Fat Ma American Style Pilsner

 Looking like a true classic—clear and modestly carbonated under a fluffy white head—Fat Ma American Style Pilsner is a 5.8% lager from Birds Fly South Ale Project in Greenville, South Carolina. The beer comes in 473mL cans, according to which some of the proceeds “go directly to help our neighbors in need.” Cheers!

The beer has a honey sweet nose backed with an assertive grain bill and a healthy suggestion of hops (Sterling and Topaz). The flavour is initially sweet and grassy, but gradually builds to a hoppy and floral back end.

I’d have liked Fat Ma to be a bit more effervescent, but otherwise she was firing on all cylinders, delivering crisp refreshment and a flavourful bouquet.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Trellis Pilsner

A pilsner? From Toronto? How simply delightful! Trellis Pilsner comes from Amsterdam Brewery. It’s a 5.3% pale lager brewed with Mandarina Bavaria hops that comes in 473mL cans with a slightly unfortunate font. The beer is an entry in Amsterdam’s Adventure Brews series.

Trellis is a crystal clear beer—highly carbonated with a fluffy white head and a nice golden colour. The pilsner has a dry, floral aroma with a slight orange subtext. The flavour is crisp, dry, and agreeable, with  a considerable bitterness and just a touch of citrus.

Trellis would be a delight at the end of a hot summer’s day, but it’s not too shabby on a wintery Saturday afternoon either.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Tchèque Mon Bike

 A Czech-style pilsner from La Belle Province, Tchèque Mon Bike is a 5.3% lager from Siboire out of Sherbrooke. The beer came my way via the always generous WFM. Sold in 473mL cans, the beer pours with lots of carbonation and a white head atop a sunny golden lager.

TMB has a bright grainy aroma with just a touch of lemongrass. The flavour is built around crisp graininess with initial citrus notes that swings to a dry and floral finish, thanks to Quebec-grown Saaz hops.

Perhaps not as bitter or crisp as the best pilsners, but TMB delivers a delicate, floral flavour. I’d have liked the finish to pack a bit more punch, but the 5.3% alcohol offered a nice little boost.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Normopathy

 

A crisp little pilsner from the gang at Rorschach Brewing Co. in Toronto, Normopathy is a 4.9% pale lager. Sold in 473mL cans, the beer is crystal clear and straw gold under a sudsy white head.

Normopathy has a grainy aroma with a floral accent. The flavour is quite assertive for a sub-five percent pilsner, with a big grain and cracker opening note and a floral, slightly spicy finish. Almost no sweetness.

This little pilsner got me amped up (or maybe it was the fact that I was watching my Raiders open up their 2021 season on Monday Night Football). But whatever the cause of my good mood, the beer was undeniably tasty. Crisp, refreshing, and flavourful.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Figo

Figo is another Italian pilsner out of Toronto, this one is a 5.5% number from Henderson Brewing Co. The beer pours a honey-gold with a slim covering of off-white head. 

Sold in 473mL cans, the beer has a sweet, grainy aromatic profile with a decidedly floral, dry-hopped bent. The flavour kicks off with big grain sweetness, and transitions into a flowery, slightly soapy place. The back end has some noble hop vibes, but it ain’t overly bitter.

I suspect that purists would decry Figo is too sweet and too strong for style, but I actually liked it more than a lot of the T.O. Italian pilsners I’ve tried so far. The heft is agreeable to me, though I’d have liked a bit more crispness.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Ten Mile Point Pilsner

I was the first of five to arrive for a cottage weekend on Georgian Bay, so after unpacking the rental car and getting the groceries put away, I took the opportunity to sneak in a beer review. Ten Mile Point Pilsner is a 4.5% lager from Little Current, on Manitoulin Island, where it’s fashioned by the Manitoulin Brewing Co. The beer was straw gold and clear, with a healthy helping of bright white foam.

TMP’s aroma leaned hard into noble hops, with some pepperiness on hand, and a decent measure of fresh grain. The flavour moves from grain sweet to floral bitter, and it’s a little less assertive than the nose. The texture isn’t quite crisp, which is a shame, but the beer is smooth and quite refreshing.

Ten Mile Point is a fine enough Czech-style pilsner, but it would benefit from a bit more crackle and a crisper texture. Still, for a first beer at a cottage on a sweltering July day, it left me feeling sated and swell.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Sklepník V Oceli

 

Sklepník V Oceli is a Czech-style lager from Godspeed Brewery’s Pivovar Godspeed series. The pilsner clocks in at 4.4% alcohol and according to the copy on Godspeed’s website, this “Stainless Edition” is “fermented then cold conditioned in stainless fermentation tanks for 7 weeks.” The Torontonian lager is clear, golden, and lovely to look at beneath a white foam.

Crisp and classic, the nose has a lot of grain elements, as well as a healthy measure of noble hop aromatics. The flavour is fresh and, for a low-alcohol offering, quite robust. It balances grain, metallic notes, and a floral, lightly spicy bitterness.

Godspeed is, in my opinion, Ontario’s lager master, and Slepník V Oceli is well up to my expectations. A good, clean pilsner is a great joy, and this one delivers. I’d have liked it to reach 5%, but otherwise, my complaints barely register.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Civic Pilsner

 Civic Pilsner hails from Ottawa. The 4.5% German-style pale lager is brewed by Dominion City Brewing Co. Sold in 355mL cans, the beer is golden, a bit hazy, and pours with a sudsy off-white head.

CP boasts a dry, grainy aroma with a healthy dose of noble hops. It has a crisp, floral flavour that weds sweet cereals with an arid bitter finish.

When I think of Ottawa’s Dominion, I think of expertly crafted IPAs and wildly strong, sweet imperial stouts. With Civic Pilsner, they proved their range extends to well-tuned lagers as well. I’d have preferred clarity in the appearance, but otherwise, CP proved a flavourful little lager.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Glorioso Italian Pilsner

 According to the 355mL can, the Glorioso Italian Pilsner that showed up by delivery on December 16th was canned just two days earlier, on December 14th—talk about fresh! The 5.5% beer comes from Toronto’s Left Field Brewery. It’s a crystalline gold lager with a thin white head.

Glorioso has a spritely floral hop aroma, accented with some cereal sweetness. The flavour, too, is quite floral, with a bit of soapiness and a metallic clink. The structure of the beer also features some sweet graininess. The mouthfeel is a little soft for a pilsner, but not wildly so.

I’m not totally sold on the Italian pilsner sub-type—I find they tend towards soap or perfume, though I do like the robustness of their flavour. That said, Glorioso was a pretty enjoyable pale lager.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Umarell Dry Hopped Pilsner

 Umarell Dry Hopped Pilsner is born at the Toronto outpost of Goose Island—the Goose Island Brewhouse Toronto. It’s a 5% pale lager sold in 473mL cans. I’d class this little fella as an Italian pilsner. It’s a reasonably clear pale gold brew that pours with a thin layer of white suds.

Umarell has a mellow sweet and grainy aroma, with a slight floral hop lilt. The beer has a crispy texture and a pretty enjoyable flavour—it moves from sweet cereals to floral bitterness, with a whisper of soap.

I quite enjoyed Goose Island’s take on the Italian Pilsner. It was crisp and refreshing, with ample flavour.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Marco Polo Italian Pilsner

Marco Polo Italian Pilsner is produced in Toronto by Indie Alehouse. It’s a 5% brew sold in very slick 355mL cans done up in black and gold. The beer itself is fairly clear and nicely carbonated, with a fluff of white foam.

MP has a floral hop aroma—crisp and a bit sweet. The flavour is extremely flowery, to the point that it actually has a soapy quality that isn’t entirely agreeable (to me at least). I initially suspected dish soap in my pilsner glass, but all four 355mL cans had the same vibe. The beer, though, is undeniably crisp and refreshing, with evident dry-hopping.

I wanted to love Marco Polo. It’s a great style made by a brewery that I really respect, but I found it disappointingly soapy and that was tough to look past. It is definitely thirst-quenching, and the flavour is unique, but it wasn’t to my taste at all.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner

A quirky spin on Bellwoods Brewery’s excellent Bell Weiser is the Toronto brewery’s Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner. The beer, a 4.2% pale lager, is a pink hued and hazy concoction sold in 473mL cans. 

The beer, which pours with a thin layer of white suds, delivers a grapefruit blast to the sniffer. The crisp little beer has a potent pink grapefruit juice flavour that dominates the underlying pilsner flavour, though there is a pretty healthy dose of noble hop grapefruit at the back end to remind you of its pedigree.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner drinks like a fairly high alcohol shandy or radler. It’s a juicy lager with lots of grapefruit heft in a low-octane format. The beer isn’t subtle, but it’s fun. A compelling summer Saturday beer for sure.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Paniza Premium Pilsner

Paniza Brewing Co. hails from Toronto, Ontario. Seemingly kicking off their operation without a bricks and mortar location, it appears that Paniza is contract brewing to start, though a quick google search didn’t turn up where their beer is made and I didn’t bother digging any deeper. The first Paniza offering I came across was their Premium Pilsner, 473mL cans of which are sold in the LCBO. The cans feature an astronaut and the motto “out of this world”. Weighing in at a standard 5%, Premium Pilsner is billed as a German-style pilsner, and it checks in at 25 IBUs. 

Clear gold, nicely carbonated, and topped with a white foam, this certainly looked convincingly pilsner-like. The beer has a grainy aroma accented with fresh hop notes. The flavour proved to be highly agreeable, with a measured blend of noble hop and grainy malt elements, and a timid honey subtext.

I really enjoyed my lone can of Premium Pilsner and wished I’d had the foresight to purchase a second. It isn’t exactly crisp, but the flavour manages to be light and delicate, with some subtle substance. I’d have liked it to be more vigourously bitter, but otherwise I was pretty impressed. I’ll be keeping my eye out for future Paniza offerings, because this one was quite solid.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Junction Craft Pilsner

Junction Craft Pilsner is a pale lager born of Toronto’s Junction Craft Brewery. It’s a 4.6% brew sold in unremarkable 473mL cans. The beer is not-quite-clear straw yellow with a short-lived white head and a decent amount of carbonation.

 

JCB’s JCP has a sweet, grainy nose with an agreeable noble hop subtext. The flavour follows the same trail, but the ratios are inverted. The beer kicks off with a sweet cereal note, and it culminates in a rowdy bitter finish. The only issue for me is the sweetness is a bit too prominent.

Dry and crisp, JCP is a low-alcohol offering with a remarkably full-flavour. I’d have liked it to be a bit more effervescent, and there is a sweet streak running through it that doesn’t totally work. On the whole, I thought this was a pretty solid German-style pilsner, and I’d be glad to have another any time.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Four on the Floor Pilsner

Four on the Floor Pilsner is a pale lager from the team at Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing. It’s a 4.9% grog with a slightly hazy yellow-gold colour and a thin cover of white foam. Perhaps my favourite thing about this beer is the last line of the copy on the 355mL cans, which cautions: “Please crush responsibly.”

FotF is brewed using Saaz and Saphir hops. It has a grassy, slightly metallic aroma with a faint banana note. The mouthfeel is both sparkling and a bit thin, which doesn’t give it quite the level of crispness that I was hoping for. It has a clean, pleasant flavour, though, with a grain to hops progression.

FotF is a pretty decent pilsner. It’d be better if it was a bit more crisp and a bit more assertive, but I enjoyed it and am glad to have a few more in the fridge.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Bright Classic Pils

Bright Classic Pils is Toronto’s Avling Brewery’s take on the pilsner. It’s a 4.9% lager sold in 355mL cans. The brew is a pale golden colour. It’s well carbonated and pours with a cap of white suds.

This Pils has a mild, grainy aroma, with a slightly metallic note. The flavour is quite delicate, with a sweet to bitter progression. The beer starts with grainy malt and moves to a dry bitterness. The pilsner has a surprisingly soft mouthfeel, though the finish adds a bit of crispness.

Bright Classic Pils is a fair rendition of the classic style. It’s not quite as crisp as I’d have liked, but the balance is solid.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Godspeed Goodies--Svētlÿ Ležak 12’ Czech Premium Pale Lager

My darling readers, if you’re a fan of pilsners and other crisp pale lagers and a resident of Toronto, then listen to your ol’ pal the Stout Man and get a-hold of some 355mL cans of Svētlÿ Ležak 12’ Czech Premium Pale Lager from Godspeed Brewery. Run! Don’t walk.

This is a 5% pale lager. It’s a clear, amply carbonated golden ale that pours with a thin layer of white suds. It’s got a sharp, grainy, hoppy nose, with understated mown grass sweetness for balance. Big for a 5% pale lager, the flavour has a fast-moving sweet to hoppy flow. It goes from cereal sweet to noble hop bitterness in a near instant, and the transition is precise and admirable.

The vibe of this classic, Euro-style lager is crisp and flavourful, with a cracklin’ dry, hoppy finish. This isn’t really a session-friendly pale lager, despite its average stats—the beer has too much oomph to bust into more than two in a row. However, as Ontario pale lager a go, it’s a thing of damn beauty.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Isar Pilsner

According to my 473mL can of Isar Pilsner, this pale lager was packaged on February 26, 2020, making it a gloriously fresh, pre-social distancing brew. I consumed mine late in the evening on March 21—thinking about the good ol’ days of bars and restaurants aplenty, and it gave me some joy. Isar is a 5.2% lager. It’s a clear gold grog, modestly carbonated, and covered in a layer of white head. The beer is produced by Toronto’s outstanding Bellwoods Brewery.

Isar has a fresh and grainy nose, built around a Czech-style waft of gritty hops. The flavour is large and bold for an Ontario pilsner, with a rowdy amount of dry bitterness that dominates a measure of malty grain-itude.

Bellwoods’ Isar Pilsner is a crisp and clean effort, but one that has, for the style, an extremely bitter body. I’m sure that this would be a brilliant hot weather patio guzzler, but late night on a chilly March evening, it still got the job done admirably. It’s not an easy-drinking pils—it is big and bold. Guys, this is a truly solid, born-in-Ontario pilsner. You should try it.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Fergie’s Classic Pilsner

Named in honour of one of the most successful Canadians to ever play Major League Baseball, Fergie’s Classic Pilsner is apparently a collaboration between Sons of Kent Brewing Company and the man himself, Ferguson Jenkins. Both the brewery and the Hall of Fame pitcher hail from Chatham, Ontario, and this beer raises funds for the local Children’s Treatment Centre. Sold in 473mL cans that feature Jenkins’ MLB careen wins, ERA, and strikeout totals (3,192!!!), the pale lager contains 4.9% alcohol. It’s a clear yellow-gold brew with decent carbonation, although it doesn’t pour with a whole lot of the white head that caps the beer.

Fergie’s Classic Pilsner has a grassy and sweet fragrance. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with cereal notes steering the ship. Bitterness picks up towards the stern, but not with the level of gritty crispness that I like to see in a pilsner.

For me, Fergie’s is an enjoyable enough lager in honour of a good cause and a great ball player, but it’s not sufficiently crisp or flavourful to stake a claim as an elite Ontario pilsner.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Farmer in the Sky Dry Hopped Pilsner

According to its 473mL can, Farmer in the Sky Dry Hopped Pilsner is the brainchild of True History Brewing in Toronto, though it’s actually brewed in Calgary by Last Spike Brewery. The beer is a 4.9% pale lager.

A sunny, effervescent, and slightly hazy yellow gold brew, Farmer in the Sky has a mild dry and grainy aroma. In contrast, the flavour is pretty rowdy, with a grainy backbone supplemented with floral notes and a slightly coppery vibe. The finish is decently bitter, but not as crisp and punchy as I’d have liked.

Farmer in the Sky is a fair take of the dry-hopped pilsner. Bitter and full-flavoured, but not as crisp and abrupt as I’d have liked, the beer shows promise and I’d probably revisit it. Now that True History Brewing is on my radar, I’ll be keeping an eye out for future releases.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.