Strangeways Brewing Placebo Pils
Placebo Pils is the third beer from Strangeways Brewing that I decided to crack open after a Summer trip to Richmond. This 6.3% ABV and 50 IBU brew isn’t the pilsner your dad drank while you stole sips in your formative years. This is about as hop-forward as a pilsner can get before coming a full-blown IPA or White IPA or whatever. Throwing seven different hop varieties (Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Galena, Palisade, Opal and Saphir) into the kettle will do that to a beer.
This particular bottle (#333 out of 999) packed as much fruity and piny hop goodness into a 22 ounce bottle that a beer of this nature can. Placebo Pils was by far my favorite of the bunch I purchased — still one more review coming — and one that I would love to see expand from limited release status to at least a seasonal release, if not year round.
Appearance
The brew pours a golden amber in color with a strong cap of khaki foam that left behind solid lacing as it dropped.
Aroma
Light grain and bready malt sort of start things off before a wall of hops aromas fill the nose with orange, grapefruit and pine.
Taste
Like I said in the intro above, this is about as hop forward as a pilsner can get before it starts to morph into some other style of beer altogether. Pine, orange, tangerine, grapefruit and resin all fill the mouth immediately before fading through a moderate amount of bitterness to a lasting, lightly warming finish. Bready malts and grain are in the background along with light herbal notes and hint of caramel.
Overall
I shouldn’t like this beer. It’s not true to style. In fact, it bridges a couple of different styles like that liquid terminator morphing around a jail cell door. But I do like Placebo Pils — a lot more than I should. I’m kicking myself for not having picked up more of this one when I had that chance.
Rating: 4/5
