Wines have seasonals like Beaujolais, right? So why shouldn’t beer? Such is the logic of Jim Koch with his latest concoction, Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner 2005 Harvest. This is a beer that celebrates the harvest of fine Bavarian hops; in this case, Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops. Each year, Jim Koch personally travels to Germany to select Noble German hops for his beer.

Boston Beer says ““Hops Are to Beer What Grapes Are to Wine”. I am not so sure I agree, since a good case could be made that barley is really the equivalent. But there is no denying that good hops are essential to good beer. Augie Busch likes to brag about the choice hops used in Budweiser Select. I’m sure that only the best are used, but the problem is in quantity, not quality. Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner That’s not an issue here, since Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner simply screams hops.

I’ve said in the past that I find Imperial Pilsners really start to lose their pilsner character when you ratchet up the malt and hops to such insane levels. You really end up with a something that more closely resembles IPA than pilsner. To a degree, that happens here, though I think this beer holds a bit more pilsner character than many other examples I’ve tasted.

This is a big beer every step of the way: lots of malt, lots of hops, lots of alcohol: almost 9% by volume. Even the bottle is big. Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner is sold in 24 ounce bottles with a label depicting a pair of gentlemen (one of whom bears a bit of resemblance to Jim Koch) poring over a handful of hops. The price here is a bit big too at $5 a bottle, though that should not stop you from seeking Imperial Pilsner out. It’s worth every penny of the price.

Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner 2005 Harvest pours to a slightly cloudy orange color with a very thick head of creamy foam and a huge fresh hop nose. The hops in the nose are really impressive, grassy and herbal, very enticing to any hophead worth his salt. As the liquid descends, a very, very thick layer of Brussels lace is deposited on the sides of my glass.

When you sip, your mouth will be coated with a thick sweet layer of toasty, caramelly malt. I think the caramel malt character is what recalls an IPA in this style. Pilsners should really have a crisp biscuity malt character, and you lose that in higher gravity brews. Still, there’s a touch of biscuit pilsner character.

The hops are the real star here. They permeate the brew, intensely bitter, herbal, grassy, faintly citric, spicy, and dancing all around the tongue. This is really what German hops are all about, and they intensify in the finish into a really impressive lingering hop bite on the tongue and, for that matter, all over the mouth. Like chewing on fresh whole hops, though I’ve never done that. But this is what I imagine it would be like.

I absolutely love this beer. It’s big and juicy, really delicious and wonderfully bitter. It’s a great showcase for the Hallertau Mittelfrueh hop. Boston Beer says it should be enjoyed before January of 2006, which surprised me. Certainly the hops will give this one a bit of shelf life, though I understand they mean that the full hop aroma and flavor will be best appreciated when the beer is drunk young. Still, I think this one would be interesting to try with a bit of age.