Year of the Pilsner

It sure does seem like I'm writing a lot about pilsners these days. Sam Adams has added a pilsner to their seasonal lineup replacing the White Ale. The Noble Pils promises to be a hoppy pilsner using 5 types of Noble hops. I like the fact that the Noble Pils escaped the unoriginality of their seasonal names by being named for neither a season nor a month (Summer Ale, Winter Lager and Octoberfest are the other seasonals). The White Ale, the previous spring seasonal, will be continued but only available in the winter styles variety pack.

Now my question is this. Are craft breweries brewing pilsners to increase market share and appeal to more novice beer drinkers? Or are craft brewers trying to add flavor to a more bland style for the craft beer drinker? Or some combination of the 2? I guess I'll have to try the Sam Adams Noble Pils to find out. I wonder if the Budweiser drinkers of the world will be as curious.

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