violets, wheatgrass and lavender.
• Slightly higher carbonation and, to us, hops that came across a bit harsher.

Matthew's explanation is that this is the legit expression of the beer when it is super fresh. It comes from barrels in an underground cellar with constant but imperfect conditions, with no centrifuge, filter or pasteurization, so the traits you are trained to treat as flaws show up more. Our verdict is that both are great. The unfiltered one is rougher around the edges and it tastes like the same team running wild and free. It is a good reminder that freshness is why we love our hometown beers.

Watch the video above for the full story and the tasting. If the Certified Cicerone exam is your goal, my Certified Cicerone course and the Beer Scholar Study Lab will help you lock in the style details. If you ever get to Prague or Plzeň, Matthew says learning a few Czech phrases for ordering a beer earns you special treatment.

Cheers! –Chris