Fairly recently I won a contest to go on a Trolley Tour with Pilsner Urquell, Vancouver Trolley Company and Ion Magazine.

The Trolley Tour Started at the TC Lions Pub near Canada Place in downtown Vancouver and was the first of 4 locations for the night.  Each location we were given a ticket for one free Pilsner Urquell.

The TC Lions Pub was not crazy busy but busy enough with the large group that was part of the Trolley Tour.  Everyone got a beer fairly quickly and got on talking with all of the new people.  A few people who I assume work for Pilsner Urquell locally got up and talked about the brand and its origins and how it is one of the original Pilsners if not the first.  Once our time was up at TC Lions Pub everyone spilled out onto the sidewalks so we could get on our trolleys to the next location.

The next location was a pub that I had never been to The Morrissey.  I was torn on this location as it has great style, funky staff and great music but it was just to long slender and packed!  They did serve some nice snacks at this location though so that was nice.  I hope it is not always that packed at the Morrissey and only that packed because of our Trolley.  The pilsner tasted the same at this location in the same glassware.  Once our time was up here we moved onto the next bar.

The next location took us to Granville Island to the Vancouver Fish Company Restaurant & Bar.  This place has the feel of a fancy restaurant and I felt a little bad being in a T-Shirt and shorts (But not that bad).  I was a little surprised the Restaurant served the Pilsner Urquell in bottles here as being a fancy restaurant they should know the importance of proper glassware.  The food samples brought out were to die for though.  Obviously there was a seafood theme to all of the dished but they were all great.  We had a nice semi short visit here before we moved onto our last location.

From here we hopped back on the Trolleys and hit up the last location of the night the Winking Judge Pub.  It was getting on in the night so we did not stick around at this bar all that long.  We did have our free glass of Pilsner Urquell before we left though.

Overall it was a fun night with lots of interesting people some into craft beer some into macro.  Either way everyone had a great time.

What would a writeup on an event like this beer without a mention about the beer itself?  Pilsner Urquell is brewed in the Czech Republic by Plzeňský Prazdroj and owned by SABMiller.  The beer pours a golden yellow colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of grassy hops, biscuit malts, fruits and a sweet finish.  The flavour is of grassy hops but very little bittering, biscuit malts, a sweetness from a hint of fruit and possibly honey and a very mild earthiness.  The alcohol content comes in at 4.4%.  If you are looking for a nice approachable summer weather beer this just might be your choice.

Full sized photos can be found here.