Every summer I brew up a new batch of one of my favorite styles of lagers, the New Zealand Pilsner. This is my fourth version that uses exclusively 100% Nelson Sauvin hops.

Recipe for this post can be found here.

Appearance

The beer pours a fluffy white head that has some legs and leaves some lacing. The carbonation is lively and the bubbles are visible. Like previous batches It has a pale straw color that nearly perfectly clear with just a hint of haze.

Aroma

In this batch I dry hopped with 1.5oz Nelson Sauvin. The aroma on this beer is mild, but has notes of white grape and a pleasant aroma from the Pilsner malt. It’s a mix of the two aromas and I do prefer the aroma on this batch more than the previous version.

Taste/Mouthfeel

The carbonation is perfect and is medium-high providing a good amount of bubbles. The taste is really clean with the Nelson Sauvin really shining. White grape and gooseberry are very apparent. There is just a touch of the pilsner malt flavor in the finish. I am a big fan of the Gold Rush Pilsner malt and will continue to use it in future batches.

Impressions

This is my fourth variation on the beer and through experimentation I feel like it’s pretty dialed in at this point. I may still experiment with other varieties of New Zealand hops (paired with Nelson Sauvin of course) in the future.