BREWERS BEST

I recently cooked up a batch of the BB Continental Pils I bought as a "clear out" from my local HBS. It's too bad they're stopping carrying them, but they are pricey. Anyway, I got this one for $40 reg. $50 CDN (for 5 USG or approx. 19 litres) deciding to try it after brewing their marvellous Imperial Blonde Ale. The kit comes complete with caps, grain sack, priming sugar, LME and dry extract and steeping grains, making this a "partial" mash. I was going to swap out the yeast but decided to try it with its stock Brewferm Lager yeast to get a baseline. I "lagered" it in my SS fermenter for four weeks on the basement floor between 10-13C, as my lager fridge was full of beer :-() Then off to a brief crashing in secondary carboy to a final rack in two x 2.5 USG mini kegs. I have to say there was a dirty pile of trub and hops, so the next time I'll be using a hop sock. I ended up with approx. 17 litres with a few bombers (22 oz) and a couple Grolsch swing tops. It has an interesting flavour about it for sure. But I'm leaving it for a couple more weeks in the kegs and then I'll pound the gas to it and post an addendum to this review. I'm giving it three stars as a placeholder and will adjust accordingly.

Fest Pils redux

I recently lagered and kegged a Festa Continental Pils, augmented with a 12G hit of Saaz hops whilst in between a cook session. It was refreshing a better than I remembered making it a couple years back - both at my bud's U Brew in Ontario and in my basement. I cold crashed it for two months in my spare kegerator and have to say I am really enjoying this one - still got some in the keg and awaiting the swapped out cold crashing Festa Pale and bottle conditioning Imperial Blonde Ale clone cook. It's definitely good enough to keep me out of the government monopolized liquor stores, searching down my way overpriced DAB, Heineken, Stella, Grolsch fixes.

Pilsner

I brewed this one a few times and it turned out fairly decent. I tried lagering it in a cool basement before I got my lager fridge set up and it was marginally better. It was better than my Festa Blonde Lager (see review) so far. I will do this one again with the lagering fridge and hopefully I will get decent results. I continue in my quest to find a beer for my other half that remembles Keith's - closest was a Festa Blonde Lager+Festa Pale mix. My quest for a lighter drink would be a beer resembling Stella, Grolsch, Heineken, DAB, Becks and other northern European lagers. Many brew snobs poo poo these beers, but I've had  quite a few brews in my travels, and these are my benchmarks for "light lager" hot weather beers. I do enjoy my trappists, porters, stouts, and myriad ales and can make great ones even better than most commericial products. I have yet however, become the Maestro Lagerlout able to replicate those beers.

Festa Pilsener

decent beer

I have only brewed a few time to be honest, and the style of festa brew is very drinkable. It may not impress many beer drinkers, but it won't turn them off either. 6.5/10