Panzer Imperial Pilsner

Well, someone sure went all out to put a positive spin on this German Tank beer, eh?

Anyway, the graphics and OTT write-up aside, what does this beer actually have to go on? Not bad, really. A bit on the dull side of gold/yellowish, with decent head and lacing.

Some fruit coming across to me in the aroma. Grapes? Regardless, not something that I'd expect (at all!) from a Pilsener-ish product. It's not a bad thing, but just a little odd and out-of-place.

Flavor-wise, this passed at least one semi-vital test IMO: it did not fall apart once it warmed up past 40ºF or so (as so many big-ass Lagers do. And yes, I do mean the brain burning East Euro schwills, and malt likkas from the world `round!). Moderate appeal here: nothing turning me off, but also nothing really impressing me, either.

One thing I surely didn't see coming from this offering is the fact that this is bottle-conditioned. A well-behaved and highly flocculant yeast is currently sitting at the bottom of my tall pils glass. Not too many bottle-conditioned/unfiltered Lagers cross my path. Minimal affect on the clarity of this beer, but I still don't get why Port didn't filter this. It's not expected to actually improve much sitting in time-out in the cellar, I assume?

Either way, this was not the boozey "malt liquor in a fancy bottle" cloying mess that I half-expected. Would I drop another $7.49 for a bomber of this? Probably not: I like my pilseners (big, small, fat, skinny, etc) to be a lot drier, for one thing.

But this didn't suck. And it's better than many "Imperial Pilseners" that have crossed my path this year....
//TB