It all started like this: I just couldn’t brew an award-winning Bohemian Pilsner. For those who might not be aware, the Bo Pils (Czech Premium Pale Lager, whatever we’re calling the style these days) is characterized by a clean fermentation character, very soft water, and an almost alarming amount of Saaz hops.
In keeping with tradition, I brewed mine with soft water and shoveled in what I thought was a big addition of Saaz. Upon completion, I sampled it, and the Saaz just wasn’t coming through. It smelled floral, and the malts were shining, but it lacked that herbal punch. So, I increased the hopping—no real change. I shifted the hopping around—later in the boil, multiple dry-hop additions, whirlpooling for varying lengths of time—no real change. I brewed this beer four times in two months, and every time I got what amounted to a damned-near perfect Pre-Prohibition American Pilsner, but not a Bo Pils.
Then one day, I replaced a small portion of all of that Saaz with Styrian Goldings. Nailed it. The next competition I entered it in, it scored a 44/50 and won a gold medal.