An Italian pilsner pours clear straw to gold under a dense, white, lasting head. It is a well-attenuated pale lager with only a little sweet malt, light biscuit at most, and a pronounced hop aroma from late hopping and dry hopping with noble-type hops: floral, herbal, peppery. The bitterness runs medium to high, the body medium-light.
Where it comes from
In the summer of 1996 Agostino Arioli of Birrificio Italiano, near Como, dry-hopped a pale lager. MilanoToday calls the result, Tipopils, the first dry-hopped pilsner. Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker based his Pivo Pils on it and carried the idea to the United States. Birrificio del Ducato’s Viaemilia, its first beer, is another reference example.
The Brewers Association added Italian-Style Pilsener to its guidelines in 2024. The BJCP has no separate style: it treats an Italian pilsner as a German Pils with dry hopping.
Next to its neighbours
A German Pils has much the same strength and bitterness but less hop aroma. A Czech pilsner is fuller and maltier, with a softer bitterness.
Italian pilsner in numbers
- Classic examples
- Birrificio Italiano, Birrificio del Ducato
- Original gravity
- 1.044–1.052 (11–13 °Plato)
- Final gravity
- 1.006–1.013
- Guideline
- Brewers Association, Italian-Style Pilsener (added 2024)
- Classic examples
- Birrificio Italiano Tipopils; Birrificio del Ducato Viaemilia
Sources
Checked .
- 2026 Beer Style Guidelines: Italian-Style Pilsener — Brewers Association
- Le Italian Pils entrano ufficialmente nelle Style Guidelines della Brewers Association — Cronache di Birra
- Birrificio Italiano, 30 anni — MilanoToday
- 5D. German Pils, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
