The Crux with Pilseners

The Pilsener style is universal in Germany. It is probably accurate to say that you can stumble into any pub or Kneipe and get a Pilsener beer. A Pilsener is brewed as a lager, obeys the German purity law of using only water, hops and barley and is simply constructed, although that is apparently deceiving since lagers are supposedly difficult to brew. By the way I am not a homebrewer or brewing professional.
In any case while it is easy to get a solid Pilsener in Germany it is very hard to do so in the US. First off, Pilseners do not travel well, and hence the German imports are lacking. Somehow they taste stale, the grassy hops aroma and flavor dissipate, which makes it sort of one dimensional, mainly grainy if you get my gist. This is a shame since there are some good ones out there, such as Koenig Pilsener, Bitburger Pilsener, Warsteiner Pilsener, just to name a few of the big name breweries. In addition, every region or even middle size city has its own local brewery that often produces even better versions than the big guns. However I have been told that this development is endangered with the big breweries taking over, essentially the opposite what is happening here. At the same time small breweries with associated pub are popping up as well, the tied house laws are still making things complicated.
So I digressed but back to the topic at hand. What can someone like me living in the Bay Area do? Drink locally of course. I can think of at least three solid Pilsener style beers brewed in NorCal. I don't rank them in order but would say that North Coast Scrimshaw, Trumer Pilsener and also Lagunitas Pils are some fine examples of the style, with Trumer being the most authentic.. The latter is no surprise since it is based on an Austrian Pils and is brewed in Berkeley following the same recipe. A bit different is the Scrimshaw. It has a fuller body, perhaps less graininess and a more robust malty backbone. Lagunitas kind of straddles the middle between these two in my opinion.
Are these beers as good as fresh Pilsener on draft in Germany? Probably not quite but they come close enough in my opinion and if I have a hankering for a refreshing Pils during the warmer months they never disappoint.

What is this about

So I am sitting here bored in my living room. I suffered an ankle sprain and need to rest and just like that I finally decided to pull the trigger and create a blog. This blog will be about beer, craft beer to be more precise. Now, you will ask "Don't we have enough of them already?" My answer would be that this is probably so, but people still keep asking me what I as a German national think of the American craft brew scene. And so -perhaps being slightly delusional - I think that I may have something to add and will occasionally blog about beers I have tried but also - and that may be more of interest - how the German or European beer scene compares to the one in this country.
So bear with me while I figure this all out.