Style Details

Name
Czech Pre­mi­um Pale Lager
Cate­go­ry
Czech Lager
BJCP Style Code
3 B
Appearance
Gold to deep gold color. Bril­li­ant to very clear cla­ri­ty. Den­se, long-las­ting, cre­a­my white head. 
Aro­ma
Medi­um to medi­um-high brea­dy-rich malt and medi­um-low to medi­um-high spi­cy, flo­ral, or her­bal hop bou­quet; though the balan­ce bet­ween the malt and hops may vary, the inter­play is rich and com­plex. Light diace­tyl, or very low frui­ty hop-deri­ved esters are accep­ta­ble, but need not be present. 
Fla­vour
Rich, com­plex, brea­dy mal­ti­ness com­bi­ned with a pro­no­un­ced yet soft and roun­ded bit­ter­ness and flo­ral and spi­cy hop fla­vor. Malt and hop fla­vors are medi­um to medi­um-high, and the malt may con­tain a slight impres­si­on of cara­mel. Bit­ter­ness is pro­mi­nent but never harsh. The long finish can be balan­ced towards hops or malt but is never aggres­si­ve­ly til­ted eit­her way. Light to mode­ra­te diace­tyl and low hop-deri­ved esters are accep­ta­ble, but need not be present.
Mouth­feel
Medi­um body. Mode­ra­te to low carbonation. 
Over­all Impression
Rich, cha­rac­terful, pale Czech lager, with con­sidera­ble malt and hop cha­rac­ter and a long, roun­ded finish. Com­plex yet well-balan­ced and refres­hing. The malt fla­vors are com­plex for a Pils­ner-type beer, and the bit­ter­ness is strong but clean and wit­hout harsh­ness, which gives a roun­ded impres­si­on that enhan­ces drinkability.
Typi­cal Ingredients
Soft water with low sul­fa­te and car­bo­na­te con­tent, Saa­zer-type hops, Czech malt, Czech lager yeast. Low ion water pro­vi­des a distinc­tively soft, roun­ded hop pro­fi­le despi­te high hop­ping rates. The bit­ter­ness level of some lar­ger com­mer­cial examp­les has drop­ped in recent years, alt­hough not as much as in many con­tem­po­ra­ry Ger­man examples.
Histo­ry
Com­mon­ly asso­cia­ted with Pils­ner Urquell, which was first bre­wed in 1842 after con­s­truc­tion of a new bre­w­house by burg­hers dis­sa­tis­fied with the stan­dard of beer bre­wed in Plze?. Bava­ri­an bre­wer Josef Groll is cre­di­ted with first bre­wing the beer.
Comm­ents
Gene­ral­ly a group of pivo Plze?ského typu, or Pils­ner-type beers. This style is a com­bi­na­ti­on of the Czech styl­es sv?tlý ležák (11–12.9 °P) and sv?tlé spe­ciální pivo (13–14.9 °P). In the Czech Repu­blic, only Pils­ner Urquell is cal­led a Pils­ner, despi­te how wide­ly adopted this name is world­wi­de. Kvas­ni­co­vé (“yeast beer”) ver­si­ons are popu­lar in the Czech Repu­blic, and may be eit­her kräu­se­ned with yeas­ted wort or given a fresh dose of pure yeast after fer­men­ta­ti­on. The­se beers are some­ti­mes clou­dy, with subt­le yeas­ti­ness and enhan­ced hop cha­rac­ter. Modern examp­les vary in their malt to hop balan­ce and many are not as hop-for­ward as Pils­ner Urquell.
Com­mer­cial Examples
Ber­nard Sváte?ní ležák, Gam­bri­nus Pre­mi­um, Kout na Šumav? Kout­ská 12°, Pils­ner Urquell, Pivo­var Jih­la­va Ježek 11°, Primá­tor Pre­mi­um, Ún?tická 12°
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
1.044 - 1.060 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
1.013 - 1.017 SG
Color
3 - 6 SRM
Alco­hol
4.0 - 5.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
30 - 45 IBU