I am going to start today with a summer lager from Sierra Nevada called Summerfest Lager which purchased at Festival Foods in a six pack. If you are looking to compare this to a style, you can use the BJCP guidelines for the Bohemian Pilsner (AKA Czech Pilsner), the addition of Perle hops sort of puts this out of traditional style, but the category will do for now since Saaz is used in the boil and for finishing hops. So with that all said, lets check this beer out.

The beer pours a brilliantly clear yellow color. If you were to hold this up next to Budweiser you may have a hard time visually telling the difference, for a Bohemian Pilsner this beer’s color is at the mark, albeit the low end of the color scale. In the aroma you have a lot more malt aroma than you would in that Bud, and that’s a good thing, the bad thing is the hop aroma levels of the Saaz is a bit lower than I would expect for this style. The malt aroma is crisp and grainy, while the hop aroma is a bit more floral for me than spicy, as well as being low.
As for the flavor, the hop bitterness is a bit underdone as well as the flavor. The malt flavor is lingering as well. The bitterness is quite a bit lower than what I have had in many other Bohemian Pils, but it is there and it does not linger into the finish. I do like the beer’s finish and it does leave you wanting more, the malt is just slightly sweet and finishes clean. Stylistically the beer misses the mark a bit for a claim as a Bohemian Pils, but it does deliver as a good easy drinking summer beer. I guess it all depends on what the main goal of this beer was, if it was to nail a Bohemian Pilsner style or be a mass market craft beer perfect for summer events. I would put my money on the latter. But this beer still could benefit from a boost in the Saaz hops additions even if it was just a little. O
Overall i would give this beer a C+ for style but a B for good drinking summer lager. I would still take this over a Budweiser, Miller, or Coors any day of the week (or weekend for that matter)

Edit: I just felt I should add that the hops bitterness does increase as the beer warms. This is normal for beers, but if i would have drank this beer a bit warmer, I wouldn’t have dinged it as bad for such a low bitterness level. But as a summer beer chances are you would start this beer off cold anyway.
-Jason