Arsenalnoe Zakalennoye

Brewed by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
St. Petersburg, Russia

I tried this before realizing that this has chili pepper in it, (I can’t read Cyrillic), and I f’ing hated it. Upon realizing that that gnarly burn is on purpose and not due to industrial chemicals / disastrously incompetent brewing, I am willing to cut it some slack, but not much. Sweet, fake watery flavor with a little after-burn of pepper. Blarg.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked this up. Bought it on a whim, I suppose I gave in to the packaging. Aroma is malty with some spice and a little apple. Pours golden with a large frothy white head. Flavor is syrupy sweet with honey, sweet corn, and alcohol, the pepper doesn’t show up until the aftertaste. Kind of at a loss for words on this one. Interesting.

(Sample Date: 11/28/2008 Source:Other) Russian chili beer…oh boy. Can courtesy of Butters. Spicy peppery with hint of alcohol in the aroma. Very clear light straw colored with small white head. Flavor is sweet/tart and peppers. Quite interesting. Has that eastern European twang. Chili pepper flavor is subdued. Finish is quite sweet with residual pepper heat coming through. Can was all Russian with a paper sticker applied for American import!

Can on 11/28/2008 in the Great Butters Tasting of 2008. Clear golden yellow body with a large rocky white head. Honey, corn, and light spice aroma with hints of skunk. Sweet caramel, honey, light malt, a bit of spice. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

TN tasting at maniac’s. Spiciness in the nose. No real chili flavor, maybe I pick up some in the heating effect. Either that or it’s the alcohol warming. Kinda sweet honey flavor. Not as bad as I expected, but that’s still not saying terribly much.

(50cl can, thanks acrdz) Crystal clear straw body with small white head. Aroma is medium sweet, pepper juice, some vegetal, light straw. Taste is medium sweet, some pepper, corn, vegetal. Light-medium body.

500cL can, courtesy of acrdz. Thanks, Mike! Pours a clear, yellow-golden color; mostly headless. Vegetal, sugar, and minerals in the aroma. Medium mouthfeel: some sugar, pepper, and warmth upfront; warming peppery character and sugar, mostly; pretty watery. Medium finish: pepper, sugar, and water.

Yum yum yum. They say it’s a pepper beer, but there’s close to no pepper in this one. It’s clear yellow and light colored with essentially no head. Has a terrible nose of wet dog, butane lighter fluid, fuel and chemical clear. It’s prickly and harsh on the palate, with a boozy/vaporous fuel flavor in the finish, with a moderate thickness from the ABV, but yeah, basically it’s as bad as it sounds.