Victory Brewing's Prima Pils

One of my favorite commenters on my favorite beer website recently said "Think, American Brewers, think! Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD."

Now, I have no idea what beer he was talking about, if he was talking about any particular beer at all. More than likely the snooty Brit was bemoaning the state of American brewing generally. But if he was going to be talking about a certain beer, I can only imagine it would be Prima Pils.

Now, pilsner is one of my favorite beer styles, period. I love the crisp, clean, and slightly sharp taste of a Czech pilsner like Budvar, Rebel, or Urquell. I also enjoy the slightly more malty German pilsners like Warsteiner Premium Verum, or the American Scrimshaw Pilsner by North Coast Brewery. But even more I love that funky taste that all pilsners should have, the funk that smells and tastes like a skunk's ass. It's not skunky in the usual sense of the word, it just is what it is, and the type requires it.

But Prima Pils has got to be the worst pilsner I have ever had. True to Victory's style it's overly hopped, a cardinal sin for a pils if you ask me. Again, just because you can doesn't mean you should. The other Victory offerings are good. They're hoppy and bitter, with a heavier body than most beers in the types they offer. But hoppy isn't right for every beer, and it's a tragedy for this one. I know lots of hop heads who can't stop raving about it, but I'm convinced now more than ever that their taste buds are either screwed or they think there's only one style of beer, that its main characteristic is hops, and that as long as there's at least twice as much in it than there should be, it's perfect for whatever style it claims to be. Even when it's not.

It is a decidedly sophomoric way to brew and taste beer. And it is simply wrong.

This one pours more of an orangeish yellow than any pils I've seen. Looks like it'll be fuller bodied than others, with a white head that thins to a collar quickly with moderate carbonation.

Smells like a pils on the sweet side--fairly malty, which is appropriate for a German pils, and more floral, which is not. Smell is lighter than I expected from the way it looks. No bitterness. No real crispness to it, like I want in a pils. Not the usual pils funk that it should have either, just that light bready malty sweetness. The absence of the funk makes this beer a loser before I even taste it. A pils should also have a fizzy head that throws off that pilsner smell, and although this is a heavier German pils, it still doesn't come close to having the right look or smell.

Ugh. Odd. Barely has the taste that a pils should have. Too hoppy for a pils. Medicinal band aid taste that you'd expect in a Belgian, but it's way out of place here. I thought it smelled more like a pale than a pils, except that it didn't have any bitterness. Well, the taste is much more like a pale because the bitterness is too strong. As it warms it gains a slight bit of pilsner taste, but it's still too bitter, and a pils is better cold.

Terrible pils, way off type. Might have been a halfway decent pale. Might. What an awful beer.