Baltika 4 Originalnoe (Original)

Brewed by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Style: Dunkel
St. Petersburg, Russia

Pours amber-red with a huge white head. Aroma of sweet malt--toffee, caramel, etc. Smells artificially sweet. The flavor is just as artificial as the aroma. It tastes like a real beer with Splenda added. Bad aftertaste. Watery.

A rich, flavoursome Russian dunkel. This is miles better than their lager, and makes me wonder just how good the porter must be. Looked good: clear ruby-brown body with a 2cm lacing head. And it smelled great: thick and sticky and surprisingly intense for its 5.6% abv, with molasses, oak barrel, leather and raisins. The molasses was so strong that it conjured up a scent-memory of a childhood Halloween game that involved trying to eat scones dunked in treacle that were suspended from the ceiling. (Anyone else do that or did I have a weird childhood?) Thinner in the mouth than the aroma implies and quite slick and oily. Moderate carbonation. It’s sweet and toffee-like on the tongue, with some dried fruit and licorice root. Sweet and sticky but not overpowering. Nice bitter hop kick in the finish. All in all, a satisfying dunkel. (Pint bottle, Amatos, bb 14/2/06)

(500 ml bottle: $1.99 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) Best before 02-Oct-05. Close enough, so I bought a bottle tonight anyway. Mostly just a sweet and caramely beer, this beer is reasonably enjoyable and easy to drink, but very one-dimensional and unchallenging on the palate. Sweet caramel dominates the nose as well. Medium bodied, but it seems to get a little watery in the finish. Brown-amber and somewhat hazy, this beer is capped by a tall and creamy light-tan head that seems to take ages to settle to a filmy layer. Decent, but just lacking complexity and a quality maltiness. It might be worth noting that I compared this with an old bottle of Baltika 4, expired by many months, that I had sitting around my place, and that one was more flavorful, more caramely and more enjoyable.

Who can resist a 2 dollar beer from russia, and a dark lagher to boot...smells like old chocalate, look kinda nice though, good hot choc foam head, tastes a bit odd, i am befuddled honestly......?

Just came in at Lowertown Liquors with a brand new label, so I figured what the hell its got to be fresher then other times I’ve tried it. Crystal clear fiery orange color with a big foamy capping of froth thats abundently stacked and creamy with bumpy pocks and holes in it. Lacing is sticky and well distributed in thick foamy curtains. Aroma is dry and plain with light roasted grain, super dry caramel sweetness, and a very light dry grassyness. Taste is actually, and surprisingly, pretty good. Nice well rounded sweetness of light caramel malt. Clean and favorable notings of dryer caramel and whole grain toast. Keeps sweet with a low ended darkness about its nature with tiny slivers of molasses and dark fruity candy. Finish is a bit sticky with left over caramel and a light hint to some dry woodish hops. Feel is clean and creamy within a medium sticky malt laden body. Not too sweet, it seems to fit just right for what it is. Which is pretty good all around in flavor, body, and drinkability. Just sweet enough with just the right amount of light dryness. A very nice little dark lager. Much better from other times I’ve ventured to try it. By far the best sample yet; helps to get it fresh. Well as fresh as it can get being from the otherside of the earth.

Medium dark brown with a decent and lasting beige head. A dusty lager aroma dominates until the head disappears to reveal rye biscuits and caramel. Some raisin and coffee notes as well become evident on tasting. Sweet and syrupy without being cloying, it also has a nice Ryvita aftertaste to top it off nicely. A good dunkel and good value.

Nice amber color with big light creme-white head. Fruity aroma. And a special taste, not very often tasted such a flavor. A little bit smoked flavor.

This is a very enjoyable beer. It has a pleasant maltiness, and very smooth finish. Very enjoyable relaxing beer, that still tastes great as it warms