Sarek
Carlsberg Sverige

 

 

A: This beer pours clear golden with a large white kind of airy head that sinks into decent lacings.

S: Clean malt, a bit sweet together with nice bitter hops.

T: Malt, slightly sweet. Bitter hops.

M: Aftertaste is rather long and nicely bitter, but with hints of sweetness. Body is medium and carobonation the same. Very smooth.

D: I thought I bought a typical, dull Swedish macro-beer. I was wrong - this is much better than most Macro Dortmunders.

Watered down colour, medium white head, no lacing at all. Looks like an american macro-brew. Aroma is malty and with funky notes that I can't describe, very unappealing. Flavour is malty, watered down and has low bitterness (even though you can find some. It has a metallic taste. Mouthfeel is a bit funky with a rather crisp feel to it. I would recommend people to stay away from this one, even though it's cheap it is not worth the money!

The colour is clear yellow; the two finger head is thick, uneven, white and leaves a fine lacing.

The smell is fresh, dry and rather neutral with gentle notes of sweet malt and bitter hops (Saaz?).

The taste is clean. There are balanced and a bit neutral flavours of slowly growing malt, some bitterness and notes of white bread. The medium long aftertaste is a bit sweet with notes of white bread, bitter hops and some beef stock.

The carbonation is milder than most lagers; small bubbles.

A “pale lager with medium bitterness” from the giant Carlsberg Sweden? Normally, I wouldn’t have cared at all, but this time they seem to have managed to brew a beer without the usual heavy sweetness. The high points I gave to it surprises me! A note on the name: Sarek is a scenic part of the Swedish mountain world, and the name is probably a way to catch on the “Norrlands Guld” (The gold of the northern county), a very popular beer from the rival brewery Spendrups.