Rinkuskiai Aiko Pale

Yes, I’ve been shopping at Brookhaven again, my favorite Bulgarian market, and that’s where I found Rinkuskiai Aiko Pale.  Medium gold, light carbonation and a splotchy but long-lasting are the first impressions of this beer.  The bouquet is great:  malt first, a whiff of alcohol, followed by some sweetness and a hint of grain.  A [...]

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Zhiguljovskoje: A mouth full

Here’s one that almost took me to the promised land.  Almost.  Light gold, very effervescent and capable of floating a decent 3/8″ thick head.  The hoppiness in the bouquet leans toward dry, not floral, more toward rusty.  And that is not a bad, just a hard essence to describe.  There is a hint of grain [...]

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Tennent’s of Scotland

Tennant’s (lager) is light gold in color, lightly carbonated and produces a big fluffy head on the initial pour.  Plenty of Brussels lace as the head recedes.  Very aromatic and reminiscent of a Northern German lager in that respect.  Some people call it skunky, but I don’t think it’s quite that bad in this case.  [...]

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Kalnapilis Lithuanian Lager

Mmm, beer from a can….
Kalnapilis (wasn’t that Atticus Finch’s housekeeper?) Original is a light gold, slightly hazy (I hope it is supposed to be that way) lager with plenty of carbonation and good white head of fine bubbles.The bouquet is sweet with a hint of berries (lots of that lately, I hope it’s not due [...]

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Larine Grand Belgie: Mystery Beer

I don’t know what attracted me to this one.  Could it be the screwtop plastic bottle?  16.9 oz. for 99 cents?  Whatever it was, it seems to have an unusual backstory, which I’m not sure I’ve figured out.  The label goes like this in descriptive bibli/beerbliography:  3.75″ high x 3″ wide oval with gilt border contains [...]

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Cisk XS is Amazing.

Nothing but good things to say here.  It starts with that great pilsner bouquet as soon as the cap is popped, like the great Czech pilsners.  Light gold, good frothy head and light carbonation.  Again, the bouquet is amazing, and perhaps its best attribute.  Cisk XS Extra Lager is dry, hoppy, grainy and sweet, followed [...]

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Estrella, Damned if I rememeber…

I have the label and a vague recollection of a malty lager, full-bodied and quite pleasant, but it was late in the session and I was approaching “done”.  And it gave me a chance to say “Barthelona”
 all evening.

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Bar Harbor Brew

There’s a great restaurant in Bar Harbor, Maine, called Jack Russell’s.  Nice bar, nice steaks and wonderful hosts and servers.  On tap they had 3 or 4 varieties of, brewed onsite.  Actually, just across the parking lot, at the Maine Coast Brewing Company, a true microbrewery.  Their Pale Ale has a great yeasty bouquet with [...]

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What Happened?

Has anyone tried Sam Adams Boston Lager recently?  The last 3 I had, and that’s one on tap and 2 in bottles, have been undrinkable.  Thin, soapy tasting, and almost stomach turning.  It seems like the hops are bad.  This used to be a favorite, consistent, rich and satisfying.  Each of the 3 examples cam [...]

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