Last year my Frau and I stopped in at Goldfinger Brewing Co. on a chilly night looking for a palate cleanser after a chance encounter with some pickle beer. We found that their House and Vienna lagers were superlative and wonderful showcases for the power of a fully armed and operational decoction brewhouse.
While Downers Grove, Illinois is a long way from Poland, the brewery's owner and brewmaster, Thomas Beckmann, is a descendant of one Markus Goldfinger who started a mini-brewing empire in Krakow, Poland back in the 19th century so the fellow has the art/business in his veins. Beckmann looks to pay tribute to his ancestors by crafting lagers using time-honored methods such as decoction. He may also use horizontal lagering tanks (I thought so but cannot recall), which are apparently the bee's knees when it comes to vessels where your beer can slumber at 30 some-odd degrees for a while.
Polish beer seems to largely consist of an array of pale lagers dotted with some Baltic porters. However, I do see some of their brews that are made with honey for a local touch and have also heard tell of Baltic Porters brewed with smoked plums which sounds simply delightful. Plus, there's the grodziskie, which is absolutely delicious.
Into this cozy, shall we say, milieu of Polish brews Beckmann has made his own contribution - a series of Polish pilsners that showcase blends of Polish hops. I snagged a pack of the latest entry last month during my annual autumn pilgrimage to Binny's. This is #3 in the series and features Lubelski and Princely (Ksiażęcy) hops. I've heard of Lubelski before as I think that's the most common Polish hop variety, at least to Americans. Princely was new to me and it is apparently new to the scene as well. For better or for worse, it was bred to provide fruity flavors a la most American varieties these days. The can advertises coconut and apricot and I assume they come from the Princely as Lubelski, I do believe, is more herbal - more Noble and less fruity.
Honestly, I went in hoping that the fruit flavors were subdued and that this wasn't one of those Hawaiian Punch beers. I didn't think that Goldfinger, a brewery that adheres to tradition otherwise fairly rigidly, as far as I can tell, would make one of those but maybe the novelty factor was just too great for Beckmann to overcome. That and my trips to the liquor store have got me seeing tropical fruit overload everywhere.
The beer poured a lovely yellow color that veered to light gold at the right angle which set off the categorization cogs in the beer enjoyment part of my brain and I thought, "Kinda more on the German side of things." I would expect a German pils to be perhaps a touch lighter but Pilsner Urquell is definitely darker. So, it's in that liminal pilsner SRM space...woooo...A big dollop of white foam sat atop the aureate liquid and it had staying power. There was a modicum of bubbles inside. I don't know what aromas to expect from Princely hops but I assume the fresh herbal-grassy scent here was courtesy of the Lebelski ones. There was also something fruity but it was indistinct to my nose. It was more stonefruit than tropical, though.
My first sip revealed a nice medium-light body which seemed to fit in the middle of my German-Czech pils dichotomy just like the color. Fizziness was middling, i.e. - I'd have been happy with a touch more but the beer still had a pleasant bite. A great cracker taste was accompanied by a nice touch of herbal hoppiness and this allayed my misbegotten fears of an overly fruity brew. There was something fruity in there, however, but it was like Winston in Ghostbusters and stayed in the background by-and-large.
The power of suggestion is, um, powerful and I'm not sure if I was tasting a fruit flavor that kinda sorta tasted like coconut because the label said so or not. It was more like apricot on the finish when the cracker taste yielded to a firm dose of herbal hoppiness which, in turn, faded slightly andlet that fruity taste seep through more.
Polish Pils #3 was excellent! For the most part, it tasted like a traditional pils of some stripe with the fruity tastes never taking over. Instead, they were a really nice accent. I loved the fresh grassy hop scent and the light, cracker malt taste. Really delicate flavors handled adroitly by Beckmann and Co.
Junk food pairing: Get some of Goldfinger's Polish Pils quick because I believe it's a limited edition brew. It will pair well with onion and sour cream potato chips but I highly recommend going with a dill snack and your babcia would no doubt approve of Herr's Creamy Dill Pickle chips where every bite is full of mizeria goodness.
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