Smith & Lentz German Pils

Look at you. Just look at you. Another startup brewer based in Nashville. And look what you did. You decided to produce a pilsner, but you didn't give it any weird name. You call it something simple. I'm not really sure that I can deal with this lack of pretension. I mean, yeah, that's a huge logo on the front of your can. And, it's also really hard to tell what kind of a beer it is without looking at the side of the label where there's a blue stripe with the details of this particular can (I picked up another from this brewery that has a different colored stripe to tell me it's a different kind of beer).

The slightly hazy pale yellow beer does not require effort to coax out the foamy top. No, I'm not going to get any lacing from this, but the big bubbles look like they're in the right place on top of this Pilsner. The aroma is a freshly baked bread loaf with floral notes added to the mix. Actually, it's more than notes - it's like there were flowers actually added to the bread itself. All told, it has the presentation of a traditional German Pilsner just like they say on the box (or can).

First sip is more lemony than I expected, and the yeast is a little more forward with the bread still backing it up and the flower notes definitely still noticeable. It's a relatively crisp beer, but the trail off is a bit tart and bitter. I'd say I could probably sip this beer all night, but that's just not the way we do things around here.

Tip-in is moderate carbonation burn with lemon mixed with very light flowers in the background. The center gets a lot more of the carbonation burn, and there's a little more acidity added to the mix while the bread tries to assert itself with a lot a yeast - it's almost as if the bread hasn't finished baking. The finish is a sharp hit of lemon with bitterness and a little bit of tartness that winds up turning into a mist of tartness for the trail off.

Bottom Line: It's not the best pilsner I've had, but it's a pretty good example of the style.

3.0/5