Bohemian IV

Bottle from Hopduvel.
A: clear golden, small, foamy, off-white head.
A: cooked rice, bread crust, dumplings, field flowers, honey.
T: sweetish pear, honey, flowers, wheat & soap.
F: floral hops, flowery & perfumey notes (cooked rice).
P: light to medium body, slick texture, soft carbonation.
Enjoyable for what it is: a little experiment.

Artisanal pale lager by Paenhuys - their first - intended as a Bohemian Pilsener, but (rather weirdly) brewed with wheat, rice (!) and oats. Bottle from Fontana in Sint-Niklaas, in Paenhuys' home region. Eggshell-white, very thick and foamy, large- and even-bubbled head, (a bit too) enthusiastically forming on a lightly hazy, pale yellow golden beer with fierce strings of sparkling here and there. Aroma of dough, dried field flowers, cold cooked rice, white bread slices, baking soda, pumice, freshly cut grass, dandelion, gypsum, withered leek, damp kitchen cloth hint. Soft onset with very restrained fruity hints of green pear and unripe banana, fit for a lager, with crisp, minerally but not overly harsh carbonation; soft, even fluffy middle, pale malt sweetishness with a notably white-bready edge from the wheat and indeed a noticeable (and unnecessary) rice flavour and slickness, leading to a somewhat powdery, floral, gently but adequately bittering finish, exhibiting not just flowery hops and lingering bready yeast effects, but crisp, gypsum-like minerality as well. Remains altogether clean, with an almost Kellerbier-like profile, hadn't it been for the somewhat annoying soapy wheatiness and slick 'riciness' - why not all barley malt was used in trying to create a classic Pilsener, is completely beyond me. Still, this beer proves that Paenhuys is still trying to expand its limits, which I - originating from the region - can only welcome. I do maintain, however, that the rice, wheat and oats should have been left out completely, they do nothing to achieve classic Pilsener ambitions.