Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Rogue’s Morimoto Imperial Pilsner

I'm on a roll with Rogue Ales. I haven't found one yet that I wouldn't drink again. I'm actually in love with a few of them and The Dead Guy ale is going to become a regular I think.

The Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner is the most expensive bottle of beer I have ever purchased.  At $15.99, it probably exceeds my ability to distinguish great beer from good beer, but I absolutely love the bottle.  It's a work of art in its own rite.  It's a 26oz ceramic swing-top bomber with the artwork screened right on it.  When I look at bottles of wine, I see stuff priced from about $6 to all the way through the friggin' roof, so I sorta figure that $16 for a great bottle of beer is not all that bad.  I'm no more of a freak for spending $16 than Joe Winedrinker is for spending $50+ for one he likes, right?  :)  Gail's Hops and Grapes told me that they thought it was one of the two best pilsners in their case, so I decided to give it a try. 

With a recipe consisting solely of French pislner malt, sterling hops, free range coastal water, and Czech Pils yeast, this hefty pilsner rings in at 74 IBU and 8.8% ABV.  From the website:

Golden in color with a dry hop floral aroma and intense hop bitterness supported by a big malty backbone which culminates into a hedonistic mouthful...

After I made the photo, I pulled the usual drill of transferring the beer into my pewter tankard to bring the temperature up to about 56 degrees before I really started enjoying the brew.  The French Pils malts really come to life at this temperature.  The hop punch of this beer also settles down nicely and starts to balance with the malty flavor without becoming totally subdued.  I'll have to agree with the folks at Gail's that this is, without a doubt, the finest pilsner that I have ever had. 

I still want to try one of the Rogue XS series brews, and the YSB may be my first attempt at that because I can buy it locally.  I really want to try the imperial stout but I haven't found a source for it just yet...