Lionshead Deluxe Pilsner: Appearance
Dark gold color with a clear body. Plenty of consistent carbonation visible. Pours to a small, white, foamy head which retains and laces remotely well.
Lionshead Deluxe Pilsner: Smell
Familiar cheap adjunct lager aroma of corn and stale grain. A slight sweetness, but not enough to save it.
Lionshead Deluxe Pilsner: Taste
Knowing what I do about beer, I’ve reached a point where I’m actually surprised when a beer tastes bad and not from brewing flaws like diacetyl, dimethyl sulfide or acetaldehyde. A beer like this is deliberately designed to taste this way – why? It’s just a mildly sweet malty slurry flavor with a noticeable corn water taste (maybe it is DMS after all). No metallic character, though I notice a tanginess on the finish and a bit of a bile-like flavor right as it goes down. To be fair, there is a faint amount of sweetness here, but it’s not enough to salvage the rest of the palette. Perhaps if it were fresh (and I’ll readily admit this bottle is rather old), it might make a difference; but for now this is just plain bad. Ick.
Lionshead Deluxe Pilsner: Drinkability
Despite the name, Lionshead Deluxe Pilsner Beer is most definitely not a pilsner by any standard definition due to the use (and overt nature) of corn. At least it has the body and mouthfeel of a pilsner, though. Thin, light body with a watery texture. Though always bubbly, it’s not spastic per se. There is a slight starchy flavor that lingers, but it’s easily overlooked. At only 4.5% ABV this would be a refreshing, sessionable brew if it actually had any real taste to it.
