Best of 2009: Pale lagers

Inspired by other beer bloggers like Fuggled, Pivni Filosof and Knut Albert, I will also present my Best of 2009 lists. I have decided to use these categories:

Best Pale lager of 2009
Best Dark lager of 2009
Best Wheat beer of 2009
Best Ale of 2009
Best Norwegian bar of 2009
Best Blog of 2009
Best Beer Experience of 2009

All of this is highly subjective and the winners are of course based on what beers I actually drank in 2009. I have been to Norway, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain this year, and that will of course colour what beers I nominee. There will be no American IPAs from draught among my winners, nor will beer styles like kölsch or gose be represented. After this disclaimer, let's get started with the first category: Best pale lager of 2009.

Most of the beers I drink are pale lagers, and I get more quality based when I choose which lager to drink. Here in Norway I used to drink a lot of Hansa Pils, but these days I almost never buy it. Instead I go for imported lager beers, and usually these are Czech beers.

This year I have spent several weeks in the Czech Republic, and I have tried many pale lagers - both from tap and bottles. All my nominees are Czech lagers, as I feel that these are the best three pale lagers I have been drinking i 2009:

- Moravský Sklepní Nefiltrované (Černá Hora brewery)
- Pilsner Urquell (unpasteurized tankovna version)
- Kout na Šumavě 12° (unfiltered version)

I have tried all these three beers from tap, and my winner is:

Kout na Šumavě 12° (unfiltered version)

This is a delicious lager beer that I have tried time and time again at the U Slovanské Lípi hospoda in Prague. U Slovanské Lípi used to be the only place in Prague to sell beers from Kout na Šumavě, but these days you can drink them also at other places like the restaurant in The Dancing House or the U Sadu pub.