Review: Garrison Tesoro Italian Pilsner


Immediately before I wrote this review, I had the choice of three beers but two of them were Pilsners and all I could think of is "where the hell am I going to get an appropriate Pilsner glass for this review?" Then I saw on my parents kitchen windowsill that they were using a Pilsner glass to hold fake flowers 🤨. Today's sampling is Tesoro Italian Pilsner from Garrison Brewing out of Halifax. 

I've heard of Pilsners of just about every region imaginable but not Italian Pilsners until the past few weeks. This should be interesting and I expect it to be reminiscent of a French Pilsner or vibes of a German Pils.. we'll see.

Inspired by the dry-hopped German-style Pilsners of Italy, Tesoro is a delightfully pale golden & freshly hopped lager. Brewed with Pilsner malt, German lager yeast and dry-hopped with German Hallertau and Czech Saaz for maximum Euro-hop aroma and flavour. Now that amore! 5.0% ABV

Appearance: (Mostly) clear and golden straw body with a lot of micro-carbonation. Thick amount of snow white head on top, diminishes pretty quickly but leaves behind a lot of lacing on the glass.

Aroma: Oh, that's a Pilsner! It's got a heavy barley presence that I can only describe as the smell of a grainery that I experienced as a child. There's a good deal of noble hops to give it a leafy, floral presence, a tad bit of a dill-like presence to it. I've included a photo at the end of me trying to get out the notes of the beer.

Taste: Tad sweet, crisp, crushable, easy to drink (if you don't get it by now), tad grainy. There's a floral hop presence that doesn't get in anyway aggressive.. but my mom would STILL cringe at this beer for SOME reason. Dry mouthfeel and a tad floral hop presence for aftertaste.

Overall Thoughts: Sweet, crushable, European Pilsner, definitely in style right now. Will I drink this again? Yes! Solid Pils.

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