Tasting: November 30, 2011
Style: Pilsner (Imperial)

The word “imperial” is tossed around pretty loosely in the brewing world. I mention in my glossary that the word “imperial” was first applied to English stouts as an indication that it was brewed for and exported to the royal courts of Russia – hence the use of the word “imperial”. These stouts were made with a higher alcohol by volume to improve “shelf life” and to also keep the stout from easily freezing during transport. Today, “imperial” means a beer that is brewed using multiple amounts of the base ingredients – malt and hops. If it isn’t called imperial — you’ll see terms like Double or Triple used as well. I’ve seen all of these phrases tied to stouts, India Pale Ales (IPAs) and Bocks – but calling a pilsner an imperial pilsner is a new one on me. Pilsner is a type of lager and its trademark flavor is of sweet bread with muted (and sometimes “skunky”) hops. So, to jack this up to imperial status has my interest.

This one is part of their “Crooked” series of releases. They’ve utilized a few phrases that relate to being unconventional – unstraight. I guess to symbolize that these aren’t your “everyday, run of the mill varieties”. They make a barleywine called “Cockeyed Cooper”, an imperial IPA called “Detour”, an imperial stout called “Labyrynth” and this one — “Tilted Smile”. This one might be the coolest label of all — it has a cartoonish drawing of a woman with a Cheshire grin on her face. I guess her smirk probably relates to what else – but the men in the background.

Pours a cloudy amber color. Not much of in the way of aroma here. First sip impression is that it’s quite fizzy and really not what I expected. As mentioned, I expected massive caramel sweet and a thick mouthfeel. Really lacking on both fronts. I wouldn’t call this one bad — but it’s far from good — so I’ll have to put it at 77 points.