The Best Pilsners of 2024 were broken down into various subcategories.
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In early July, the US Open Beer Championship announced the world’s best pilsners across various sub-categories. This Ohio-based beer festival is one of the most prestigious in the world and is one of the three major beer festivals in the US, along with the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival.
The competition was founded in 2009 by brewer Dow Scoggins, who told me recently that the festival has always prided itself on the diversity of the categories it judges, and that’s evident when it comes to pilsners: The festival has five pilsner categories, with a sixth category that can be either a lager or a pilsner (pilsner is a type of lager, so all pilsners are lagers, but not all lagers are pilsners).
Many major beer festivals have seen an increase in pilsner listings this year, reflecting growing consumer interest in the category. Many brewers I spoke to have long favored the subtle yet complex pilsner category over the flashier IPA category that dominated beer sales. Because of this, pilsners have begun to take market share from IPAs in recent years, but they’re still not all that popular.
The pilsners below are all gold medal-winning beers at this year’s U.S. Open Beer Championships, and are all beers that were rated the best beers by the festival’s panel of judges.
Blind Tiger, an American-style pilsner from Denver Beer Co., Colorado
With several locations across Denver, this popular brewery has had no shortage of success, winning numerous medals at prestigious beer competitions, including a bronze medal at the 2024 World Beer Cup for its German-inspired Oktoberfest beer, “Smooth Export,” which took home top honors in the highly competitive light and refreshing lager category.
Bohemian-Style Pilsner: La Boheme from Alaro Craft Brewery, California
This brewery is a great beer for lovers of Czech/Bohemian pilsners, using ingredients from the Czech Republic, especially the quintessential pilsner Saaz hops (get it?). According to the brewery, this beer has “a hint of honey-like sweetness and toasty cracker flavors from the lightly roasted malt, and a wonderfully spicy, herbal and floral hop aroma.”
German-style pilsner: Kayak Pils from Riverlands Brewing Company, Illinois
This pilsner beer from Riverlands Brewing Co. is made with German pilsner yeast and a mix of American Sterling and German Saphir hops, and only those with a truly dry palate will love this one. The brewery’s tasting notes say the beer features a “beautiful blend of floral, spicy, lemongrass and citrus hop flavors” and a “pleasant bitterness.”
International Style Pilsner: Digital Chicken by Taproom Beer Company (CA)
This gets a gold medal from me as the best name on this list. It’s all the more impressive because the brewery that released this beer, Taproom Beer Co., didn’t exactly win any creativity points with the name. Going back to this beer, it was made using a new experimental hop from the Hop Research Council called HRC-003, and according to the brewery, ” [a] A bouquet of tropical, stone fruit and berry aromas.”
Italian Pilsner: Italian Stallion from Flix Brewhouse, Texas
The critically acclaimed brewery and cinema’s latest award-winning beer is named after the nickname given to the protagonist in the iconic Rocky series. Not only are this beer and many of San Antonio Beer’s other beers award-winning, they’re also the perfect pairing with popcorn.
