Real Ale
Valott

Stumbed upon this in a kiosk outside a metro stop in suburban Moscow. Tall brown half liter bottle with an oval parchment colored label featuring a bearded guy in cowboy hat, suspenders and cowboy boots. The word "real" is printed in English, followed by "ale" in Cyrillic. Front label calls it "red beer," while the back description confirms that it is an ale. Sugar is an ingredient. Best before 9/14/05, I opened it the day I found it, 5/10/05.

Pours a very cloudy pinkish red under an off-white 1/2 finger head that dissipates rather quickly. The nose is sweet and fruity, with strong strawberry and cherry notes, backed by barley and yeast. The mouth is fairly heavy, but not sticky, with decent yet subdued background carbonation. The taste is light and strawberry sweet. Not much malt comes through here, but there is a decent hops presence that emerges in the finish, counterbalancing the sweetness with a decent spicey bitterness. Reminds me of other Russian ales, but this is a better effort than the others. The Belgians still have nothing to worry about, but it's pretty good.