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12 Beers Of Winter 2008 Series: Saranac Bohemian Pilsner
By Tom - March 27, 2009 | Email the author

Name: Bohemian Pilsener
Brewed By: Saranac Brewery
Brewed In: Utica, NY
Type: Pilsner
ABV: 4.8%

What They Say: Saranac Bohemian Pilsener is a medium bodied Pilsener crafted like the original Pilseners of Czechoslovakia. Brewed with the finest Pilsener malt and Saaz hops, you will find this beer has a crisp, clean taste and leaves you wanting another. Enjoy!

Website: Saranac passes my muster for a good website. Navigation on top, everything easily noticeable and findable without much work. Well done, guys.

Why I Picked It: Another new beer making it’s debut in the 12 Beers and the third of a six-part series. This new apparently eliminates their Scotch Ale, of which all trace has been removed from their website and may now only exist in my head.

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Presentation: The Bohemian Pilsener goes for the relaxing light tan hue with a painting of mountain, pine trees, and whitewater. I will say — kind of an odd selection for a winter sampler pack. Pilseners seem somewhat spring/summery to me, so I don’t know. 3

Originality: I don’t think originality is what they’re going for with this beer. It’s a Pilsener. A standard, golden, tasty pilsener. 2

Taste: I’ve never really gotten the whole pilsener thing. Like, it tastes fine. It’s inoffensive. It’s got a crisp, clean flavor and finishes plain. Nothing fancy — just a watery kind of almost American-type ale deal. It’s tasty and satisfying without that weird sort of tinny aftertaste found in some pilseners. I like it, but it’s kind of boring. If you’re a pilsener guy, though, this is a pretty good one. 7

Body: As previously mentioned, the pale straw flavor and decent head starts and finishes crisp and clean. It’s refreshing, if a little boring. I’m having trouble with the pilsener in a 12 Pack that’s supposed to have winter beers, but isn’t really something to penalize here. 7

Efficiency: They claim 4.8% ABV. I am right on the border of calling shenanigans on that claim. While I’m usually one to rate beers that you can drink all day pretty highly for efficiency, when they literally go down like water, with the same effect. Not a lot of points here. Boring beer with low ABV is not something I’m going to go out of my way to drink. Ever.4

Versatility: Start drinking this at five o’clock and you’ll still be going strong at five the next morning. I used the two of these in the sampler pack as palette-cleansing buffers between the other heavy beers. This feels like a beer you could drink until you got bored. It’s even called “Bohemian” so you can show your snobby friends how edgy you are. 10

The Snob Says: The pilsener is good. I really don’t like its inclusion in the 12 Beers Of Winter. I expect this case to be filled with stouts, porters, and dark ales. This would have been much better suited as a premiere in their 12 Beers Of Summer. Just not a winter beer for me.

Final Grade: 33 (of 50) – Good beer.

Related posts:

  1. Friday Beer Snob: Saranac 12 Beers Of Winter 2009 – Winter Lager

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Comments
  1. [...] Bohemian Pilsener: 33 [...]

    Posted by Saranac 12 Beers Of Winter 2008 Final Thoughts | Those Beer Snobs | April 21, 2009, 10:34 pm
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