Baltika 9 Krepkoe (Strong)

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

Piss yellow with a similar taste. Weird. Some sort of spice or poison in the nose. Slight bitterness. Avoid.

pour a golden yellow with a uneven white head. aroma is of grains and some sweet apple juice. flavor is rather sweet and similar to aroma with taste of apple juice, sweet malt, and has some pepper notes to to it. these flaovrs are rather weak and watered down. it has a light body with a little alchool presence from the 8% abv. overall, a pretty bland but drinkable lager that is almost worth this beer’s cheap price.

Bottle, 8%. Clear golden colour. Big stable rocky white head. Sweet flavour, quite peppery. Hint of marcipan in the finish. A standard east European strong lager.

Not a very strong or distinctive aroma, and the appearance isn’t appealing or unappealing, just pretty standard for a lager. Flavor is decent but again, pretty standard, nothing unique here, and the mouthfeel is weak and kind of watery. I certainly wouldn’t turn this beer down if it was offered, but I don’t think I’ll be buying it again.

I picked this beer up a the Winerak in Zanesville for 2 reasons: first, I wanted to cross Russia off the list of countries I’ve rated beer from and second, I have fond memories of enjoying some Baltika 9’s at a UN party after the elections in Afghanistan (call me sentimental). I expected it to be awful, but 8% ABV and brown glass does good things for the preservation of beer. It is hardly terrific, but is far from awful. It poured a nice, clear golden lager color. Aroma is not so good - corn, some graininess, and an off-note that I just can’t identify. Flavor is a full-mouthed graininess...a puckery sort of graininess that is full in the mouth but not terribly intense in taste. Alcohol notes are noticeable, but not astringent. Mouthfeel is a bit thin. Not awful, and actually better than a lot of more popular imported lagers. In a weird kind of way, I’d recommend it.

sample on 6/14/09. light golden pour... you immediately get a weird taste / smell as you drink this... some weird mix of fruit and overall sweetness on the nose which carries through the whole mouth. not good.

I’m usually not too picky with my beers, but for some reason this brew rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps the bottle had been open too long - I’m not sure. Anyway, it was a bit sweet. And very strong. I can’t complain, though: I paid $1.49 for like 1 pint 7 oz or something. It was a cheap crunk. Russia forever!

I bought this a while ago just to try. Golden yellow pour, extremely effervescent, quickly dissipating white head. Definitely not one of my faves.