Stonegate Pilsner arrived with the wrong IBU on the label

Stonegate Pilsner showed up Thursday morning with a label that reads 28 IBU. I poured the first bottle during my break and immediately knew something was off.

The math doesn't work

Twenty-eight IBU would put this squarely in the clean, bright pilsner zone—grassy, floral, just enough bite to cut through the malt. What I'm tasting is closer to 31, possibly 32. There's a persistent bitterness on the back of the tongue that lingers about four seconds longer than it should at 28.

I opened five more bottles across the afternoon. Same result every time. The hop profile is consistent—noble hops, probably Saaz—but the bitterness level is measurably higher than advertised. Not enough to reclassify the beer, but enough that someone expecting a softer pilsner might notice.

What this means for the shelf

We're selling it as-is. The label says 28 IBU, so that's what rings up in the system. But if you're the kind of person who checks IBU counts before buying, you should know what you're actually getting.

I called the brewery. They're looking into it. In the meantime, it's in cooler three, bottom shelf, next to the Tallgrass Helles that actually hit its number.

Six-packs are $11.99. Tap the counter twice if you want me to pull a case from the back. We've got eight left.