Kelowna Pilsner - Tree Brewing

prosper

Alberta (Canada)

3.05/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Pours a straw colour with a puffy white head. Some particulates, like dust in there.

Smell is decent - malty, with some earthy noble hops.

Taste is underwhelmingly average. Not much of anything happening there. Some light hops, some malt, but not particularly clean tasting, and fairly evenly balanced - not as bitter as I'd like. This is definitely a 'pilsner' in the american mass-market lager sense with a slight craft twist to it, but it's clearly not targetted at the craft-beer crowd. There may be a slight cardboardyness here too, or maybe it's a trace amount of a kilned malt in the grist.

Mouthfeel is fuller than I expected, and almost silky, though the finish is rather dry.

Drinkability is only OK. For the money, there are other beers that I would choose, though. This one offers nothing interesting enough to make you want to have more.

Serving type: can

11-03-2010 01:28:00 | More by prosper

Kmat10

Alberta (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +4.8%

05-20-2013 04:52:59 | More by Kmat10

CurtisD

New Brunswick (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +4.8%

05-01-2013 02:54:50 | More by CurtisD

KalanM

British Columbia (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +4.8%

11-29-2012 05:26:37 | More by KalanM

schopenhauerale

British Columbia (Canada)

3.25/5  rDev -2.7%

11-28-2012 08:32:43 | More by schopenhauerale

schnarr84

Alberta (Canada)

4/5  rDev +19.8%

11-07-2012 07:19:16 | More by schnarr84

ChuckGnarly

British Columbia (Canada)

3/5  rDev -10.2%

10-13-2012 02:56:41 | More by ChuckGnarly

Alberta_Beer_Guy

Alberta (Canada)

4/5  rDev +19.8%

07-16-2012 01:09:03 | More by Alberta_Beer_Guy

Coastal_Brew

British Columbia (Canada)

3.25/5  rDev -2.7%

07-16-2012 00:00:19 | More by Coastal_Brew

Scrylol

Alberta (Canada)

2.63/5  rDev -21.3%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Pours a nice golden color, with a two finger foamy and bubbly head that sticks around for a while. I can see lot's of bubbles rising up. Looks pretty neat.

Smells pretty grainy with a very slight honey. No hops from what I'm getting.

Lot's of grainy taste on the front with what seems to be a slight skunky taste to it on the back of the tongue, and in the aftertaste. Slight earthy notes. No presence of honey or hops.

Mouthfeel is pretty watery, with lots of carbonation tickling the tongue. Even when I'm halfway through, there's still tons of bubbles rising.

The appearance looked really pretty, but sadly that was all the good this beer was. The beer styles itself as a Pilsner, and so compared to other pilsners, this one is really lacking. As a Pale Lager, probably more appropriate.

Serving type: can

06-29-2012 18:13:48 | More by Scrylol

Converge

Alberta (Canada)

3.63/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

500ml can poured into a 22.3oz pilsener glass.

A - Pours a clean golden-straw color with the slightest off-white head billowing above. Lots of visible carbonation. Head sticks around as a frothy cap and laces much better than expected.

S - Barley malt, mild grassy hops, corn, and a touch of skunk. Not a very encouraging aroma.

T - Barley and corn, slight hoppiness, and a touch of honey upfront. Finishes with a metallic twang that I don't really love. Lacking in the hops for sure. A little skunk to it. Relatively clean, but a little cheap tasting. As it warms subtle notes of buttery bread and ripe fruit appear, but do little to turn this profile around.

M - Lots of carbonation, borders on fizzy. Lighter body, but it could be worse. Fitting for the style.

D - Pretty much an unoffensive and drinkable lager, with a bit more flavor than the average swill. As a lager this is pretty good stuff, but compared to some pilseners out there this really falls short; especially in the hops department.

Serving type: can

06-04-2012 21:18:52 | More by Converge

haley

2.98/5  rDev -10.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Appearance: About right for a pilsner. Bit of head when poured; retains edge lace. Medium-high carbonation.

Smell: A sweet slightly stinky malt aroma. A bit honey. A bit biscuity. Can't detect hops. Actually smells a bit salty, like the sea.

Taste: Quick-fading honey sweetness, then some bitterness. Maltiness in between and in the aftertaste. Moments of wateriness though. Hop flavour barely perceptible, but the bitterness builds on the tongue. Also slightly butterscotch.

Mouthfeel. Does seem nice and creamy when I sip it with air, but really the body is pretty thin.

Overall: Good malt flavours. I find the beer inexplicably harsh. Maybe there's not enough body to balance the flavours. I think they should have gone for a little more flavour complexity. It would be nice to taste a bit of hops too. I think some of the aroma and the butterscotch indicate diacetyl.

Serving type: can

05-26-2012 21:27:46 | More by haley

bumchilly25

British Columbia (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +4.8%

05-13-2012 18:40:41 | More by bumchilly25

maclean25

British Columbia (Canada)

3.48/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Bought a pair of 500 mL cans. It pours with a little creamy white head. The body looks like golden apple juice. The aroma is heavy with grains with a little honey and orange. If I could describe the smell in one word, it would be 'harvest'. The taste is more like cider. It as a sharp malt and dull hops. It is a slick, smooth, and somewhat light, beer. I find it has a light-to-medium body and low carbonation. Overall, a solid pale lager; better than expected but not fantastic.

Serving type: can

05-03-2012 02:36:01 | More by maclean25

Vandelayindustri

Alberta (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +12.3%

04-18-2012 04:21:21 | More by Vandelayindustri

ScottWestmaas

3.25/5  rDev -2.7%

04-06-2012 20:57:39 | More by ScottWestmaas

LampertLand

British Columbia (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +4.8%

02-17-2012 23:14:07 | More by LampertLand

CanuckRover

Ontario (Canada)

3.45/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Head vanishes quickly into the golden beer. Visible carbonation.

Grainy, grainy, grainy. Plenty of bready malt on the nose, but I'm missing the grassiness I'm looking for.

True to the aroma, grainy malt is the dominant flavour. Hops are disapointingly absent. Longing for some fresh zing from continental hops and a good grass seed aroma to really put an exclamation mark on the fine malt.

Mouthfeel helps with the overall refreshing character of the beer. Nice crisp carbonation.

Nice enough, needs a good hit of hops.

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2012 01:22:51 | More by CanuckRover

EskimoDave

British Columbia (Canada)

3/5  rDev -10.2%

12-01-2011 06:40:48 | More by EskimoDave

chickenm

British Columbia (Canada)

3.25/5  rDev -2.7%

11-21-2011 03:20:02 | More by chickenm

biegaman

Ontario (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Kelowna Pilsner shows faint signs of carbonation but its almost brassy colour suggests plenty of malt. The beer looks like it was made from gold leaf. I'm not sure whether to drink it or to trade it in at the jewelers for cash. Although bubbles are visible, no head ever materializes (except off the pour, but that quickly faded).

It smells like I've just untwisted the knot off a loaf of white bread. It's such a soft-smelling breadiness - like Wonderbread's cousin that doesn't have all the additives and preservatives. Indeed the malt has a wonderful effervescence that is rarely, if ever, present in pasteurized pilsners. I want to make a sandwich now.

If it weren't for the very mild hop flavour that comes with belching, this beer could almost transport me back to my childhood - it tastes just like soft, spongy, bleached white Wonderbread. There's even just enough water minerals to impress a slightly salty quality.

That may sound an undesirable thing to most, and I hate to think how insulting it must sound to the brewmaster, but all I mean to convey is that Kelowna Pilsner has a fantastically bready malt character. It is every bit as flavourful, clean, and wholesome as any bona fide German pilsner. In fact, I find it superior to many of them.

Kelowna Pilsner is a gratifying pale lager if ever I had one. Beers so clean and simple yet flavourful are surprisingly rare, and even less often are they as good as advertised. Having a beer like this you understand why pilsners were able to do as much for the beer world as Gutenberg did for books. A beer like this should be easily and universally appreciated.

Serving type: can

10-15-2011 17:36:24 | More by biegaman

Long813

Nova Scotia (Canada)

3.98/5  rDev +19.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A: Pours a clear golden body owth three fingers of white fluffy head. Retains it's head for most of the session and leaves some patchy lacing.

S: Basic pilsner notes of grains and straw. Some malt base, but quite weak overall.

T: Good amount of distinct hoppy grains, with a touch of fruitiness to it.

M: Light bodied with medium-low carbonation. By the end of the drink, it seemed almost flat with the minimal amount of carbonation. Water like texture and a dry grainy finish.

O: Good offering by Tree, but not my top choice for a Pilsner.

Serving type: can

09-14-2011 17:17:29 | More by Long813

nighthawk

Nova Scotia (Canada)

2.83/5  rDev -15.3%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

500mL can with best before date poured into pilsner glass.

Clear, golden body with lots of carbonation feeding a persistent half-finger of head.

Very sweet bread notes form the basis for the aroma. Bit of grassy hops in the background. The more I get my nose into it, though, the more it seems to smell like cooked, tinned corn.

A bit less sweet tasting, still breast with mild bitterness and more unfortunate, lingering cooked corn.

Nice light body and sparkly carbonation.

I find myself unable to get past the corn aroma and flavour. Good, drinkable refreshing beer behind it, but I ultimately won't be going back for more of this one.

Serving type: can

09-13-2011 15:00:50 | More by nighthawk

joemcgrath27

Alberta (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - crystal clear straw golden, generous white head dissipated very slowly, consistent lace ring
S - grainy, grassy, dank resin odour, mild sweetness with some metallic
T - hops hit the buds first with fresh grassy resiny greenery, followed by bready grains, mild sweet citrus, with a crisp and slightly metallic finish
M - light, crisp, and refreshingly carbonated, the dryness starts subtle but builds through the finish
O - an honest to goodness straight up drinkable pilsner, thank you once again Tree

Serving type: bottle

08-19-2011 04:01:58 | More by joemcgrath27

evlu1441

Alberta (Canada)

3.45/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

500ml can poured into a pub glass.

This beer has an interesting clear/coppery gold colour with a nice foamy head.

A nice bready malty aroma dominates. This is a fairly standard lager. Standard, but good so far.

This is a very smooth drinking beer with a nice medium body. Some sweet maltiness comes through off the bat with some faint vanilla flavours too. There is a little bit of hop bitterness towards the end, but not a ton. It is a nice flavourful lager, but not too complex.

Overall, I'm not sure how much of a "pilsner" this really is, but it is a nice flavourful lager. I'd drink this over many other popular beers.

Serving type: can

07-14-2011 06:59:31 | More by evlu1441