Aldaris Zelta

Brewed by Aldaris (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Style: Pale Lager
Riga, Latvia

Very pleasant grainy nose and flavor. Not outstanding was this light colored lager, but very nice and presumably very good fresh on tap.

bottle: My initial drink of this beer felt like I had taken an enormous swig of Billy Bee honey straight from the honey bear. However, much like Ekstra this beer grew on me as I made my way to the bottom of the glass. Very nice hops and malts blend to produce a nice flavour. Finishes sweet but not in an offensive way. All around a very satisfying brew

bottle: I feel like I am in the Baltic States, with a pitchfork heaving hay around. Tired, i reach for a cold beer & encounter Zelta. This is a refeshing, tasty pale lager which urges me on to pitch more hay. Classic is the world here: soft malts, some bitterness, some definite sweetness, nothing too offensive, nothing to stand out. You can do better, but don’t turn it down when you need to do more farm work. These Baltic State beers have a lot of soul, I feel transported.

From a 32cl brown bottle with no freshness date. Pours a pale straw color with lasting white head. Perfumy aroma. Ligth body, well carbonated, very mild hop flavor, little hop bitterness, sweet corn-like flavor (DMS?). Might be better if very fresh.

500 mL bottle from LCBO shared with Ben (formerly of KLB). App.: med. golden, small white head. Aroma: somewhat grainy, a bit of floral hops, sulfurous stank, a bit vegetal, a bit stale maybe (?) and metallic when warmer. Palate: med.-thin body, med. carbonation. Flav.: a fair bit of cardboard, a touch of floral hops and cereal and a hint of bitterness. A rather poor start to the night!

Bottled. A still looking orangey green colourd lager. The aroma is ice and water - no more. The taste is thin and watery; in fact there is no taste except a tiny lagerish alcohol bite. Wick, wick, wack.

I really liked this. It has a unique taste--sweet and lingering (as one reviewer wrote). It has an acquired taste. Being proud of my Baltic heritage I excitedly tried this Latvian beer and I was not disappointed. Yes, it has traits that purists may find disconcerting-- an almost complete lack of hopping, pretty sweet, but no hint of wheatiness--but it is fun to drink. I was deeply saddened when my local beer distributor quit carrying it. To tell you the truth, if you like a fruity beer,get this. It does lace well, and it tempers well, from the coolness of a fridge to drinking it slightly warm, I didn’t find it skunky at all.

Pale gold color, with a mostly diminishing head. Some lace. Gentle malt aroma, and a woody initial taste. Malt/bread finish, with a slight bitterness. Good carbonation. Too bad I can’t get this really fresh.