Brewery: Zlaty Bazant, Hurbanova, Slovak Republic
Brewery Description: Ummm…good luck with this one. “12% svetlé pivo Zlatý Bažant je svetlý ležiak plzenského typu. Je charakteristické jemnou chmeľovou arómou a stredne silnou horkosÅ¥ou. Plná chuÅ¥ a primeraná rezkosÅ¥ ho zaraÄujú medzi najobľúbenejÅ¡ie pivá na trhu. Zlatý Bažant 12% je prvé pivo na slovenskom trhu plnené do fliaÅ¡ s otoÄným uzáverom, ktorý sa stáva novým fenoménom v kultúre pitia piva.”
Brew Style: Bohemian Pilsner, 5.0% ABV
Recommended Glassware: Flute, Footed pilsner
The Ugly Truth: First, I’ve never even heard of a Bohemian Pilsner but then there are a lot of things about beer that I don’t know about. Its all a journey for knowledge baby! So a Bohemian Pilsner is “hallmarked by the generous use of the Saaz hop, Bohemian (or Czech) pilsners are also noted for their rich gold colour, fat maltiness and moderate to full body. Regardless of origin, to be a pilsner a beer must have at least 28 units of bitterness, and preferably much more.”. So working off that, let’s get moving. The color was really good actually, pouring a golden yellow with a full white head on it. I was a bit concerned because the head kind of went away fast without leaving any traces on the glass, but forged on. Then I drank it. My first thought was “oh wow, this is bad” and drinking more of it didn’t do anything to change that. It had this kind of flat (which in case a certain individual is reading this, I mean flat as in “the taste didn’t go anywhere and had no depth or range”), tangy taste to it that was just wrong. I could feel it in my soul how wrong it was. There really wasn’t any aftertaste to it, the taste just dies and makes your mouth dry. It just leaves this nasty, ugly feeling in your mouth like you had just been violated. Apart from that, it wasn’t bad but lord it wasn’t good.
Verdict: This pheasant has maybe 3 out of 10 bottlecaps worth of gold in it, the rest is bronze.
LOL!!! Nice to see I left a little impression.
I actually agree with you on this one. Green bottle beers from Europe just don’t taste the same way here in the states as they do from a tap in the city where they are brewed. In fact, they taste completely different here. It’s all in the green bottle, you would think after making beer for several hundred years they would have figured that one out by now.
Pilsner Urquell is the picture in the dictionary for a Bohemian Pilsner. I’ve had the opportunity to drink PU on tap in Bulgaria, the difference was night and day from what you get here in the states. I’m sure Golden Pheasant would be the same way.
See, now I like Pilsner Urquell so I can only imagine how much better it would taste at the source. But for some exception, all the pilsners I’d has from Eastern Europe haven’t tasted good, and I KNOW those people know how to brew a pilsner.
Pilsner Urquell - I had my first last night, and I have to say, not impressed at all. I bought it during one of my “grab a beer I’ve never had before” excursions, and after drinking it I went online to get some reviews, and a lot of folks said the same as you two - completely different on tap than in the green bottle.
Green Bottles are the bane of beer universe.
Sorry guys, I have to disagree. I felt the same way you did at first. I lived over there for 2 years and the beer does grow on you. Now, I can’t drink anything but pilsner beers.
Yeah, I’ve actually noticed that the more pilsnerss I’ve had the more the taste has grown on me. My beer of the month shipment this month has two pilsners, one which I’ve liked so far and one not so much.
I just have to say for the record that is was one of the best beers I’ve ever had…I had it in St. Petersburg, in an Irish bar; the guy said it was Czech but that they also brewed it in Russia (FYI I went to the Zlaty Bazant website, and it actually appears to be Slovakian rather than Czech).
I haven’t had it in the bottle but in line with comments above I bet it’s not that good…I had Pilsener Urquell in Prague and thought it was amazing, bought a case when I returned to the States and was totally disappointed.
Thanks for the comment. I’ve gotten the impression from a number of sources that pilsners rarely taste the same between tap and bottle and that the ones in the States don’t taste the same as Europe. Its a shame because I’m still trying to find a pilsner that I can really get into.