Bakhus Klassichiskoye
Smolenskoye Pivo

Hand-delivered from Smolensk to Moscow (thanks, Kristen), this plastic one liter brown bottle is shaped and detailed like a keg, with a solitary oval green and gold label featuring an interesting seal above the label. Inside a stemmed glass is a Cyrillic C with a small image of a cannon inside. Ingredients conform to the purity law. Best before 6/7/06, I opened it on 6/3/06.

Pours a clear copper shaded gold. A very hard pour failed to generate enough head to cover the liquid in the glass. What head is there is off-white and large-bubbled, fading to thin film very quickly. The nose is strong of sweet and sour fruity malt, with clear bad watermelon tones. The mouth is fairly well-carbonated and syrupy heavy, not at all what the style demands. This is a standard Soviet lager, strong on bad watermelon and sour mash. The hops are very subdued at first, well masked by the sour malt. Some bitterness emerges very late, and is nicely dry. The bitter characterizes the aftertaste, deceptively inviting another sip, bringing the consumer back to an unpleasant opening. I'm not falling for it.