Baltika Kuler (Cooler)

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

500ml can. Pale yellow. thin head. Slightly plastic perfumy lager aroma. Tastes like diluted battery acid. Maybe I bought the wrong thing and got ’coolant’ instead? Very watery, and also has traces of weird shit as well as acid.

Well... I haven’t sat down to review a beer in front of the computer in a while, so forgive me while I re-acquaint myself. This pours a slightly lighter golden color than in the photograph above, mostly dead in the carbonation department but holding a foamy white head for a long while. Surprisingly unskunked, it gives off the aromas of honey-touched cereal grains and Continental hops. Flavor has a taffy sweetness and a malty persona. Alcohol is remiss. Label states this beer should have a "refreshing taste", but it’s a bit too "sticky" (and slightly cardboardy) to refresh. I DO have to say this is a half-way decent product. Since it was produced a mere 5 months ago, I gather it probably has not been shelved that long... which can be a severe downfall for these clear-bottle brews.

<font size=-4>Single "pint" bottle from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Beverage Depot, Orland Park, IL 60462</font>

Savannah, Ga. - Habersham Beverage Warehouse - 500 ml clear bottle with a unique pull top. Pale, light golden appearance, fluffy, turning to wispy white head. Grassy aroma with a hint of industrial metal. Bland lager flavor, not unappealing or unpleasant just nothing remarkable about it. Hint of honey sweetness. Thinnish mouthfeel. About what I expected, so not disappointed.

Bottled(500ml). -from Russian store in Graz.
Clear golden coloured, medium sized white head, mild hoppy and apple nose. Just like other two Baltika beers that I’ve found in Graz, this one is weak and not so good. Slight malty, grainy and weak hoppy with strong corn taste. Notes of apples in the finish.

0.5l bottle courtesy of and shared with ozujsko (thanks!)
Poured a golden colour with a medium to big sized white head that went away at a medium pace. Cidery nose... apples, dust, some weak lemon and if I stretch my imagination a bit, hops. Hmph. The taste is surprisingly intensive, but, unfortunately, not all that pleasant. Strong corn, grain, some cidery notes, brittle... corny aftertaste. Definitely not one of the better lagers I’ve had, but compared to the No.9, definitely an improvement in the taste department. Complex even, but in a completely wrong way. Ah, well. It was at least interesting.

Bottle from State Line. Medium gold with fizzy white head. Aroma and taste are hopcitric, with mild pale malt and some Caro syrupy apricotty notes. THis one was better than expected, with no off aromas or flavors.

This is one of the drinkable beers from this brewery, a yellow/gold lager with a foamy head and just a few spots of lacing. It has an aroma of sweet malt, creamed corn, and a bit of metallica. There’s really no bitterness to the flavor, just pale malt and corn syrup. Oddly, considering the low abv, a splash of aclohol, too. Not threatening.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Beverage Depot, Naperville, IL<font size=-1>

Bottle: Clear yellow gold, white head, light lacing. Nose of light pale malt, sweet light corn and some lagery thin sweet malt. The flavor is thin, sweet, light skunk. OK. Fairly crispy and a moderate alcohol feel.