Budweiser Budvar Tmavý Ležák (Dark Lager)

Brewed by Budweiser Budvar Ceske Budejovice
Style: Dunkel
České Budějovice, Czech Republic

50cl bottle from Russia, thanks to Chad. Grassy, roasty, and cocoa aroma. Flavor is woody with some smoke, saltiness, roastiness, and a little chocolate. Light to medium body is pretty smooth and rounded. Some bitterness in the finish, but mostly from the roasted malts, and the hops don’t make much of an impact. Also a little unclean and jumbled. It’s alright, but I guess I just don’t like dunkels too much.

Black with a medium head. Light malt aroma. Light body. Smokey, nutty and coffee notes. Enjoyable, although after two I felt the need to move on to something else.

Almost black beer with a thin fading off-white covering. Faintly smokey, roasty aroma but the flavour seems a little too washed out and watered down.

Draft @ U Medvidku, Prague. Pours almost entirely opaque black with brown tones, lovely fluffy beige head that sticks around a while if you let it; almost like a lager stout: same chocolate roastiness, caramel and biscuit malts maple syrup, only lacking the heavy body and drawn out finish of a stout, which makes it a good bit more drinkable. Goes exceptionally well with goulash.

Draught @ St. Albans BF. Due to many of my choices being already sold out, I was kindly given a glass to try while debating. I must say it was much better than expected, not amazing but my expectations were low. Sweet roasted malt and a bit of cocoa. Taste is much the same with a bit of coffee, caramel and some hop in the finish. Hey, don’t let the name fool you, they do a couple of good un’s...

On tap at Bedford Arms Speciality Beer House, Bedford. Dark brown with a lively beige head. Slightly eggy malt aroma. Rather watery ashy malt taste with traces of chocolate. A little bitterness. Not up to a decent porter.

500ml bottle: poured dark brown with a medium sized light brown head. Very rich smelling with roasted malts. Flavor is roasty, not near as rich as the aroma would suggest but still very nice. No residual sweetness lingering anywhere after swallowing. It’s not dry but in my opinion perfectly balanced. A very nice beer.

Very good beer. Some bitternes and well balanced. Very refreshing for a dark beer. Good aftertaste.