Zhiguly Grande 9,5
Rinkuškiai

Sampled from 500ml bottle in pilsner glass. A 1" white drops quickly with no lacing. Color is hazy golden orange with moderate carbonation. Aroma of hay, toasted malt, bread crust and grassy hops. Mouthfeel is medium with a dry astringent finish. Flavor leans to somewhat cloying sweetness with some hops for balance. The alcohol is evident in the taste and warming finish. Overall: good but certainly not outstanding.

 

A catch-all style I am not familiar with enough to write a review.
I will say Zhiguly defines "alcohol in your face."
I'm getting a beer-buzz that lacks subtly.

Let's consider 9.5 an experiment in amping-up the ABV. And instead let me finish with a micro-review filled with accolades.

Rinkuskiai (if you go on their website and hit the English button because Lithuanian is impenetrable) has lots going for it. While remote, their region was the brewing centre of Lithuania for many centuries. Then in the 1990s, this family got together for the purpose of renewing those traditions. They have brewed many, many beers; but I'm sure they make their money on the lagers. They also have a pub and restaurant with a full menu. So I give them very good Overall Hugs for the preservation of tradition and the integrating of that with a kitchen. They also export to North America, all of which takes moxie. Sveikinu ! (That is "Cheers" in Lithuanian.)

500ml bottle - more high-test Euro trash jet fuel, I suspect, but gotta try it anyway.

This beer pours a bright medium golden yellow colour (like first thing in the morning, when you - oh, never mind), with two flabby fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat creamy ecru head, which leaves some decent subway station map lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of bready and grainy caramel malt, cheap breakfast cereal, stewed apples, metallic alcohol, and very faint earthy, weedy, and musty hop bitters. The taste is semi-sweet, grainy and doughy caramel malt, Corn Pops, some muddled pome fruitiness, crusty honey, estery booze, and a weird earthy minerality.

The carbonation is fairly tame in its barely there frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, with a thin airy creaminess arising as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes quite sweet, all mixed malt and loitering wowee sauce.

Overall - this isn't really as bad as I was expecting, but it is seriously unbalanced, in that there is slim to nil off-setting hop character. Not something to seek out, but it does get the job done, if that's what you're looking for. Slightly prettied up malt liquor.

Have you ever wondered what cheap port wine would taste like if it were a cheap lager? If you have, then pick up one of these tall monstrosities. I'd say that the enormous alcohol content would guarantee a hangover, but it's truly impossible to finish this thing, as it bubbles with an awkward acidity.

L: Poured from a bottle to a pilsner glass. Had a golden brown color and a clear consistency. There was a half inch of foamy head that lasted an average amount of time. Below average lacing.

S: A very aggressive aroma of malt (lots of it), booze, and a grainy quality.

T: Tasted of a lot of pale malt, an unwelcome metallic quality (mostly in the finish), a very pronounced boozy quality, a graininess, a mildly sweet, sugary element, and a little honey. Definitely an unbalanced flavor. It's far too boozy to be likable.

F: A fair amount of carbonation with a somewhat slick finish. Medium-bodied.

O: This is a big, powerful beer that fails for the most part. It's just too unbalanced to be effective.

 

 

 

 

500mL bottle
A - golden and slightly hazed with a creamy white head that dissipates quickly into a thin layer of foam
S - smells like a plain ol lager with some hints of grass, pale malt, and yeast
T - sweet like a bock but with pale lager flavors of pale malt, lager yeast, slight touch of honey and spicy & grassy hops, not much for barrel flavors if any at all
M - fuller body, would give it higher score but the alcohol is hot and poorly concealed
O - not terrible, but it's nothing I'd recommend to anyone. For the price and it's alcohol content you could buy it for an easy buzz, but that's about it.

Poured from a 16 OZ bottle into a pint glass. This beer was purchased in Smyrna, GA at Mink's liquor store. This beer is a cloudy orangish yellow with a lot of sediment at the bottom of the glass. There is little head and the aroma of alcohol is very prevalent in this beer. It has a strong flavor, not bad but one that is probably acquired from multiple offerings. the beer finishes strong with an oily finish and is lightly carbonated. this is not a bad euro strong lager. I would drink this again.