By now, I hope you have listened to both parts of our interview with Ft. Myers Brewing (clearly out of Ft. Myers, and friends of theirs at Cape Coral’s Wicked Dolphin distillery. They are two companies that have worked together quite well in the past, and those of you that listened to the interview are aware of what is coming soon.
We did that interview at Ft. Myers Brewing, so naturally they were gracious enough to send some pints our way during the interview. I will say, to my great dismay, I did not do the best job of recording what I drank because it was a blur of a really great conversation that I was focused in on.
They ended up being some of the best episodes we’ve ever had on the podcast, and I’m very proud of them, but I was also very happy that I was able to come home with packaged varieties of some of the beers that I sampled.
One of those was Czech Around (Czech Pilsner, 5.1% ABV).
I find it interesting that this style is called a Czech Pilsner, since the beer itself is named for the city of Plzeň, which (as you can probably see coming) is in the Czech Republic.
If you were to visit this city, today’s beer could not be listed as a pilsner, however. In fact, in the Czech Republic, the only pilsner that is allowed to call itself a pilsner is the grandfather of pilsners, Pilsner Urquell. Everything else lists as a pale lager.
Back to Czech Around. I love that beer, I’m always happy to get something domestically and in-state produced. Czech Around, I feel, can go toe to toe with the best of them however they are labeled.
It is stylistically right down the line with a clear golden color and the light aroma of two row malt, plus maybe a slight floral aspect of the hops the style is famously known for (mostly Czech-native Saaz).
I will readily admit that the hop profile of most Czech Pilsners are aggressive enough to where I don’t necessarily dip my toe in these waters all that often. With Czech Around, I’m very happy to say the floral bitterness, while present and doing a wonderful job boosting and coloring the flavor profile of the beer, is not aggressive to the point of launching this into IPA territory.
It’s there, it provides a nice flavor, but it is not overpowering.
The beer is beautifully balanced, with an almost faintly honey-like malt to make a beer that is amazingly refreshing. Whether you’re enjoying some time out in the sun or you’re in a tap room recording a podcast, it is a delightful beer to have, something that is amazingly fun to drink, and stylistically perfect enough to where you can rest assured you know what you’re getting when you crack the can.
And the best part is I’ve got a lot more Ft. Myers Brewing to go through that will be fun to blog about in the near future.
In the meantime if you have not listened to those episodes please check them out now. I hope they were as much fun to listen to as they were to record.
Drink Florida Craft,
Dave
@floridabeerblog
[email protected]
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