Imperial
Cerveceria Costa Rica

 

12 oz. bottle, looks a bottled on date of May 30, 2022. My first beer from this brewery, and likely my first beer from Costa Rica. Expectations are low given this beer's poor standing here on BeerAdvocate.

Poured to a Piraat snifter.
A clear lager gold body - a touch darker than our typical American adjunct lagers, good clarity, with some tiny flecks of random sediment in the glass. No real head to speak of, merely some white bubbles that leave some random spotty lacing. It don't look great, but not awful for what it is.
Aroma is straight up grainy, with notes of lager yeast and some sweetness. Doesn't smell corny or husky like a million other beers, but that isn't going to save this one much. Super one-dimensional, but I have to admit it doesn't smell terrible.
Thin watered down grains, with hints toward lager yeast. Wet paper / cardboard flavors, but not overwhelming like other cheap beers can sometimes be.
Feel is smooth, crisp, clean. Extremely bland, but it has good carbonation, and it is actually not as bad as some American made AAL's. Still, nothing is stopping this from continuing to be cheap swill from Costa Rica; I can assuredly say this would definitely be better if it were actually consumed WITHIN Costa Rica, I'm sure, but I didn't hate this beer and I hoped to reflect that here in the rating. it is what it is. Tick.

Imperial -----2.5/5

 

 

Just ever-so-slightly off-white head takes up about 1/4 of the glass, though dissipates in about a minute. Underneath that, a light amber giving up its carbonation. The smell on opening the bottle was not promising... a little skunky, but that largely went away once poured. The taste was a little sweet, carbonation on the roof of my mouth noticeable but mild, and not really much else. Not a great beer, but something I'd drink ice cold on a sweltering day... like today.

 

By far the most popular beer in Costa Rica, found literally everywhere from big supermarkets to even small clothing shops sometines. This is a classic macro tasting beer that goes down smooth without a thought on the beach or poolside. A bit of sweetness in there. Not watery. Just the right amount of beeriness for a hot day. Dont overthink it. If this is the only thing available, and many times it is, I have no problem with it.

i prefer pacifico

 

Can poured into a pint glass

Clear golden yellow, some carbonation , one finger white foam cap quickly settles to a ring

Faint slightly sweet aroma

Slightly sweet taste , adjunct, hint of malt

Low sudsing

Good beer

 

 

 

While it's probably not a beer that you'd necessarily seek out at your local craft beer shop, you could definitely do a lot worse. Imperial is the standard beer at almost every resort in Costa Rica. It's light, refreshing, mellow and not skunky at all. It serves well as something to grasp in your paw while floating around in a pool, in 85+ degree weather, denying the severity of your sunburn. I enjoyed quite a few of these while in Costa Rica with no regrets.

 

 

From a bottle, pours as a clear straw with a thin white quickly dissipating head and loads of bubbles. Not much aroma; kinda like a Bud Light. Crisp and light taste (the carbonation really carries it) with non-bitter hops followed by sweet malt. Overall, this is a basic adjunct beer, BUT (happily) it is a clean & refreshing example of the genera without distasteful corn & rice flavors.

 

A: Crystal clear golden straw color, 1/2 inch white head, nice lacing
S: Not a whole lot going on, a little bread, yeast
T: Sweet malts, slight hop bitterness, crisp finish
M: Dry, light
O: A nice lager, I wouldnt particulary seek it out but would definetly take this if I was visiting Costa Rica.

There is a best by date on the neck of the bottle. The pour is like your typical pale lager. The beer is well carbonated. The aroma is of lager yeast. The taste is barley malts, mild corn aftertaste, & some faint hops. I do get an awkward dryness near the backend. I'm not detecting any corn syrup in the taste. It's not the best pale lager that I've had but it's certainly not poor. Oh well! at least now I can say that I was able to try a beer from Costa Rica. Cheers! B-

Imperial ($5 bottle at Luna) best by date of 30 dec 2019. Poured into a shaker glass.

A-Clean gold yellow body. 1-finger white head leaves great stick. Head drops to a sustained thin film.

S- Seems fresh and delicate, if not a little muted. Lemony, husky malt maybe rice hulls.

T- Husky malts and lemon. Clean and crisp.

M- Light body moderate carbonation. clean finish.

O- Really refreshing. Seems fresh. Good summer beer with a torta. Came off as more refined than a lot of the lagers (import or domestic). Didn’t have the vegetal or overly sweet qualities. Malts were cleaner and more grain-like.

4 3.5 3.75 3.5 3.5

 

 

Looks like a macro but smells like Grolsch (ever so slightly skunky) which isn't a bad thing. Both well executed and neither pleasing nor displeasing. Head was satisfying but gone fairly quickly.

Flavor is a very pleasant dry flavor. Almost like a super-dry reisling without the grape sweetness. Not sure of the hops but they seem to be the same as Bitburger except not as present.

I like it. It isn't an example of the high-art of brewing but I definitely enjoyed drinking it.

 

Decanted from a 12 oz (355 ml) bottle into a custom taster pint; best by July 30, 2019.
A: Pours a crystal clear, golden color with a one finger, foamy white head, decent retention, and Belgian lacing.
S: Peppery and bready with grainy and grassy aromas.
T: Very dry. Fruity and very lightly malty with peppery bitterness.
M: Light bodied with low carbonation. Drinks smoothly, crisply, and cleanly.
O: This is a solidly constructed lager. Certainly in the ball park with the other macros, as the scores reflect.

 

This one was brought to me from Costa Rica; hand delivered by my friend, PhytoGen cotton agronomist Russell Nuti. Thanks! The story goes, it and a bottle of Pilsen flew home in his boot. Must have been a cowboy boot. Hope it doesn't impact the aroma or flavor. I've already rated and reviewed the Pilsen. No off-aromas or off-flavors were detected.

Pours crystal clear straw yellow producing 2+ fingers of tight, foamy, white, somewhat lasting head that leaves a wash of motes and strings of lacing. Surface cap and collar ring are short-lived and unimpressive. Aroma is light-medium: crystal malt, grainy/corn/cereal, sweet and slightly bready with hints of honey, citrus, grass (Saaz) and herbal tea-like (Tettnanger) hops. Taste is sweet but thin: white bread, grainy corn, a hint of honey, some very thin grassy and lemon hops. Finishes crisp, clean and sweet with a mild spice that leads into a sweetish faintly bitter aftertaste. Mouthfeel is light bodied with moderate carbonation, crisp, thin but smooth with little dryness. Not nearly as dry as I would like for it to be. While quite drinkable and refreshing it's light on character, aroma and taste. My guess is this is a fine example of a Costa Rican session brew OR highly desirable as lawn mower or lazy days on the beach type beer. P.S. like the Pilzen, no noticeable ill effects from traveling in a boot.

 

 

 

 

A87

 

 

 

330 ml bottle into lager glass, best before 4/30/2018. Pours crystal clear medium golden yellow color with a 1 finger dense white head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of cracker, corn, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. A touch of fruity/skunky aromas, but not overwhelming. Nice and pleasant aromas with pale malt/corn and light earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of cracker, corn, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Light herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of cracker, corn, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice robustness of pale malt/corn and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Moderately crisp/clean finishing. Very clean on lager flavors, with minimal fruity/yeasty notes present. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitterness. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, moderately bready/grainy, and fairly sticky balanced mouthfeel that is good. A bit thin, but not watery feeling. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 4.5%. Overall this is a good pale adjunct lager. All around good robustness of pale malt/corn and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink. Very flavorful for the low ABV. Clean pale malt/grains and solid earthy hop presence for the style. Not overdone on corn adjuncts. A nicely enjoyable and well made offering for the style.

Can shared by Dr Rob last night.
Brilliantly clear deep golden color with a moussey white head that persists. Grainy lightly honey sweet maltiness with some faint earth and floral hopiness. No diacetyl no green apple. Not horribly exciting but clean and well made and would go down quite easily in a tropical environment.