The real Bierstadt Slow Pour Pils v. Clone

I had Slow Pour Pils for the first time at the brewery in Denver in July 2021 and was amazed. I bought a four pack, along with their helles as well, and their Dunkel glass. Back home, I set about trying to figure out how to brew it. Interestingly, BYO magazine has what is described as the actual recipe. It's quite involved, though, calling for a decoction, step mashing, etc. It's also confusing, since it talks about a whirlpool but has no late addition hops in the recipe.

Having brewed the recipe and now tried it side by side with my last can of the real thing, I can say I am waaaay off the mark. True, I didn't step mash, didn't do a decoction, and used 2308 instead of 2124 yeast. I also missed the 5 minute hop and put it in at flameout instead. But somehow I'm not sure those things would make the difference. There seems to be something in there that may not be achievable on the homebrew scale, at least with my setup. This was beer #3 in a series of beers, with the first, a helles, also sort of based on Bierstadt's recipe, on Labor Day. 

My beer is actually a tasty beer, it's just no where near the real thing. The real thing has a penetrating, drying (but pleasant) bitterness, whereas the bitterness in mine, at least comparatively, is barely perceptible. Mine has 100% Hallertau mittlelfruh hops, per the recipe, but the real thing tastes way different. The aroma of mine is a sort of muted floral hops; theirs an almost skunky aroma that I associate with a lot of German lagers. Not a lot of malt flavor in either. Mine is a hair darker and more cloudy; theirs extremely pale and crystal clear. I also didn't treat my water, aside from using 3 gallons distilled water. Gelatin added to aid clarity, though this is not the clearest beer I've ever made.

In the end, no, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. In fact, I deviated substantially. But I guess I thought I'd be closer to the real thing, since the basics of the recipe remained intact: Weyermann pils, Hallertau hops, German lager yeast. Oh well, a fun experiment, and perhaps these German lagers -- helles, pilsner -- can be something to continue to strive for, my sort of "white whale." 

Unfortunately, I don't make it out to Colorado often, so it will probably be quite some time before I get to try the Slow Pour Pils again. So, for fun, I opened a can of a more local beer, Stammtisch from Urban Chestnut in St. Louis. They're close, but I think Slow Pour edges out Stammtisch just slightly. Slow Pour has a cleaner, crisper flavor. Stammtisch has a heavier flavor, with a hint of toasty malt in the background. So Stammtisch could be a close approximation of Slow Pour and more easily attainable, though even it has been somewhat hard to obtain in recent years, as it is no longer distributed in my corner of Missouri. 

All in all, a fun experiment, but I realize I need to keep trying when it comes to brewing a German pils. Cheers!

Brewed: 9/19/21

Kegged: 9/26/21

OG: 1.050

FG: 1.011-12

5 gallons