Czech Premium Pale Lager

Tier A · BJCP 3B · Lager, fermented cold

ABV

4.2-5.8%

IBU

30-45

SRM

3.5-6

Serve

38-45F

Glass

Half litre mug

Identify

Medium yellow to deep gold, and brilliantly clear. A dense, wet, meringue like head that holds its shape and leaves your top lip damp. The smell is bready and rich, with a spicy floral hop bouquet sitting over it. Fuller than it looks. A rich bready malt flavour arrives first, then a bitterness that is firm but rounded rather than sharp. Medium body, softer carbonation than a German Pils. The finish is long.

Place

Plzen, Bohemia, 1842. The first pale lager ever brewed.

Cause

Most brewers hold their grain and water at a steady warm temperature and leave it there. A Czech brewer takes a portion out, boils it hard, and stirs it back in to raise the temperature of the rest. The word for this is decoction, which just means the boiled portion. Pilsner Urquell still does it three times in a row.

Confused with

German Pils, which is paler, leaner and sharper. Munich Helles, which is barely hopped. Czech Pale Lager, which is the same idea at around 4%. International Pale Lager, which is thinner and has no hop flavour.

Numbers

This is the fullest and deepest coloured beer in the pale lager module, which helps more than you might expect. Each neighbour below has one feature you can catch in a mouthful. German Pils. Paler, leaner and sharper, with a shorter finish and a scrubbed dry feeling this beer never gives you. Munich Helles.

Will you like it and Try

The crust of a good loaf, or honey on brown toast. That rich bready sweetness is the first thing you taste. The last third of a mug of tea, once the bitterness has gone soft and round. That is very close to the finish of this beer. Herbs. Bay leaf, oregano, thyme, or just the smell of a herb garden in the sun.

Order and Pair

Take the half litre. Czech bars pour into a mug called a pullitr, and a 0.3 litre glass called a tretinka is the smaller option. Then there is the part that surprises visitors: you can choose how much foam you want, and each version has a name. If a bar in the United States has a Czech side pull tap, it can do all three.

Judge, Myth and Remember

Deep gold and brilliantly clear, under a dense wet head that keeps its shape. A bready, rich malt smell with a spicy floral hop bouquet over it. Then a full body, a firm rounded bitterness, and a long finish that fades without sharpening. A good one is unmistakably a bigger beer than a German Pils. Light damage first.