Eppig’s Epic Pilsner

Drinking Eppig Brewing's Pilsner last weekend I had a strange thought:  Would the rise of craft beer in the 1980s and 1990s been different if macro breweries had made a pilsner as good as Eppig's Pilsner?  This, obviously, is an unanswerable question, but if there were pilsners as good as Eppig's Pilsner back in the late 1980s when I was searching for something better than Coors and Coors Light, I might have been slow to adopt hoppy IPAs. 

Eppig’s Pilsner is outstanding, and that is not a typo or hyperbole from this IPA-centered blog.  A macro brewed pilsner is thin and one-dimensional on purpose to appeal to as many people as possible;  it tastes like "beer," but that's it.  Pilsner, while the same style as many macro beers, is a far different beer.  It has heft and depth of flavors.  You can taste Pilsner's yeast, and you can taste its hops.  Pilsner starts with a comforting bready taste that segues into a mild bitter finish.  Its ABV is a manageable 5.1%.  Eppig wraps Pilsner in creamy dry smoothness that has you constantly reaching for your glass to take another sip. You are compelled to drink this beer.

Eppig's Pilsner is an exciting beer that destroys pilsner stereotypes as an anemic beer for simple minded guzzlers.  Pilsners have been ignored and ridiculed for decades by much of the craft world.  Breweries like Eppig have realized that pilsner is a style to celebrate not shun, and are taking the style back in a grand manner.