Living Haus’ main-stay Pilsner, Dolores
Living Häus Beer Company is a lager-centric brewery in the beer mecca of Portland, Oregon that opened their doors in July of 2022.
The folks at Living Häus have a cool tradition of naming every beer after an important person in their lives. And today, for my first ever Living Haus brew, I have one of their core beers: Dolores.
Named after co-founder Mat Sandoval’s Abuelita, Dolores is a Pilsner brewed with 100% Prairie Select Pilsner Malt and layered with Tettnang and Hallertau Mittlefruh hops. It has a lighter 4.8% ABV and cost me about $6.50 for the 16-ounce can but it will be cheaper in Portland and from the brewery.
Pouring a bright and very translucent golden straw color, Dolores had just over three full fingers of fluffy, eggshell white head build up. The sticky foam lingered for a couple of minutes while slowly fading down. On its way out, there was quite a bit of lacing scattered about down the sides of the glass, in a very uneven/random pattern.
The aroma was light and crisp with a combination of bready grains and bittering hops. The grist offered up notes of biscuits and sweet honey while the hops added a touch of pithy citrus and some herbaceous elements of grass and black pepper spice.
Each sip begins with a soft and smooth mouthfeel with a very little amount of carbonation humming underneath. It’s a very subtle beginning with the flavors taking their sweet time to appear. The first few moments are almost like drinking a glass of water…you know you took a sip but you can’t taste anything. And then, after a few seconds, boom.
A lovely combination of sweet orange blossom, honey, and biscuits swarm over the taste buds. It’s a little sticky and a little softer than expected but it’s an amazing start to the beer. Then, not to be undone, the hops appear.
At the midway point, those Hallertau Mittlefruh and Tettnang hops spike with a light twinge of zesty lemon and grapefruit rind flavors. That ping of citrus plays nicely with that opening sweetness really nicely.
Then, towards the backend, there is more of that herbal/grassy characteristic that features a spicy black pepper quality and a bit of bitterness. Those features linger for a few seconds after everything else before slowly fading away. Once they have gone, the beer finishes mostly clean with just a touch of pity dryness. It’s nothing too much and encourages you go back for seconds more than anything.
Overall, this was an amazing Pilsner. It’s light and crushable. It’s flavorful and delicious. It’s everything you could ask for in a Pils. I wish I had bought more when the chance presented itself but, luckily, it’s their standard lager, so I hope to find more soon.
