I missed the August edition of The Session last Friday entirely due to what has become The Busiest Summer Ever™, but I couldn’t let it completely pass without a quick note. It was hosted by Alistair Reece over at Fuggled, with the style topic of Pilsners:

What I want folks to do is put down their IPAs, their Belgians, their sours, their barrel aged stuff, and hunt out a few pilsners to compare and contrast, whether they be Czech, German, Belgian, American, etc, etc. Try to get examples of Czech and German in particular to see the differences. Most of all though I just want people to re-discover what I consider the pinnacle of the brewing craft, so off hunting you go!

As is happens, my print article in the local newspaper almost exactly one month earlier was on Pilsners! Talk about synergy:

The return of hot weather tends to bring with it a desire for light, crisp, session beers — ones that quench your thirst without being too heavy or intoxicating. Usually there is no shortage of summer ale options, including wheat beers, fruit beers, session IPAs, Kölsch and blonde ales. Personally, it’s hard to pass up a well-brewed, classic pilsner this time of year.

Here in Central Oregon, we are fortunate to have a number of excellent examples of the classic styles to choose from this summer. Here are several offerings from area breweries, and be sure to keep an eye out for others as well.

Go read the full article for my rundown of the local pilsners.