Make The Happy Hours Count With Trumer Pils

When it comes to craft beer, the culture is as vibrant as the flavors. If you've been bored with the beer you've been drinking, then it's time to hop on up to a Trumer Pil and satisfy your cravings with its next level flavor.

Combining the heritage of European brewing with the energy and passion of American craft brewing, Trumer Pils gives beer drinkers in the U.S. the chance to enjoy a fresh and classic German-Style Pilsner every day.

With its inimitable taste, pair Pilsners during these months of warm sunshine with cheese and crackers, fruit plates, and seafood spreads, but also greasy food [like pizza] and of course the great outdoors.

Learn more about craft beer and Trumer Pils journey across the pond in this Q&A with German-trained Brewmaster Lars Larson of the Trumer Pil Brewery in Berkeley, CA.

Heidi Carter: What would you say is most unique about Trumer Pils?
Brewmaster Lars Larson: German beer is definitely unique. The style we are brewing is an iconic, classic version of the German-style Pilsner. We are making one of the most well known beers in the world true to style.

Is anyone else doing anything like this?
Part of the way Trumer Pils is brewed is we use a technique that is used by our sister brewery over in Salzburg, Austria and we separate the starchy interior of the [barley] malt from the husks during the milling process. It's something that is very unique. There are very few, if any other breweries in North America that are doing this. We do this separating because the husks have an astringent bitterness that comes naturally, but can be leached out during the mashing process. We want a more smooth and mellow, well-rounded drinkable beer and keeping that astringent bitterness out of the beverage helps us achieve that.

How do you connect to the Berkeley area and keep the standard in your style of brewing?
The way we are able to in general maintain the exact same profile as our sister brewery over in Austria is we bring in all our materials from Germany and Austria. The malt principally comes from Germany, bitter and hops from Austria, and the aroma hops from the same region. We use the same yeast, but of course we can't bring the water over. We're very fortunate that the water we have here in California is phenomenal. It's snowmelt rainwater from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and it's beautiful, pure, soft water and it's perfect for making Pilsners. Because it's rainwater from snowmelt, there are very few minerals that have been leached out from the earth. Water from wells, for instance is much harder. The original water in the town of Pilsner, where this style of brewing was invented, was also very soft. So we're matching that soft water profile and the water in Berkeley is perfect.

How did you decide Brewmaster was your calling?
I always loved beer. The taste of beer, the culture of beer gardens and so on. It's always something that interested me. I got into brewing through little home brewing and then thought that was a lot more fun than whatever it was I was doing at the time. I decided to study Brewing Science. The exposure to the craft beer culture and the people who work in it has always been a really great community, and it's great to be apart of.

What do you see contributing to the reason people are paying more attention to craft beer culture?
Almost have to take a historical perspective on it. When you go back to the 1970's and 80's the big breweries were making very uniform, uninteresting beers. They were basically just selling the beer on marketing and not on flavor attributes. Craft beers grew out of the desire by beer lovers who wanted beer with a great flavor profile and they found that there was a real community of like-minded people who wanted to explore the diversity of beers and beer flavors and create non-boring beers. That has just continued to grow over the decades. The thing is, where craft beer is now, I think it's at a point of change and further growth. The mass majority of breweries that are in operation right now in the U.S. all started within the past 10 years so there's a new generation of beer lovers growing and adding their own contributions to the craft beer community.

What's something the general public doesn't know about being a Brewer?
I'd say that most people imagine that the job is about gently stirring hops and then magically everyone is relaxing and drinking beer, and it doesn't happen that way. Brewing is probably 90 percent cleaning. We're organizing things, setting things up, cleaning to begin with, doing a little brewing and then cleaning again. There's a lot of stuff to do that doesn't center on the brew house, which is the romantic focus of brewing.

What is your favorite food to pair with a Trumer Pil?
I really loved seared ahi tuna and maybe a soup or salad.

What about second favorite?
One thing about a Pilsner, because its flavor doesn't overwhelm, you can enjoy it with delicate eats like sushi, but also stronger and greasier foods will pair great with it as well. It's a palate cleanser without overwhelming the food. It pairs well with most everything, which is not something you can say about most beers. Short ribs are even really great with a Pilsner, or something classically greasy like a pizza.

Sometimes people tend to stick to what they know, as well as what they enjoy drinking. Who in your opinion should drink a Trumer Pil?
For people who love light beer, something like Miller Lite, Trumer Pils would be the next step up. Say you've had light beers and they're okay but you're not excited about it. Those are beers that are made with a lot of rice, and a lot of corn, so the body is missing. There's not a lot of flavor in there. And Trumer Pils is like the next level up where you say okay, I want something that gives me more flavor complexity, breadiness, maltiness, as well as some spicy, hop aroma and flavor, but it's not going to overwhelm. For somebody who has tried an IPA and think it's too much, like 'I've just eaten a bag full of leaves' much, then Trumer Pils is right in the middle. It's a great place to step up to the next level of flavor. On the other hand, say you're somebody who really loves IPA's... at the end of the night, your palate can become overwhelmed and you might want something that's a little more refreshing and crisp and clear, and will reset you- a lot of times people will have a Trumer Pil. Trumer Pils are popular at the end of longer sessions because people end up wanting to enjoy something that isn't going to challenge them. For example, Pilsners are a top choice beer for winemakers in the Napa Valley. At the end of the day, many winemakers like to relax with a Pilsner. It changes things up.

What about at the end of your day? Are you on the other hand drinking a nice glass of wine?
Rarely. At the end of my day if I'm not enjoying a Trumer then I will probably have a whiskey, scotch or rye.

How would you describe a Trumer Pil in 3 words?
Spicy, floral, aroma. It is very balanced and refreshing.

What would you say is a common misconception about craft beer culture that you'd like to comment on?
A common misconception is that craft beers have extreme flavor profiles and that's not the case with Trumer Pils. Sometimes people think craft beer is only hop bombs and high alcohol. There's certainly a lot of craft beers that people loved that are extremely bitter and very high alcohol. There are a lot of craft beers that are what we call session-able, but that doesn't mean that they're boring. There is still a flavor complexity, craft and art put into making a well-made beer that is also easy to drink. Craft beer doesn't only have to be extreme.