Rinkuškiai Baro Tradicinis

Brewed by Rinkuškiai
Style: European Strong Lager
Biržu raj., Lithuania

Bottled. Bronze colour, creamy head. Sweetish and medium bodied with soft mouthfeel and notes of toffee. Lightly grassy finish.

Interestingly non-offensive - something that can’t be said for many brews of this style that I’ve had. Golden with a creamy white head that rapidly changes into a ring, it has a fresh dough aroma with a bit of grain and some grassy hopping. Pretty darned sweet to drink with a slight metallic tinge, is has a doughy, caramel-like taste that’s lightly touched with honey. It finishes on a sweet grassy note with just a bit of an alcohol feel left in the mouth. And yes, I’d drink it again... another thing that can’t be said about many of this style that I’ve tried.

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Bottle: Gold color, light head and no lacing. Nose of light cocoa and toast, some coconut/nuttella notes too that emerge from the malted nose. The flavor is more straight forward with some sweet malt and alcohol and dry snappy hops. The finish is typical of malt liquors. Meh.

Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is clear medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (grain, bread), lightly hoppy (flowers). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter, slightly husky. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Quite sweet, a little grainy, but overall not much character of any kind.

500 ml bottle from Royal Liquors on State Street, Rockford IL (Dec 2005). Served a bit above cellar temperature, from a 12 oz Michelob glass. Big foamy quick-dying head atop an extremely bubbly, clear golden body....fairly clean, sweet, corn-and-hay aroma, not unpleasant though rather flat....body is very sweet, doughy, bit syrupy in the texture though it does dry out a bit at the end and a hazy, undefined mineralic-herbal bitterness sets in just at the finish. I find this fairly drinkable, actually, probably the 2nd best of the 4 I’ve had from this brewer the last couple of nights. Alcohol is only lightly present at first, and the thickness is muted...but don’t let it get too warm.

Bottle from T’s in Tempe, AZ. Brassy gold color with a frothy off-white head. Slightly sweet pale malt aroma. Near medium body with near creamy carbonation. Flavor is pale malt not quite balanced by fruity hop. Maybe some floral. It’s a good drink for a pale lager. So 7% makes it strong? Ok. Interesting in the mouth. Non-standard.

This European Strong Lager pours an orange gold color from a 50oml bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head, with nice retention and decent lacing. The aroma is orange and sweet with a touch of grain. A medium bodied European Strong Lager. The malts are fruity and sweet, some orange and grain. The hops are mild and slightly spicy. Its pretty much your standard Euro Lager, except its not skunked. It is drinkable, but a little sweet for my tastes. Mouthfeel is round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is sweet with a very slight touch of diacetyl.

This bottled brew from a bottle shop marked lot L54212poured a medium sized head of foamy finely sized white colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a transparent typically carbonated orange colored body and thick foamy lacing. The mild diacetyl aroma was malty. The semi-thick mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. The thin flavor contained notes of malt and hops. A decent one but not one that I would consider buying again.