Brillat-Savarin

Pilsner

STYLE NOTES: With its modest alcohol content and crisp, uncomplicated flavor, a cold pilsner has thirst-slaking appeal on a warm day. The traditional pilsner vessel—a tall, slender glass with a narrow base and wider rim—shows this brew to perfection, encouraging a thick, lofty head and showcasing the beer’s gleaming yellow-gold clarity. No wonder the world’s first pilsner seduced consumers immediately. Introduced in Bohemia in 1842, about the same time that mass-produced glasses began to replace clunky tankards, the eye-catching pilsner delighted drinkers accustomed to darker and cloudier brews.

Pilsner (or pilsener) takes its name from the Bohemian town of Plzen (or Pilsen), now part of the Czech Republic. That’s where the style originated, in a brand-new brewery that still produces the famed Pilsner Urquell (“original pilsner”) today.

An authentic pilsner owes its bright straw color to the use of lightly kilned malts, a departure from the dark Munich malts commonplace when pilsner debuted. These pale malts typically contribute some bread-dough aromas and a gentle honeyed sweetness, but you won’t find roasted, toasty, or caramel aromas—the signature of darker malts—in a pilsner. The classic pilsner hop is Saaz, a variety that thrives in the Czech Republic and contributes a fresh, delicate aroma and low-level bitterness. Pilsners are easy-drinking, effervescent beers that don’t linger on the palate and don’t demand a lot of attention.

Czech, German, and Belgian pilsners exhibit some subtle differences. Czech brews tend to be a little darker, German more bitter, and Belgian sweeter. American craft brewers, with no tradition to bind them, feel free to interpret the pilsner style as they like. Some are even making an “Imperial pilsner,” with elevated alcohol. Mass-market American pilsners, which often include adjunct grains such as corn or rice, have little to offer beyond fizz and rarely merit the calories.

BEERS TO TRY: Great Divide Nomad; Lagunitas Pils; Moonlight Brewing Reality Czech; Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils; Pinkus Müller Brewery Pinkus Pils; Trumer Pils; Victory Prima Pils.

CHEESE AFFINITIES: The low-key personality of pilsner calls for cheeses with similar restraint. Fresh and lightly ripened cheeses, like young robiolas and chèvres, are a good bet, as their delicate aromatics suit these light-bodied beers. Bold cheeses might mask a pilsner’s subtlety, and the undemanding nature of pilsner gives simple, fresh cheeses a chance to shine. Surprisingly, some well-aged cheeses with a subtle sweet finish—like Fiscalini San Joaquin Gold, Capriole’s Julianna, and the goat’s milk Montcabrer—can also work with pilsner, highlighting the beer’s malty nature.

The vigorous carbonation in pilsner welcomes the contrast of a luscious triple-cream cheese such as Brillat-Savarin. This young French bloomy-rind cheese has the tongue-coating texture of whipped butter, and the pilsner’s bubbles provide palate refreshment. It’s as if they scrub away the fat, leaving you ready for the next bite. The ultra-smooth Brillat-Savarin is made from cow’s milk enriched with crème fraîche, giving it a fluffy mouthfeel and delicate sour-cream tang. The velvety rind should be mostly white. A heavily mottled rind or shrunken appearance would indicate an overripe cheese that would likely smell and taste ammoniated. Try to buy from a merchant who cuts this cheese to order. Brillat-Savarin declines quickly in plastic wrap.

Mozzarella di bufala (buffalo-milk mozzarella) provides the foundation for the beloved insalata caprese, the salad that sends mozzarella sales soaring in summer. Sliced and layered with ripe tomatoes and basil, then drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil (no vinegar, please), mozzarella di bufala has a sweet, milky, uncomplicated taste and a moist, creamy texture. Enjoyed outdoors on a warm day, the salad needs only a cold pilsner to complete the picture of la dolce vita. A brew with more robust malt or hops would overpower this delicate cheese, ideally served before it’s a week old.

Julianna, an aged raw-milk goat cheese from Indiana’s Capriole farmstead creamery, is a petite, pretty 1-pound round cloaked with dried herbs. Its ivory interior is dense and moist, on the cusp between semisoft and semifirm, with an appealing creaminess and a gentle, mellow, non-tangy finish. The fragrance of lavender and rosemary permeates the interior but doesn’t overwhelm it. Resembling a goat’s milk version of the Corsican sheep’s milk Brin d’Amour, Julianna has a subtle cooked-milk sweetness that blends easily with the grainy notes of a malty pilsner like Lagunitas Pils. Hoppy pilsners, such as Victory Prima Pils, don’t match it as well.

MORE CHEESES TO TRY: Asiago Pressato; Beehive Cheese Promontory; Bosina; Brebiou; Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam; Fiscalini San Joaquin Gold; Franklin’s Teleme; Fromage de Meaux; Harley Farms Monet; Montcabrer; mozzarella; Picandine.