Pilsner occupies the world between malty lagers with its sweet and grainer vibes and the world of hoppy, bitter, and even dank pale ales and IPAs. A good pilsner will have a floral and bitter hoppiness similar to what you’ll find in those dank ales while also relying on caramel malted cereal lager notes with a clear lightness and often low-ish ABVs, making it very drinkable in long sessions. It’s the best of both worlds in that you get soft and light sweetness right next to big hoppy tones.
Taking a step back, yes, pilsner is a style of lager created in the early-ish 1800s in Bavaria and Bohemia. Very briefly, it’s a lager that’s produced via decoction brewing with pilsner malts, Saaz hops (if Bohemian), and bottom-fermenting lager yeast. It’s known for its pale color and sweet cereal grain, crisp, hoppy, and bitter flavor profile. The marriage of dank and floral hops with malts creates the ultimate year-round, crowd-pleasing beer that has conquered the entire beer-drinking world.
To pay tribute to this old-world legacy of pilsners, we thought we would take eight of the most popular European pilsners (some from Germany, Belgium, and the Czechia) and rank them based on how flavorful and refreshing they are. Keep scrolling to see how everything turned out.
8. Stella Artois
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Stella Artois is one of those beers that seems to always be there. It’s at every bar you’ll ever go to and it seems to be at every sporting event as well. This beer is so renowned in its home country of Belgium that it’s the pilsner every other brewery attempts to replicate in that country.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is full of cereal grains with maybe some citrus and floral hops. Overall, it was tough to really find anything distinct. The palate is a mix of bready malts, sweet cereal grains, and floral hops. There’s really not much else and everything was fairly muted. It’s crisp and easy to drink, but fairly bland.
Bottom Line:
This is a crisp, easy-to-drink beer without anything else going on. It’s amazing that this beer is as popular as it is.
7. Jever Pilsener
ABV: 4.9%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Named for the town where it’s brewed, Jever is a massively popular German pilsner that’s been brewed the same way since its inception in 1848. Known for its crisp, refreshing flavor, Jever is a little hoppier, bitter, and more herbal than some of its counterparts.
Tasting Notes:
Cereal grains, wet grass, and noble hops make up the fairly unexciting nose. The palate is all bready malts, cereal grains, and a wallop of herbal and earthy hops. The finish is dry, but a little more bitter than expected.
Bottom Line:
This is absolutely a unique pilsner. It has all the hallmarks of a classic pilsner with the bitterness of an IPA with a floral herbal vibe that might not be for everyone.
6. Grolsch Premium Pilsner
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
If you’ve never tried Grolsch, you’ve probably at least seen it in its distinctive green bottle with its traditional flip-top (although sometimes it’s in a regular, boring bottle). This popular pilsner gets its crisp, floral flavor from the addition of Emerald and Magnum hops from the Hallertau region of Germany.
Tasting Notes:
The aroma is heavy on herbal, grassy, floral hops as well as some light malts. Overall, it’s fairly muted though. Bready malts give way to grass, which gives way to light honey and eventually floral, herbal, lightly bitter hops. It’s crisp and sweet, but more bitter than we’d prefer and fairly watery.
Bottom Line:
This is a fine beer if you simply want a crisp crusher. If you’re looking for more substance, Europe has better pilsner options (and far worse ones too).
5. Radeberger Pilsner
ABV: 4.8%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Radeberger refers to itself as the “original German pilsner” since it was the first brewery in the country to brew the German-style pilsner. This award-winning pilsner gets its flavor from the addition of more hops than some of its rivals.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a bouquet of bready malts, light citrus, and floral, herbal, earthy hops. The palate is filled with more freshly baked bread, cracker malts, citrus peels, and floral, herbal hops. It’s crisp, refreshing, and clean. It could use more malt sweetness to temper the dry, bitter finish.
Bottom Line:
Radeberger is a decent beer. One that you won’t be mad you picked up. It’s just not quite as balanced as some of its counterparts.
4. Weihenstephaner Pils
ABV: 5.1%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Weihenstephaner is very proud of the fact that it’s the longest continually operating brewery in the world, having opened in 1040 (but has been closed for massive stretches of time, so take that as you will). And while its Hefe Weissbier is beloved, its Pilsner is top-notch as well.
Tasting Notes:
Crackery malts, honey, cereal grains, citrus peels, and herbal, earthy, floral hops make for an inviting nose. The palate doesn’t disappoint with notes of freshly baked bread, cracker malts, honey, citrus, and a ton of herbal, earthy, floral, Noble hops flavor.
Bottom Line:
This is balanced and refreshing. It’s a little overshadowed by the brand’s wheat beer, but it shouldn’t be. This is good stuff but not the best of today’s lineup.
3. Bitburger Premium Pilsner
ABV: 4.8%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Bitburger started making its popular pilsner in 1883. Popular throughout the world, Bitburger is known for its crisp, floral, easy-drinking nature.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is loaded with cereal grains, honey, crackery malts, caramel, and floral, earthy, and Noble hops. The palate is crisp, refreshing, and filled with toasted malts, pilsner malts, yeast, earthy grass, and bright, floral, lightly bitter hops. The finish is a crisp mix of malt sweetness and hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
Bitburger is a very well-balanced beer. All of the flavors are working together in perfect unison with a lightness that dings it a little in this lineup.
2. Paulaner Premium Pils
ABV: 4.8%
Average Price: $8 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Paulaner is a big name in German beer. And while it makes several award-winning styles, its pilsner is what we reach for the most. Brewed with Noble hops from Hallertau, it’s known for its clean, crisp taste and lightly bitter, floral hops.
Tasting Notes:
Classic pilsner aromas of cracker malts, honey, lemon peels, earthy grass, and herbal/floral hops start this beer off on a great foot. The palate, with its notes of lemon zest, cracker malts, honey, dried hay, and floral, Noble hops doesn’t disappoint either.
Bottom Line:
Noble hops, crackery malts, and gentle sweetness, this beer ticks all of the pilsner boxes. It’s pretty difficult to beat but didn’t quite hit as true as the next sip of beer.
1. Pilsner Urquell
ABV: 4.4%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Pilsner Urquell is the OG pilsner. Brewed with Saaz hops, it’s known for its timeless, easy-drinking sessionability, bitter floral hoppiness, and soft but memorable malty flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of lemongrass, bready malts, honey, wildflowers, and spicy, lightly herbal hops begin this experience. Drinking it reveals flavors like cereal grains, caramel malts, freshly baked bread, lemon peel, and floral, earthy hops. The finish is sweet, dry, crisp, and pleasantly bitter.
Bottom Line:
It’s easy to assume Pilsner Urquell took the top spot simply because it was the first pilsner. But that’s not why it took the top spot. Its balance and complexity are what propelled it past the others on this list. This is a classic for a reason.
