random beers left in my fridge, Part 4

The details: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project Von Pilsner Keller Pilsner, 5.0% ABV, 

Ah, finally getting back to being able to actually write about beers that I've had the opportunity to drink. It's like saying hello to an old friend. You sorta start with some small talk ("what's been going on? what were you up to the past couple weeks when you weren't around? I hope the fridge was an OK place to hang out?") but before you know it you're just down to business and enjoying a tasty beverage.

Let me start off with some full disclosure: this beer is the last of the leftovers from our Memorial Day soiree. I had to save it so I could actually drink it and write about it. Thankfully, it hasn't been that long, the beer's in a can, and it's been kept in the fridge. All in all, I'd say it made it through in good shape.

This particular beer was brought/left by my friend Joe's brother Rob, and Rob knows some beer. He has worked at a few really good beer spots down in South Slope, so there was never a doubt in my mind that when it came time to crack this one open it would be a very solid choice. 

Now, dear readers, the pilsner style of beer should be nothing new to you. I've written about them before (most recently last March's review of Telephone Lines pilsner from Finback), and it's a very classic style. It's from Bavaria, it's been around since the early 1800's in basically the form we know now, and while popular it can be very unforgiving to brew.

This one in particular - Von Pilsner from Crooked Stave out in Colorado - is traditional with a twist. It's basically brewed like your everyday German pilsner - lager yeast, floor dried barley malts, usually only one variety of noble German hops - but it's labeled a keller pilsner. Kellerbier is neither clarified or pasteurized, and the resulting brew is not quite as hazy as what we think of when we have a hefeweizen, but isn't as clear as, say, one of those American macrobrews that I rated so low last week. The term Kellerbier translates to "cellar beer" because it's lagered cold.

Now if you really read that last paragraph you noticed something that should throw up a red flag about this particular can I have. If a beer isn't pasteurized, it's pretty perishable, and thus shouldn't hang around for a long time. Considering the canning date it's good that I finally got to this beer, because I don't know how much longer it could go.

So to describe the taste of an unpasteurized, unclarified pilsner that's reaching the end of it's life I kinda want to just say 'stale' but I know that's not good enough. It's a little cardboard-y, which is a sign that the beer's oxidized. It happens when things get old (like rust, which is the oxidation of iron), and it certainly won't hurt you. When the beer's cold you don't notice it as much, but if you don't knock it back you can start to tell.

The moral of the story: fresh pilsners are great beers, and in the heat of the summer can be both refreshing and something on the lighter side that you can drink most of the day - but don't let them live in your fridge for a long time just so you can write about them.

The verdict: 3.75 out of 5 (based on a fresh can, not this one) on Untapp'd (follow me there @slownumbers to see what I'm drinking!)