Shared thanks to Zlotta. Dark, murky, ruby pour with a thin tan head. Aroma notes of soap, perfume, spices, milk chocolate, dried fruit. Sweet, soapy, spicy. Medium body, low carbonation and a caramel sweet aftertaste.

When I explain to less beer-obsessed people than me that ’trappist’ has nothing to do with beer styles and try to demonstrate to them that any beer can be a trappist beer if brewed by the right people, I often use the hypothetical example of a pale lager (’pils’) made by trappist monks. Since this summer, this idea is no longer hypothetical, as the zealous monks at Spencer now present this trappist Pilsener, after being the first monks to brew a trappist stout and a trappist IPA. It has a moussy, lightly lacing, medium thick head consisting of minute bubbles but eventually dissolving into practically nothing; colour is a misty straw blonde with greenish hue, almost witbier-like due to the haziness. For the style, it breathes a fairly unusual but actually quite agreeable aroma of dry breakfast cereals, lots of sourdough in the most explicit sense but working well with a sweeter hint of white bread crust; otherwise I get impressions of leavened bread, old dried lemon peel, cheese crackers, field sorrel leaves, camomile tea, dried lemongrass, chalk, waffle dough, flour, green apple peel, courgette flesh. Clean but crisp, refreshing onset, some soft malt fruitiness but no true fruit esters, vaguely sweetish surrounded by ’sourdough’ sourishness and soft, chalky mineral accents, whilst retaining a (notably) softer than usual carbonation for this style. Mouthfeel is soft and lean, body is above average for the style, probably because of the yeast suspension, adding well-dosed breadiness to an already mildly bready malt backbone, with still the sharpish grainy edges you can expect from a Pilsener. Finish has continuing ’breadiness’ due to the yeast but in a pleasant, soft and ’fluffy’ way rather than becoming overly starch-like, but also adds a drying, resinous, leafy, very softly lemony, retronasally very floral hop bitterness bringing balance; minerally and chalky flavors linger in the end along with these hops. Trappist breweries enjoy high esteem among beer connoisseurs and this is, and I am not being chauvinistic here, the merit of the classic Belgian ones much more so than of any of the other ones; so if one of these new ones starts up brewing activities, they must feel a certain ’peer pressure’ to come up with beers worthy of the trappist standard. This makes it all the more remarkable that the monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey now came up with what is essentially a classic German Lager: if you go down that road, ignoring all the old dubbel, tripel and quadrupel beers normally associated with ’trappist’, then it better be a good one. Is this a good one? Well, yes, I think so: uncompromizing in terms of quality of ingredients as should be expected from a trappist brewery, it has a kind of ’purity’ in both the malts and the hops department which I can appreciate. It being unfiltered probably puts it closer to a Kellerbier than to actual classic Pilsener, but assures that more flavor and aroma is retained, and offers a bouquet which clearly has more to offer than what the average Pilsener (even in the classic German sense) smells like. It’s just a Pilsener perhaps, but it’s a good one in which I cannot find anything that bothers me, and it’s an atypical one which adds something to this 180-year old style, and not just because it was made by a trappist monastery. The heavily bready / biscuity notes in both nose and mouth also remind me of their IPA - so it seems these trappist monks are beginning to develop their own cachet, as is the case with the monks of (most of) the older trappist breweries like Westmalle or Rochefort. Very interesting beer, and it makes me wonder what other styles these monks will come up with from now on... (Edit: tasted twice, the second time at a beer festival as Spencer Premium Pilsener, which was merely the new name of this beer at the time.)

Cloudy orange golden color with a white layer. Decent intensity in the aroma. Medium + body and a bit to rich carbonation. Malty, herbal, some banana, fruity and some spiced notes. Hmmmm the rich carbonation unfortunately destroys this beer totally. Would probably be quite nice with a proper carbonation.
[Bottle from Systembolaget in Sweden]

Brewery #1472

Bottle from Real Ale Store, Newark. Slight hazy golden colour with a white head. Grapefruit and pine area. Taste light sweet to mid bitter finish.

Bottle, 8.7%. Black with big brown head. Aroma is roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, dark fruit and yeast. Flavour is roasted malts, chocolate, coffee ,dark fruit, yeast, sweet, hop, liquorice and medium bitter.

Bottle, 9%. Clear dark brown with medium beige head. Aroma is malt, caramel, yeast, dark fruit and lots of spices. Flavour is malt, caramel, yeast, dark fruit, sweet, lots of spices, plume, hop, warming and a little bitter.

750 ml bottle shared while camping, 7/3/16. Murky gold, white head. Fruit and yeast, a bit of funk, some bread. Nice flavor profile overall. Good mouthfeel. Good beer.

Pours an oh-so-slightly hazy golden straw from a bottle. Noble hop nose, a little barnyard/grass, a little corn syrup is added to the flavor. Some bitterness toward the end. Good beer.

Cloudy golden color with a white head, good lasting. Aroma has notes of yeast, marzipan and cookies. Flavor is slightly sweet at the beginning, bready notes with belgian yeast hints, light bitterness in the final with smoothy mouthfeel.