Czech pils pilot brew by Climax

A bit of déjà vu for Climax Brewing owner and brewmaster Dave Hoffmann. An eight-barrel batch of Czech pilsner lagering at his Roselle Park brewery was made with hopped malt extract.

"I'm making beer out of extract," Dave said, laughing and standing just off his brewhouse, amid 50-pound bags of malted barley he would normally brew with to produce his beers under the Climax and Hoffmann brands. "I'm going backward in time, going back to my beginning homebrew days."

But it's not nostalgia for The Brewmeister, the Cranford homebrew supply shop he owned before starting Climax Brewing 14 years ago, that has Dave skipping the mash. A couple of months ago, a Czech company hired Dave to produce a pilot brew for test marketing at bars in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. (One of the locations could be Barcade in Brooklyn, where Dave's doppelbock, helles and a cask version of his IPA are on tap.)

The company supplied the hopped, double-decoction-produced extract for the brew. "It's really good malt. It's not like the brewing malt extract you buy here," Dave said. (He added some Saaz hops at the end of the boil for a slight hop signature.)

Dave showed off the still young beer during a mid-February visit to his brewery. "When I made it, the wort tasted like an extract beer. Now that it's fermented out, it tastes like a good Czech pilsner," Dave said. "It's a little darker in color than what you might think a Czech pilsner would look like because it's extract. But it's a decent-tasting beer."

On Wednesday, Dave said the beer had rounded out more, tasting like Krusovice. "It's a bit caramel-ish up front and golden, slightly amber."

The beer is targeted for release just before St. Patrick's Day. Plans call for surveying bar patrons about the beer, providing them questionnaires on coasters to be completed and returned.

In the glass

“Pffftttt!!! Honey wheat ... You should put on a nice helles instead.”

– Jay Misson 1962-2008
(Seen on beer board at Triumph, New Hope, Pa.)

If you’re a regular at Triumph (Princeton, New Hope and Philadelphia), you’ve probably noticed a honey wheat on the beer board just about every time you go in.

Pick a location, it’s usually on everywhere they pour. We’ve been at the New Hope location loads of times lately, owing to a video project we’re producing on River Horse Brewing, which is just a bridge stroll away in Lambertville.

When we popped in at Triumph late last week, we saw the wheat was gone. We weren’t exactly looking for it, but rather a Bohemian pilsner that we’d read was on the board. We drained a pint of the pils to great satisfaction and saved the usual take-home order for something else – Munich helles, a 5% ABV charmer that, never mind the great flavor, the aroma alone had you convinced you’re having seconds.

Bartender Dan talked up the helles (he didn’t have to do much convincing) and noted it was on in place of the wheat. Then he pointed out why, an homage to Jay Misson, Triumph's director of brewing and a champion of lager beers who died in June.

What better way to pay tribute to a well-respected lager enthusiast, whose brewing talents served Triumph well, than to take home four pints of a great-tasting, thirst-quenching beer like that helles? So we did, with a return trip in mind.

Oh, and by the way, that Czech pilsner, well let’s say it’s crisp and inviting, and maybe we didn’t take a growler of that home, but we’re glad it was the beer that drew us in this time.