Tasted: German Pilsener 2.0

In a ode to Deutschland and one of the cleanest beverages of all time, we created our German Pilsener, version 2.0.  After our first attempt at the style missed the mark by a close margin, and the relative success of the beer, we decided to do it again with a few enhancements.  The first version was fairly close flavor-wise, but ended up a bit too malty.  Two changes were made to get this right: mash at a lower temperature and increase the IBUs.  The results are as follows:

Aroma:  7
Appearance:8
Style:  9
Bitterness:  6
Maltiness:  5
Mouthfeel:  5
Head:  6
Balance:  3

These marks earn the German Pilsener a 45 our of 55 and a rating of 82%.  The appearance of this beer lends itself directly to what you think it is, a clean crisp pilsener, despite the overabundance of head.  Its a different story once you get close.  This beer starts out with what would seem to be an uncharacteristic nose.  It teases with hints of banana and spice then smacks you in the face with stiff bitterness as you take your first sip.  As the bitterness fades, light bodied malt rolls off your tongue to reveal the balance of true pilsener.  Personally, I prefer a drier, more bitter pilsener, but I thought this a bit unbalanced as the bitterness seemed to stark.  I think a slight decrease in IBUs can counter this imperfection.  As for the aroma, a lower fermentation temperature should decrease the bananas and spice to create an all around balanced, clean beer.

Recipe: German Pils 2.0