Podkovansky Barchat
Pivovar Podkováň

Another find from Moscow's best beer kiosk, this one comes in a standard Czech brown half-liter bottle with a green and white label featuring the usual happy bearded peasant holding a large mug and straddling a wooden keg. Ingredients conform to the purity law. Best before 5/15/06, I opened it on 8/27/05.

Pours clear pale copper under a 1/2 finger off-white head that fades slowly to collar but generates only a few spots of lace. The nose is strong of sweet plums - quite distinctive. The mouth is very prickly and pretty light. A sweet fruit opening is followed quickly by pretty significant dry hoppy bitterness. There's a bit of rust here, which nicely balances the plum flavor, leaving a milder bitter as the dominant experience. Espresso dryness lingers in the aftertaste. Nice experience.