I’m a massive Pilsner fan, as you may or may not have picked up on over the last couple of years, and I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about trying today’s beer.

It’s a SoCal Pilsner from our friends at One Drop and sports a description that mentions a meeting of German lagers and West Coast IPAs.

This sounds like a beer that was specially made with my palate in mind as I love hops (I guess you have to be like beer perhaps?) but I also like to taste the malt, and also find descending into the dank armpit of hoppiness just a touch unnecessary. So a decently hopped beverage that still retains the composure of a Pilsner sounds right up my alley!

The question is though - can you really do West Coast and Pilsner at the same time - or does one style have to essentially win for it to get close to either?

I guess we’re really talking about intention and suggestion here, and with the humble Pilsner existing on the hoppy end of the lager spectrum, it's not that outlandish to suggest it could be pushed down the West Coast route without totally losing its soul.

Let’s open it up and see whether it toes the line or veers towards one style more than the other.

Pours a golden pale amber with a bright white lacey head. The nose is subtly tropical with mango hints that combine with mineral lager notes to great effect. The palate definitely follows suit and is super quaffable, sumptuously dry and with a bracing bitterness on the finish.

It’s another super clever beer from the One Droppers, which seems to perform the impossible - juggling hops and malt with a real deftness of touch. I like the SoCal Pilsner term too, which avoids the complication of combining two opposing styles such as the West Coast IPA and Pilsner.

We live in interesting times with beer and its evolution, where styles come and go with the blink of an eye. Even within the niche of hoppy lager-like brews that we’re looking at today we can name Brut IPA, IPL and even Cold IPA - which were all the rage only moments ago but have seemingly fallen out of favour (to a greater or lesser degree).

Let’s agree to reconvene on this blog in a year or so and see what's happened to the SoCal Pilsner. If they all taste as good as this one - it’s got a good shot at longevity…