Bochkarev Bochkovoye
Heineken St. Petersburg Brewery Ltd.

 

Pale yellow. Medium level of carbonation, medium head, some lace.

Smell just OK for a light summer lager - fresh & friendly, malts mixed with herbs and hops.

Start dryish, then the taste turns malty with a good deal of sourdough. Body light. Sweetness is well-balanced by hops, finish dry, bitter, aftertaste short and a bit sour.

Much better than 'Svetloye' from the same brewery.

Bochkarev (Green Label)

bottle didn't have its 2002/2003 fresh by date label stamped.
After opening I noticed the rusty bottle cap and rust ring around the bottle.

Appearance- ligth yellow/ clear with no head.
Smell- sweet hay straw and wheat.
Taste- sweet hay and rusty tin can.
Mouthfeel- water with a tinge of stingy acidic battery acid.

Overall- Obviously the rust and the 3 year fermentation ruined the beer but what little that was unspoiled was worthless.

Bochkovoye's straw-gold body reveals sparse, standard-sized bubbles rising to the surface beneath it's creamy head of bright white foam. the head retention is quite good, and it leaves some very nice, craggy rings of lace about the glass. The nose is fairly restrained but offers a slightly sweet, and even slightly grainy, maltiness. It's medium bodied and soft in the mouth due to its low-level carbonation (@2.0 volumes CO2). The flavor is clean and delicate with a softly honey-sweet and lightly grainy malt that's threaded with some herbal hops and backed by a firm bitterness. It finishes dry with a some residual sticky malt and a mild, lingering bitterness. It's a clean, fairly well-made beer that pairs well with lighter fare such as herb-rubbed baked chicken breast, spring rolls, grilled pork chops, and macaroni & cheese.

As it descended into my glass the first observation was that it looked like water coming out of the bottle, but as it landed into the glass it turned into "dying dandilion yellow". Head was fair with small traces of residual lace around the glass.. (gotta let it set), very active carbonation, smell is light.. gotta sniff deep to reach the citrus.. taste does a nice job of rolling around the tongue and lingering in a positive manner, tastes a bit darker than a normal pils with nothing truly outstanding in the flavor.

Came in a brown long neck half liter bottle. The label included the company's usual slogan: "correct beer". A glance at the list of ingredients proves otherwise: sugar.

Poured a clear watery yellow with lots of bubbles. The head was thin and disappeared fast, leaving no appreciable lace. There's a definite nose - malt, corn, ballpark beer. The mouth was extremely tingly and a touch sweet. The initial taste is sweet but sterile, rather like very diluted sugar water. Despite the malty nose, there wasn't much discernible malt taste. Certainly difficult to find the hops. There was remarkably no finish, and no aftertaste. It is as if I had just taken a swallow of water. Bland is the best word I can find for this sad brew. I did not finish it.