Port City and Right Proper recently released Italian-style Pilsners. Diving into the specifics of these beers and their creation, the brewers and brewery owners shared their inspiration and technical information with DC Beer.
Il Palio Italian-style Pilsner takes its namesake from an Italian horse race, Port City Brewing Company wanted to make something that honored a centuries-old tradition. “The Palio is a famous horse race that takes place in Sienna, in Tuscany, every year. And it’s been going on for hundreds of years. It’s a very important tradition in Tuscany and to me it’s one of the most exciting events in Italy… it truly is an exciting, memorable, unforgettable experience… and it’s something that is a very important part of the heritage of Tuscany and of Italy, and Adam [Reza II, head brewer] has been very excited to come up with this Italian Pilsner and we wanted to share the excitement of making that beer with something that is very exciting in Italy,” says Bill Butcher, Port City founder.
The beer, a dry hopped pale lager, delivers an exhilarating ride for the tongue. The lager provides a decent drive of malt, hops, water, and yeast, and yet maintains its levity by not setting a breakneck pace on flavor, though the beer tends to disappear in record time. Il Palio stays in the pocket for Port City, a moderately-hoppy, immaculately clean lager. And this is exactly what Adam Reza, II, Director of Brewing Operations, intended. Flavorful but clean, not lean, not pulpy. It is a beer that both upholds the high expectations we have come to know in Port City’s Lager Series, and also challenges Italian-style Pilsners on the market today that missed their mark.
Influenced by Firestone Walker’s Pivo Pilsner and Solace Outpost Brewing’s When in Rome, both Italian-style Pilsners, Reza says he has been cooking up the beer in his mind for a while. “I’ve been thinking about this beer for a long time, a couple years,” Reza tells DC Beer. “Sam Puff [Sam Puffenbarger, former Solace Outpost brewer] put one out when he was working at Solace Outpost… he’s an incredible brewer, so once I had his, and I’ve loved Firestone’s Pivo, I was like ‘we have to do this at some point’ so just finding the opportunity to do it in our production schedule.”
Reza went on to say “Malt is very simple… you try to keep it all balanced… it’s pilsner malt, we added some carafoam for body and head retention. We wanted to let all parts shine. The yeast is probably the most important, how we treat it and the timing. All of our [lager] beers are six week beers, so that’s super important. And we don’t dry hop the majority of our lagers so that was something that needed to be researched. I think the only one [lager] we do [dry hop] is Derecho, which is our steam beer, so doing that was a cool challenge. And also you don’t want to go over the top you need to be restrained in making these beers. I’ve had a couple different Italian Pilsners where they use American hops and it kind of overpowers the beers and there’s no balance.”
Reza notes Port City used “one American hop, Adeena, out of Roy Farms, it’s a really good hop we use it in our Beach Drive so I wanted to use that and then German Saphir, we’d never used that so we went ahead and dry hopped with that, to bring out that lemony, zesty kind of thing but also had the spice from the noble hops, German. And it’s a third of a pound per barrel” he says about the hopping rate.
Thor Cheston, co-founder and owner of Right Proper says Super Carina, has a name “meaning ‘super pretty’ in Italian, [it’s] pure whimsy.” He notes “it is only the second time we have brewed a beer specifically for the seasonal market.”
Cheston tells DC Beer the “label is inspired by my love for all things with motors… going really really fast.” He says inspiration came from Italian MotoGP posters and he wanted the label to include vibrant color. The can does not disappoint with eye-popping red, blues, purple, and orange hues.
“Given that we are just now, after ten years, getting into the seasonal beer game, I thought it would be fun to branch off from our standard design template and do something fun and creative.” Well, the can is nothing if not fun and creative. Cheston went on to note that Right Proper’s “summer seasonal, a hibiscus infused saison will be called Rosette and have a similarly unique and artistic label.”
Right Proper’s head brewer Chris Broome tells DC Beer that for Super Carina, we used Mediterranean-grown Weyermann Eraclea Pilsner for the base malt with just a touch of melanoidin.” Eraclea Pilsner had been used previously in their beer, DEADA$$ PILSNER.
Broome shares “we used a combination of Perle, Spalter Select, and Saphir in the kettle and then dry-hopped with Saphir (at about the same rate)” as Port City’s one-third pound ber barrel. The dry hopping came “right at the tail end of fermentation and spunded it to carbonate naturally.” He says they “used our house lager yeast.”
Pouring the Right Proper and Port City Italian Pilsners out of the can, and putting them next to the prototype, Tipopils, from Birrificio Italiano, is a wonderful exercise in sensory analysis. Right Proper Super Carina and Port City il Palio, have a wonderful brightness and clarity. To my palate, Tipopils possess a mellowness, a kind of a rounded character that seems different from the flowery aroma and flavor profiles of Right Proper and Port City.
The flowery nature of the hop aromas combined with the bright, clean, lager characteristics is there in the two local options. The difference is subtle, but Super Carina reminds me more of fresh meadow flowers, with a tiny taste of chamomile and peach, whereas il Palio reminds me more of citrus fruits and just a touch of tangy berries. I perceived lemon zest in both the Port City and Right Proper examples of the beer.
Because Port City’s beer is only available in the taproom, for now, you will see more of Right Proper’s Italian Pilsner cans in and around town. If you wish to try il Palio, you’ll need to get to Alexandria, though it is going fast. In addition to their Italian-style Pilsner, they also have their Czech-style pilsner on side pull faucet. Reza says the side pour introduces more flavor and has more body in addition to appearance.
“The thick head on the side pour really just releases the aromatics” Butcher tells DC Beer. “As draft beer has struggled to rebound, especially here in the DMV, it’s important to reinforce the quality aspect of draft beer vs. packaged beer,” which is a similar sentiment to what Justin Cox, owner of Atlas Brew Works said last year.
As of now, Port City has 22 taps in their main tasting room and 7 upstairs in their Lighthouse Lounge. Having renovated in 2022, Port City upped their main tasting room drafts from 11 to 22.
Look for Right Proper’s Super Carina on draft in DC proper and should you wish to find a bottle of Tipopils, checkout Glover Park’s Hop, Cask, and Barrel. That’s where I got my Italian-brewed Pilsner pouring next to these two great local options.
Both Port City and Right Proper provided press samples of their beer to DC Beer Media, LLC. If you think your brewery has a beer that’s worth writing about, or a story that’s compelling enough and needs highlighting, get in touch, editor@dcbeer.com.
