Vostochnaya Bavaria
Krasny Vostok

The name means "Eastern Bavaria." It comes in a standard brown half-liter bottle with a blue and white label featuring some hops vines and three barrels superimposed on the blue and white Bavarian flag. Sugar is an ingredient (yeah, Bavaria is well known for adding sugar to its beers...). Best before 4/29/03, I opened it on 12/8/03.

Pours a mundane clear gold hue under an incredibly fizzy and equally incredibly short-lived head that fizzles soda-like almost immediately. The nose is odd; sweet with a minty tone to it. The mouth is very, very prickly and quite light. The taste starts with standard pale malt, accompanied by some kind of spice, perhaps thyme or even cinnamon. There are no hops in the finish, which is all spicy sweet. A touch of bitterness emerges very late in the aftertaste, but is easily missed. Disappointing product.