Now, 18 is fewer than our usual complement of 25, but it’s still a significant amount. When we last tasted pilsners from around the world four years ago, we could come up with only four from American craft breweries. Why would one of the world’s leading styles of beer have been so poorly represented?

My guess is that pilsner’s popularity was exactly what caused craft brewers to look elsewhere. With so many other styles of beer and ale that were largely ignored and in danger of disappearing, it was far more exciting to recreate India pale ales, porters and wheat beers than it was to dip into the ocean of wan pilsners and other lagers that dominated the American beer marketplace.

Pilsner presented challenges, too. Unlike ales, which are ready to drink shortly after brewing, lager beers like pilsner ferment more slowly and require time to mature before they are ready to drink. Storage space for aging lager beers was not always easy to come by for cash-poor brewery startups. What’s more, ales tend to offer a more complex array of flavors, which can sometimes hide a flaw or unintended note in a beer. Pilsners are stark and exposed, glorious in their lean, pared-down simplicity. They demand disciplined, precision brewing, which can be initially daunting.

It seems, though, that craft brewers are now embracing the pilsner style. American brewers have been known to take liberties with classic Old World formulas, but we were all impressed by how closely these beers adhered to the pilsner protocol.

That said, both of our top two beers were livelier and more vivacious than some of the great Czech and German pilsners I’ve had. The Victory Prima Pils, which was our No. 1 pilsner four years ago, again came in on top. It seemed to be alive in the glass, with wonderfully refreshing bitterness to balance the floral and citrus aromas. Likewise, our No. 2 beer, the Kaiser Pils from Pennsylvania Brewing, was bracing in its refreshment. Perhaps the Americans are brewing with particular élan, or maybe the American brews have the advantage of freshness as against the imports.

The pilsner flavor profile is a strict one, without a lot of diversity aromatically or in the mouth. What set apart the beers we liked best from those lower on the list was, for lack of a better term, a sense of liveliness, focus and clarity. The Lagunitas Pils may have had a bit more obvious malt flavor to it, while the Lakefront Klisch Pilsner had a tropical fruit aroma that we sensed in no other beer. But by and large few obvious differences separated the beers.