Rinkuškiai Biržieciu Classic

Brewed by Rinkuškiai
Style: Traditional Ale
Biržu raj., Lithuania

Pours a four finger white head that fades quickly leaving no lace. Almost clear amber color. Very light carbonation and medium bodied. Malty nose. Starts sweet not cloying more like a sweet/sour apple cider, hops and high ABV are in background. $2.99 for a 500ml bottle from John’s Market Place Tigard, Or.

"Tamsusis Alus Dark Beer Tamsusis Alus Dark Beer Tamsusis Alus Dark" This is your mantra... Clear bronze coloration, with no head to be seen. Aroma of blistering hot malt, stinging grain. sweet caramel, and then....dry and fierce... Taste: sweet, malty, then hot, again, ending fruity. Not bad, but far from mellow. A tasty Lithuanian malt liquor. Rather big booze quotient for such a medium-bodied lager, but nice and inoffensive. ’Cept I’m getting a little buzzed here...aw, but thas alride, iddn’t id? Nowha’ ah mean? Zzzz.... What? Wuh? Ha! Who wansa pieca me, eh?

Bottle: Poured a true amber with a thin head. Slightly burnt caramel aroma. The flavor is thickly sugared, molasses and cooked sugar ... you can taste the alcohol. Quite a hefty brew.

Copper color,monster short lived head. Aroma is grains and slightly burnt toast with some toffee. Tastes how it smells with a slightly dryish old attic dust finish.

500 ml bottle from Royal Liquors on State Street, Rockford IL (Dec 2005). Served a bit above cellar temperature, pint glass. It’s Lithuanian beer night, part 3! Clear copper with a touch of head that lasts after the fluffy, quick-decaying billows that erupt at first...nose is very faint, almost impossible to distinguish more than a touch of toasted malt...perhaps a bit of plastic....flavor is sweet though not as cloying and over-the-top as the previous Rinkuškiai beers I tasted, lightly toasty and faintly herbal, with some woody character and perhaps a bit of anise, caramel....alcohol not really prominent but more noticeable towards the somewhat harsh, medicinal finish. Rough, but drinkable.

I would’ve pegged this traditional Lithuanian beer as a Märzen. Bright copper in body with a slender white head, the aroma is sweet caramel & toffee with a bit of earthy hopping. Creamy and full-bodied, it has a rich caramel malt flavor, a bit of toast, all neatly balanced with a light hop bitterness. Finishes on a sweet malty note. This is a repeater.

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

Amber,small beige head.Light sweet malt nose and taste, overtones of toffee, brown sugar, and light alcohol heat. Lightly hopped.

Killearn Liquors, Tallahassee, Fl - 500 ml bottle. Dark orange to light copper pour with a wisly off-white head, quite thin. Sweet aroma, hints of caramel and candied sugar and baked brown bread - nice. Sweetness carries over to the flavor with some toffee notes, day old coffee and a hint of chocolate. Back end of alcohol with a slight burn. Has some winter warming - brandy-like qualities. Mouthfeel just a tad too thin for the style but still a decent rib sticking ale, great for winter drinking.