Seven years ago, when people asked how I came up with the idea of a dry-hopped pilsner to create Pivo Pils, the answer was easy: I didn’t.
I first took notice of this interesting twist on the pilsner style several years ago while attending the German awards ceremony for the World Beer Cup. It was obvious (and expected) that the Germans would dominate the classic Pilsner category. However, the surprise was that a number of brewers outside of Germany—including a couple of small Italian craft brewers—were winning in the Kellerpils category.
One of those brewers was Agostino Arioli of Birrificio Italiano, and the beer was Tipopils. At the time, it was astounding to me that a tiny Northern Italian brewery was winning at this very prestigious international competition, and it was doing so with an unfiltered, delicately dry-hopped lager beer. I made a point to seek Arioli out. He was very open with his information, and we have been good friends ever since.