The missus and I took a little mini-vacation to the Twin Cities and Stillwater area this weekend to see a traveling Japanese Tiako drum troop (Tao: Drum Heart), do a little antique shopping, and visit a few new, and old standard breweries. My Beer of the Week is from a brewery that’s been around for a while and has really stepped up their game.

Don’t get me wrong, 56 Brewing in Minneapolis, MN, has always made good beer –  but, for me, that was about it. Good, not great. Until Saturday. Becky had a Groupon for a flight and howler for each of us. We picked our flights, most of which were beers we’ve had before. The ‘ssippi Squeeze is their hazy NEIPA offering and I’d put that one right up there with Mirror Universe, Hooey, and Rain Drops.  Alas, as awesome as that was, it wasn’t to be my BotW.

I’ve been studying for the written portion of the BJCP Judging test, hoping for a National on my first go. Last week I finished up a section focusing on Pilsners and was primed to be super critical on any pilsners that got in my way. I’ve had many pilsners, Czeck and German, and found most to be either skunked (imports, sadly), or too sweet and gritty/grainy. I had even just finished having a 1/4 bbl of a locally made craft Czeck Pilsner on my home bar tap, this one was on the sweet, creamed corn side of things. The PilsNEr from 56 Brewing blew me away. I’ve had highly regarded pilsners before; Pilsner Urquell, Summit’s Keller Pils, and Victory’s Prima Pils. Each were very good, of course, but this one was absolutely perfect.

The aroma was spicy earthy hops with a little malt grain – no sulfur, diacetyl or aceteldahyde – a good clean fermentation. Flavor was amazing. Clean, crisp, with a soft, grainy, but smooth (not gritty) malt character and the hops were in the fore front, presenting themselves as spicy, and a bit sharp but not aggressive. Saaz hop character all the way – well done. The mouthfeel and finish share the same clean, crisp characteristics of the aroma and flavor. Super flavorful and super drinkable. If I lived closer, this would be my absolutely perfect lawnmower beer (did I mention it’s “sessionable” at 4.4%?).

If you love, or even like, pilsner style beers and haven’t checked 56 Brewing out, you owe it to yourself to do so. This is on par with the best in the world (that I’ve tasted 😉 ) Great job 56 Brewing, and I look forward to tasting even more of your beers soon.

Cheers!

*sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the beers themselves on this visit. Not sure what happened – maybe too excited about the pilsner? Featured image is Becky and I enjoying ourselves at 56 Brewing.