January Beer Tasting – Pilsners and Thai

Last night, Tibor, Chris, and Dennis came over for a night of tasting Pilsners and Thai food.  The Thai food was obtained from one of my favorite Thai restaurants in Colorado, Wild Ginger in Littleton, CO.  I picked up Pad Thai Chicken, Panang Curry with Pork, Pad Prik Khing, egg rolls, and peanut sauce.  Chris also brought over some veal brats in sauerkraut and I had some hot wings too.  We had a number of Pilsners from various brewers and the pairing of Pilsners and Thai food was excellent.  I had earlier read the food pairing section for Pilsners in Garret Oliver’s The Brewmaster’s Table and he suggested spicy ethnic food (Thai, Indian, and Mexican) and any variety of sausage.  Mr. Oliver’s recommendations were perfect and I highly recommend Pilsners with Thai food.

The beers sampled in order were as follows:

Pilsner Urquell (4.4% ABV) – This is the one that started the Pilsner style in 1842 from the Czech town of Pilsen.

Pug Ryan’s – Pali Pilsner – Is named after a ski run in the Arapahoe basin and is a Bohemian style Pilsner.  Pug Ryan’s is based in Dillon, CO.

Left Hand – Polestar Pilsner (5.5% ABV and 33 IBU) – From Left Hand Brewing in Boulder – I enjoyed one of these after a long bike ride last year and it is tasty.

Bristol – Yellow Kite (5.25% ABV and 25 IBU) – Bristol is located in Colorado Springs and Yellow Kit is a European-style Pilsner.

Lagunitas – Pils (6.2% ABV and 38 IBU) – Lagunitas is a very good brewer from California and Pils is a Czech-style Pils.

Oskar Blues – Mama’s Little Yella Pils (5.3% ABV and 35 IBU) – Oskar Blues is based in Lyons, CO and is one of my favorite brewers.

Unita – Tilted Smile Imperial Pilsners (9% ABV and 35 IBU) – Don’t let anyone tell you they do not brew beer in Utah.  This was everyone’s favorite of the evening.  It was just a tad sweeter than the others and was very easy to drink.  One cannot taste the higher alcohol in Tilted Smile.

The evening was great and it is always great to be able to spend time with good friends, food, and tasty brew.  Next month, we will be going to Tibor’s for a trip to Belgium.