The Long Road to West Coast Pils
Two weeks ago, this newsletter explored several contemporary iterations of IPA. Our section on one of the newest variants, the Cold IPA, included this passage:
“Where the Hazy IPA smuggled elements of a Bavarian Hefeweizen into the IPA tent—softness, turbidity, expressive yeast—the Cold IPA does the same thing with Pilsner’s austere dryness, ultra-clean fermentation, and brilliant clarity.”
That comparison naturally leads us to another emerging style: the West Coast Pils.
Like a Cold IPA, a West Coast Pils is a hybrid beer style that merges the clean, crisp profile of a traditional Pilsner with the intense, fruity hop aroma and flavor of a contemporary West Coast IPA. Unlike a Cold IPA, a West Coast Pils is typically all-malt, fermented at closer to traditional lager temperatures, and tops out around Pale Ale strength.
How We Got Here
To understand how we arrived at the point where brewers are blending two styles as seemingly divergent as IPA and Pilsner, we need to go back almost two centuries, to the closest thing modern brewing has to a BC/AD moment.
In 1842, the Bohemian city of Plzeň (Pilsen) hired Josef Groll, a brewing phenom from nearby Bavaria, to create a signature beer. Groll's creation, a golden, crystal clear, lager beer, sent shockwaves through the brewing world. Many beer styles including German Pils, Munich Helles, Kölsch, modern commodity lagers, even Belgian Tripel, owe their contemporary look and taste to changes made in reaction to the popularity of the new “Pilsener” (meaning "of Plzeň") beer.
As the popularity of crispy pale lager continued to spread around the globe, it adapted to local tastes and resources.
- In Köln (Cologne, GER), where lager yeast was forbidden, we got Kölsch.
- In the Americas, where corn was plentiful, we got Mexican and American adjunct lagers.
- In Japan, we get "super dry" rice lagers.
Seen in that light, the emergence of a West Coast Pils, a pale lager shaped by our current obsession with abundant hop flavor and aroma, feels right on schedule.
🧭 Your Pils Primer
The path from Plzeň to West Coast Pilsner.
🇨🇿 Czech Premium Pale Lager
The source code.
Brewed with soft water and Saaz hops, these beers have a round, pillowy soft character and an elegant signature flavor. Outside their home country, beers brewed to this style are often labeled Bohemian or Czech-style Pilsners. But in the Czech Republic, that term is reserved for just one brand, Pilsner Urquell. Other breweries don’t use the term “Pilsner.” Instead, they identify beers by degree strength (usually 10–14°) and color:
- světlé = pale
- tmavé = dark
To respect this tradition, American brewers and style guides increasingly use either the Czech terminology above (a classic Bohemian Pilsner would be a "12° světlé") or the wordy but accurate “Czech-style Premium Pale Lager.”
Exemplars:
- Global: Pilsner Urquell
- Local: Moonlight Brewing's “Reality Czeck-style Pilsner”
🇩🇪 German Pils
“Pils” is the polite shorthand often used to denote a Pilsner-inspired beer produced using anything other than the ultra-soft water of Plzeň. In Northern Germany, harder, sulfate-rich water and a slightly broader spectrum of acceptable hop varieties yield a sharper, more austere beer than the Bohemian original.
Exemplar: Berkeley, CA's own Trumer Pils
🇮🇹 Italian Pils
Invented in 1996 by Agostino Arioli of Birrificio Italiano, this style introduced modern dry-hopping and slightly warmer fermentation to the Pilsner playbook.
Arioli's "Tipopils" represented Pilsner’s first real dalliance with the modern hop head brewing techniques and contemporary craft beer flavors. Subsequent versions appealed even more to IPA drinkers by showcasing newer, fruitier European hop varieties like Saphir.
Exemplars:
- Global: "Tipopils" – Birrificio Italiano
- Local: Firestone Walker “Pivo” / Russian River “STS Pils”
🌊 West Coast Pils
From Italian Pils, it was only a short walk to West Coast Pils.
Around 2015, brewers at Highland Park Brewery in Los Angeles blended their house lager with a fruity West Coast IPA and loved the result. The experiment became a style.
Since then, brewers across the U.S. have refined the approach, embracing Pacific Northwest, Australian, and New Zealand hops as well as novel brewing techniques to produce lagers with tropical fruit aromatics, clean bitterness, and crisp drinkability.
Exemplars:
- Global Originator: Highland Park “Timbo Pils”
- Local Descendants: Numerous Bay Area brewers are now making their own. There's probably one on tap at your favorite brewery right now!
🧠 The Takeaway: A Tradition of Change
A beer style develops for many reasons. Climate, water, taxes, the marketplace, native ingredients, local culture, and cuisine all play a part. The nature of a style isn’t a fixed historical fact; it’s a living canon, built collectively, where ideas blend and collide. Old styles evolve. New ones are born.
German Pils borrowed a few tricks from American IPA to become Italian Pils. Then, West Coast IPA borrowed lessons from Pilsner to create the Cold IPA. Next, you arrive at West Coast Pils, where session-strength pale lagers are imbued with the same flamboyant hop aromas found in cutting-edge IPA.
Whether you prefer this contemporary dry-hopped variety or favor the Bohemian original, the Pilsner in your glass is part of a long-running conversation; one that has always been less about guarding tradition and more about daring it to grow. A space where innovative, bar-raising brewers continue to ask what if, and never stop chasing the next defining moment.
🍻 Upcoming Events Featuring Our Member Breweries
🎉 Free (Pay-As-You-Go) Public Events This Weekend!
Tuesday-Sunday, 10/21-10/25— Cellarmaker 12th Anniversary Celebrations (SF, Oakland, and Berkeley, CA)
Help Cellarmaker Brewing celebrate another banner year of delivering "hops to the dome." They have a line-up of special release including "Triple Dobis," plus a night in their tasting room with 2013 pint prices, and it all culminates with a big party in Berkeley on Saturday!
More Info →Cellarmaker 12th Anniversary Events in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley
Friday-Sunday, 10/24-10/26— OPENING WEEKEND: Headlands On Campus (Berkeley, CA)
Help the Headlands Brewing team usher in a new era on the UC Berkeley Campus as they officially take over at the legendary Bear's Lair space.
Saturday, 10/25— Spooky Puppy at Temescal Brewing (Oakland, CA)
Get ready for the biggest Halloween event of the year, a puptacular event filled with delicious beer and adorable pups, SPOOKY PUPPY 2025!
More Info →Spooky Puppy Pageant & Costume Contest In Oakland
Saturday, 10/25— Occult Beach Party at HenHouse Brewing (Petaluma, CA)
A matinee surf party from 2-6 pm at HenHouse's Palace of Barrels in Petaluma! Featuring “Planet Earth’s Longest-Running Modern Surf Band,” The Insect Surfers, all the way from Washington D.C.
More Info →Occult Beach Party & Afternoon Concert In Petaluma
Saturday, 10/25— Galvan's Eatery 5th Anniversary Celebration at Cooperage Brewing (Santa Rosa, CA)
Sonoma County's crispy taco kings are celebrating their 5th Anniversary with an all-day party at Cooperage's Airway Ct. Brewery location. There will be DJs, delicious food, live music and a major announcement!
More Info →Galvan's 5th Anniversary Party In Santa Rosa
Saturday, 10/25— Goodbye Bash at 21st Amendment (San Leandro, CA)
A bittersweet bash, but a bash nonetheless. This is your chance to say farewell to a beloved institution. Grab your friends and celebrate the memories, the beers, and the good times, as we raise one more glass to a foundational Bay Area brewery, and a founding member of our Guild.
More Info →One Last Pint with 21A in San Leandro
📅 Save the Dates
Friday, 10/31— Halloween Night Party at Original Pattern Brewing (Oakland, CA)
A spooky-season smash featuring live music, DJs and an costume contest, all fueled by some delicious brew!
More Info →Halloween Night Party In Oakland
Friday, 11/7— Kelly Brewing Company 7th Anniversary Celebration (Morgan Hill, CA)
Help Morgan Hill's open-fermentation fanatics, celebrate their anniversary with DJs, free food, special beer releases and more!
Saturday, 11/8— Alpha Acid Brewing Company 7th Anniversary Celebration (Belmont, CA)
Help Alpha Acid elebrate their 11th birthday with exclusive barrel-aged beers and other special releases.
Friday 2/20/2026 - Sunday 3/1/2026 — Beer Week 2026 (The Whole Damn Bay Area!)
The biggest and best regional celebration of independent craft beer on the planet!
Keep up-to-date on all the events at sfbeerweek.org