Baltika 9 Krepkoe (Strong)

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

Bottle at Porterhouse, Dublin. Very strong lager. Golden colour, slight head. Taste of malt, honey and sugar. Quite malty overall. Warming finish.

Bottle 1pint poured a watery unlaced nothingness into my glass. The upside it the alc. content of 8% is fairly masked but no taste comes through.

Pours a clear very light gold color with the smallest amount of visible carbonation and a tiny white head. Aroma is almost as thin as the appearance. There is some malt and some honey. Flavor is malt, sugar, wood, and a good amount of alcohol. Charred wood and pepper bitterness. Too much malt sugar. No wonder Russians drink vodka.

Baltika #9 is a dense, clear, sparkling, light golden lager with a thin white head that dissipates slowly. It smells of alcohol, lemon rind and black pepper. There is, perhaps, a slight fusel note. It is medium bodied-- a little bubbly and syrupy, with a sticky finish. It tastes sweet. It’s like... barley pop. It pretty much tastes like malt extract. There is the slightest green bitterness, but it’s mostly just that sweet malt flavor. It’s almost like it wasn’t fully fermented. It’s a simple flavor, but I must say it beats the heck out of any malt liquor I’ve had.

(50cl bottle, courtesy of Lumpy) Pours a clear yellow body with a small white head. Aroma of lemon, mustiness, metallic, pesticide, and soap. Flavor of sweet malt, alcohol, and grain.

Some people I know really dig this stuff - I am on the fence about it. It is decent, but it is still just a pale lager. Relative to Butt- I mean Bud-weiser, it has more sweet malt, more hop bitterness, and more alcohol. Mouthfeel is a little more lively. All good things, but still just average.

Called Extra Lager 9, and it claims to have 9% alcohol. Mediocre label. Plain dark tan brew. Surprisingly fresh, floral, matly smell for such a cheap brew (2 $US for a 1.5 liter bottle!). Unpleasantly sweet taste, like a bottom shelf pilsner with some rotgut booze tossed in. Not good, but in terms of cost efficiency for alcohol delivery, it may be second to none.

slightly sweet metallic vodka flavor? pretty sure this is not what Im looking for. - drainpour - Its 8% alcohol and you can taste it. what the heck is the other 92%? medicine reject and leftover cooling water from chernobyl?