Mediocre beer can make people do crazy things. In 1838 beer consumers in the small village of Pilsen in the Czech Republic were so dissatisfied with their local brews due to the taste and standards of quality varying greatly keg to keg, they staged a rebellion and dumped out barrel after barrel of beer. I like to think there were pitchforks and torches involved, but that’s merely speculation, mainly mine.
Regardless, these people were so fed up with the lackluster brew that they would rather spill it into the streets and risk not having any beer to sip at the local tavern then continue to drink what was being pawned off as an acceptable malty beverage. Quite the bold statement, citizens of Pilsen, very bold.
Yet these angry beer drinkers knew their stuff, the town had been brewing beer since 1295, and as a result of their revolutionary actions spurred change. In 1839 town officials found a city-owned brewery simply called “Méšt’ansky pivovar Plzen” or “Citizens’ Brewery” which later became Pilsner Urquell and still operates as such to this day.
This new brewery looked to begin brewing in the pioneering Bavarian style, crafting their beer with bottom-fermenting yeasts and aging the barrels in caves which improved the clarity and shelf-life. And made for much happier beer drinkers! Under the guidance of newly-recruited Bavarian brewmaster Josef Groll the first batch of the modern Pilsner was ready for consumption on October 5, 1842 and needless to say it was a sensation, quickly spreading (and being imitated) across Europe.
Now obviously I’ve had my fair share of Pilsners, it is the most popular style of beer in the world, but I’ve always been more of a fan of ales so I generally scan past them when looking at a beer menu. Recently, however, I found myself in need of something cold, refreshing, and light seeing as how it was only 3 o’clock in the afternoon, yet felt like an afternoon for celebrating – it was sunny & warm, 70°+ which is a big deal in Portland when it’s still only late-March. It was also a Friday, the Friday of spring break to be specific. Granted I’m past my spring breaking days, but I could toast the youth, right?
The bright yellow label on the Breakside Brewery Pilsner definitely stood out among the rows of 22 ouncers at a local bottle shop and the name, Liquid Sunshine, sealed the deal. I had been hearing great things about Breakside, mainly that they had humble beginnings and that they produced amazing beer, but I had never had the chance to give them a go myself.
Breakside Brewing was founded in 2010 as a nanobrewery and restaurant in NE Portland and rapidly drew attention as they won their first medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2011 and have subsequently earned medals every year since. In late 2012 they expanded to a second location in Milwaukie with a 30 barrel production brewery that’s now known for their experimental, barrel-aged, and sour beers as well as award-winning classics. And after savoring a few glasses of their Pilsner, Liquid Sunshine will easily become a classic in my book!
While pouring it, the first thing I noticed was the golden color – so yellow, so bright, literally like sunshine in a Pilsner glass. It had a clean, white foamy head on it with beautiful lacing forming on the glass as I drank it down. Tons of tiny bubbles quickly floated up to the top through the dazzling, vivid liquid (did I mention the color was spectacular??) and it had that classic lager smell – a crisp aroma that I always associated with beer before I was actually old enough to drink it.
As I said before, Pilsners haven’t been my beer of choice, especially as both me and my taste buds have matured. I know it’s a huge generalization, but for me they tend to be too sweet and lack a certain depth of flavor. I did not have that problem with this Pilsner. As it turns out, there are three different styles of Pilsners – German, Czech, and European – and Liquid Sunshine falls into the German-style category meaning it has a more bitter and earthy taste, which is probably why I loved it so.
The first taste I picked up on were some floral notes, possibly lavender, which caught me off guard, but was totally delicious. A beer can’t bill itself as “sunshine” without having a little citrus flavor to it and this one had the right amount of fruitiness and, yes, there was a nice amount of bitterness without too much sweet. Yay! As expected, it was crisp and light with an ideal level of carbonation and thin mouthfeel as I swallowed, just what one would want out of this bright and sunny beauty. Thank you, Liquid Sunshine, for introducing me to such a lovely style of Pilsners, perhaps I should go back and give some of the others another shot.