Bogemia
Stakhanovitz

BogemiaBogemia
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From:
Stakhanovitz
 
Russia
Style:
European Pale Lager
ABV:
8.4%
Score:
73
Avg:
2.61 | pDev: 36.78%
Reviews:
12
Ratings:
12
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Aug 24, 2006
Added:
Aug 19, 2003
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of TheEclecticGent
Reviewed by TheEclecticGent from Georgia

1.52/5  rDev -41.8%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1
Although listed as a "pale" the color of this lager was a deep amber with a quickly fading small white head. The first few sips had me intrigued but that quickly passed. The flavor that, at first, tastes a bit smoky and sweet quickly moved to a metallic syrup flavor that was both repulsive and cloying. I have to admit that the alcohol content hit me hard. I wonder if it got a bit of bottle fermentation on the trip across the pond? It didn't feel like 8.4 %. The nose was a bit funky on this one. Similar to all "Russian-esk" lagers (sans Baltika) it has a bit of a "grassy medicine" nose and the same flavor bite. The nose on this one was far more musty than most. By the end of this beer (I can't believe I finished it) I was calling it "Bogeyman" not Bogemia.
Aug 24, 2006
Photo of dhilltop2000
Reviewed by dhilltop2000 from Arizona

4.08/5  rDev +56.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
Pours nice golden amber color with moderately aggressive head which soon subsides to a thin layer of long lasting lace crowing this jewel of a beer. Taste is of a clean medium/heavy hopped pale ale with some unique twists! At first touch to the tongue the beer strikes with light sweetness next delivering a sour, grassy hop blow. The 8.4% alc is masked very well in the ever-changing depth of flavor. The finish leaves a fudgy/chocolate/weak barley wine taste which complements the journey very well. A great, and now among my favorite Russian brews.
Aug 20, 2006
Photo of KilgoreTrout27
Reviewed by KilgoreTrout27 from North Carolina

1.34/5  rDev -48.7%
look: 3 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1
Poured into a pilsner glass.

I don't know where to begin. This beer was awful. Looked okay after the pour, with a decen efferevescent head. It was all downhill after this though. Smelled pretty bad, as the corn presence was huge in this. Which lead to the taste, which was even worse. I can only say that it tasted like fermented cream of corn. Too sweet for a lager. I had difficulty finishing this. The mouthfell was thin. Drinkibility suffers because the taste was so bad.
Jul 04, 2006
Photo of kamiller
Reviewed by kamiller from Missouri

2.11/5  rDev -19.2%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2
A: 1 finger white head, a clear golden color

S: Sweet aroma, strong alcohol smell

T: very strong alcohol taste, I guess that should be expected with 8.4% alcohol

M: Light, malty creaminess, lightly carbonated, a little bit of a bitter finish,

D: I'm not a very big fan, I could only drink the one, and I won't buy any more
Mar 21, 2006
Photo of BuckeyeNation
Reviewed by BuckeyeNation from Iowa

1.64/5  rDev -37.2%
look: 3 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5
Burnished, medium-dark amber with a multitude of fine particulates that I assume are yeast. All bets are off on the slightly larger particles. Not a bad look for the beer, but the cap leaves a little something to be desired. It's off-white, stiff and exceedingly unsticky. Needless to say, there's no lace.

Some beer of this style manages to surprise and actually smell like malt (grain at least) and hops. Bogemia isn't one of them. It isn't offensive, but it isn't any damn good either. It smells unnatural somehow, chemical, vegetal, not really like beer at all. I'm having trouble describing it. Frankly, I've stopped caring.

This is lousy beer, plain and simple. First of all, let's get the style thing out the way. No way, no how is this beer anything other than a Euro strong lager. Even though it doesn't smell very alcoholic, the flavor shows every bit of the 8.4% ABV. It tastes like Russian moonshine from a rusty still. I'm beginning to be worried that if I drink the entire bottle, I'll go blind.

Bogemia tastes like a garden variety Euro strong lager right out of the chute. Grain alcohol quickly takes the upper hand and then the whole shebang collapses into a metal-flaked mess and makes me want to gargle with an IPA. There isn't even any malt liquor corny sweetness to ease the journey over the taste buds. I'm looking for the words 'pour contents into clogged drain, let stand for... ', but the brewery has chosen to leave such helpful directions off the label.

It's difficult to be objective about the mouthfeel when the flavor is so overwhelmingly bad. Separating one from the other takes a supreme effort, believe me. The beer is firm, harsh (or is that the flavor?) and undercarbonated. It doesn't really matter in the end.

Bogemia is the only offering listed on BA for Stakhanovitz. Either no one has yet tried the others or the brewers figure they reached perfection with this particular beer and feel no need to release any others. Do yourself a favor and stay far away. Far, far, far away. Farther... farther... there, that oughta do it.
Jan 25, 2006
Photo of Gusler
Reviewed by Gusler from Arizona

3/5  rDev +14.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
The beer upon its release from the 500ml brown bottle appears a deep clear amber color with a generous light tan semi-creamy head that is ordinary in size, after it’s settling down, the lace forms a nice curtain to obscure the glass. Nose is the customary lager malt with a nice fresh crispness, start is sweet with a decent grain presence, the top is middling in its feel to the palate. Finish has a definite alcohol bite, hops adequate, and the acidity acceptable, the aftertaste dry and sweet, with a definite belly warming sensation, reminds me of a “Boilermaker”, kinda bourbon like.
Jan 13, 2006
Photo of BeerBeing
Reviewed by BeerBeing from Pennsylvania

3.85/5  rDev +47.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Presentation: 0.5 liter brown glass euro generic bottle, white/gold/black on dark green label

Appearance: clear dark golden color, big off-white head, minor but sticky lacing

Smell: sweet malt, minor hops and alcohol

Taste: medium to full body, smooth and creamy mouth feel, strong maltiness, medium sweetness, some hops, some alcohol, minor tart apples in background

Notes: unusual, but pleasant, and can hit you in a head
Oct 06, 2005
Photo of feloniousmonk
Reviewed by feloniousmonk from Minnesota

2/5  rDev -23.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5
8.4%? That's bigger than Colt! Whooo-eee!!!

Clear, pale yellow appearance, considerable foamage above, rocky and poppy, gradually diminishes.

Aroma is right in step with a typical lager, nothing wrong with it, usual grains and sweetness, light hops, almost pleasant. Can't fault it, really...

Tasting it, though...a thick, gooey, ultra-malty mess of a pale lager, boozed beyond control. Alcohol swims directly to the cerebral cortex, or so it feels. Slick, but shallow, flinty and barely masking the huge alcohol content. Brims with portentousness, fermentation freed from civilized constraints, ...fairly rips into your skull without exchanging the briefest of pleasantries. A rude monster ...Bogemia might be Russian for Bogieman? Anyway, I'm scared of this sinister elixir...it's not treating me nice, nossir!

Lightness in body, no kind of finish, well, thick, juicy, boozy malt, maybe...ill-befitting texture...no thumbs up on anything, once we put it to our lips, I'm afraid.

The label depicts a distinguished Russian gent holding aloft a pilsner glass, as if in a toast...to EVIL, perhaps? Does he mean to doom us all, in secret, with this bombastic beverage? There's very little sophisticated in the brew itself, it's merely a rip-roaring ravager...sip at your peril, or...as a dare...there we go, I dare you, now you have to...but don't expect much pleasure. It's all bump, and buzz, but never a smile in between.
Sep 25, 2005
Photo of TastyTaste
Reviewed by TastyTaste from Minnesota

1.66/5  rDev -36.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2
Clear gold body, big white head when poured from a 16 oz. bottle. Smell is very strong and syrupy with alcohol, malt and unappealing adjuncts (probably sugar or corn syrup). Taste is also very rough and tedious to drink. Has a metallic/ash flavor to it, very syrupy and sweet, it is pretty bad. Mouthfeel doesn't make up for it. One of the worst ESPLs I have had.
Sep 19, 2005
Photo of BrewMaven
Reviewed by BrewMaven from New York

3.65/5  rDev +39.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This is another bottled as a pale lager that I would consider a Euro Strong. It poured at least as dark a gold/orange as any of the "Mocne" brews I've had...With an even higher ABV. Abundant fluffy white head that settled to a cover that was reluctant to leave much lace. Taste was strong of malt and a prominent but unobtrusive alcohol presence. Moderately creamy mouthfeel with carbonation diminishing as the glass emptied. Finish was smooth and somewhat dry. Good stuff.

If American malt liquors were like this they might have a better rep.
Jul 13, 2005
Photo of NeroFiddled
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania

3.41/5  rDev +30.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
This strong (8.4% abv) Russian lager pours a beautiful, crystal-clear dark gold body with glowing yellow-gold highlights beneath a full head of bright-white froth that holds fairly well but leaves only minor lace about the glass. The nose is sweetish and fruity without any hops to be found; but no alcohol either. In the mouth it's crisp and tingly before warming to become ever so slightly creamy as you notice its medium-full body. A strange, but also somewhat charming sweetly vinous character is apperent in the flavor from the get-go, and it carries over into the finish as well. Some sweet maltiness appears across the middle; and it's at least part-way balanced by an underlying bitterness that only truly makes its rough-edged appearance in the finish. Surprisingly, the sweet maltiness isn't sticky at all, and with the exception of it's lingering, mineral-like bitterness, it fades very quickly from the palate for such a big beer. Malty and strong.
Mar 04, 2005
Photo of Globetrotter
Reviewed by Globetrotter from Virginia

3.03/5  rDev +16.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Comes out a nice clear gold under a big head that fails to retain for long but leaves some good lace down the glass. The nose is sweetish and malty, while the mouth is a touch on the heavy side, with light carbonation. The initial taste is sweet and sour, but very mildly so. The initial impression is dismissed by a wave of maltiness that in turn fades to just a touch - very little, really - hops. The aftertaste is almost all malt. Not an unpleasant beer at all.
Aug 19, 2003
Bogemia from Stakhanovitz
Beer rating: 73 out of 100 with 12 ratings