Prima Pils

Victory Brewing, Downingtown, Pa. 

Style: German-style pilsner

Alcohol content: 5.3% abv

Serving temperature: 40 F

Pilsner was the last thing Victory Brewing’s distributors wanted from the suburban Philadelphia brewery as partners Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet began to expand their portfolio in late-1990s. The two – friends since they first met as kids on the bus to elementary school – had plotted to brew a crisp, hoppy pilsner ever since they worked together at the now-closed Baltimore Brewing Co.

            Their distributors’ reticence was understandable. At the time, most small brewers were specializing in ales and other dark, heavy varieties. Pilsner – at least the variety available in the United States – was generally characterless, a bland, fizzy yellow liquid. The salesmen worried that craft beer drinkers – even those savvy enough to appreciate the delicate flavors produced by a small-batch brewery – would turn their backs on yet another pils.

            “But being stubborn,” Covaleski said, “we persevered.”

            With their training in Germany,  the partners’ Prima Pils would bear absolutely no resemblance to light beer. Hops – lots of hops – are this beer’s signature. Whole flower Hallertau, Tetnang and Saaz provide a solid bitterness and aroma that is entirely absent from the big-name pilsners that dominate American market shelves.

            Clear and golden with a sweet, grassy, floral hop aroma, Prima Pils’ big bitterness is balanced with smooth, biscuity German malts.

-Joe Sixpack