Bread Kvass (Kvas Хлебный)
Bouquet Of Chuvashia (Cheboksarskaya Pivovariya)

 

Oh, what a long, strange trip it's been. I have had this beauty for a while, but when @slander refused to accept my "Add", it fell into abeyance. Since then, it has been sorted & here we are on New Back to the Beer Future Sunday, Part 3, Mission II, (Week 761), traveling back to Week 731, when Kvass was King!

From the CAN: Loads of Cyrillic.

@tMoney & I used to be the big Kvass guys on here. He is/was based in Chicago-land whereas I do my Kvass shopping primarily at bell's Market in PHL & in trolling the boulevards of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Man, I have an insatiable affinity for Russian, kinda like our current CinC, however, mine tends towards food & drink with women & music a close seCANd. You should see the looks as the Amerikanski inquires as to Kvass in Russian! Jaws drop, convos cease & then: "YOU want Kvass?!? Amerikanski, no?!?" Yep. "Got Russian girlfriend?" Nope. "Want Russian girlfriend?!?" "Haha, but no. Easter is on the horizon, so Kvass, Kulich & Pazcki, please." :=O "You are Russian spy?!?" LOL. C'mon, do I look Russian?" :=O "This way!" I am then guided through each and every store by a bevy of beauties. They CANnot get their heads around me, an Amerikanski, asking for their foods. I routinely order from RussianTable.com, especially when they stock new Kvass, as we will see shortly, but the foodstuffs are equally yummy. Salmon caviar in a CAN?!? Chocolates for those who indulge? Low shipping? I purchase a box a month.

I have to give it to @Bouleboubier for really hitting it spot-on! He mentions the Flanders Red style in a review & that is EXACTLY what it should taste like. Every review of mine, moving forward, will use this as the benchmark.

This was a recent acquisiCAN from my most recent visit to Exquisite Foodland (409-413 Brighton Beach Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11235) back in July. The babushkas were astounded as I entered, asking for Kvass. Haha. I bought a buncha CANs, some Kvass, some Euro Lagers, but all to great astonishment as I picked my way through the aisles. The best was when I asked about Okroshka at the deli counter. I thought the woman was going to swoon! I bought small CANtainers of both Kvass-based & sour cream-based for CANsumption on the street, shortly after departure. Mmm. More gaping stares! Ha.

I Crack!ed open the vent using the old skool tab & then beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It foamed mightily to form two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with very good retention. Color was Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity & ruby highlights. 8=O Nose had the appropriate sourness & once more, the CANparison with a Flanders Red was not inappropriate. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, about on-par for the style. The taste was more raisin-y than many in recent memory, more aligned to Troika Kvass or All Stars Bakery Kvass, which leave raisins in the bottle.

User tip: If you CAN find it/them fresh, before the raisins have burst and/or dissolved, they are a treat unto themselves! Think the blueberries in BOS Beer Works' Blueberry Ale. Don't you save them for last?

Back to this one. The taste was like liquefied Raisin Bran! The grain was less bready than cereal-like but the raisins were simply persistent. It had a mild tartness as opposed to the previous Kvass, but it was still closer to authentic than say, Nikola. This was clearly a subscriber to the "waste not, want not" program with a rye bread spiciness, especially on the finish. Finish was dry, spicy & a great example of why it would be a refreshing street drink in the Summertime.

 

(purchased at Bell's Market, NE Philly - poured into a Sam Smith's pint)

A: dark copper color... mostly clear, except for a bit of sediment that got in at the end of the pour, but not much... in contrast to the last Russian kvass I tried, this had far less foam form - in fact, there's only a thin collar left when it's done being poured

S: seriously smells like bread seeped in water, the extremely-overripe, browning skin of an orange, and perhaps a bit of orange pekoe tea

T: it hits as a bit saccharin sweet and slightly tannic... the rye element seems played back a bit as this eventually, simply comes across like sweetened iced tea, obviously with the added twist of the crust of dark, industrial rye bread... touch of a delicately acidic, tangy lemon element in the aftertaste... feel like I should be eating sausages and potato salad with this... has sort of a sourish quality that, no lie, reminds me of the aftertaste of Duchesse

M: see comment above referencing Duchesse - good amount of pith-y tang left in the palate, swells up the glands of the pink behind the lips... the finish, like the other one, is peculiarly dry - it's all left the front half of the mouth, lip-smacky

O: I'm gonna gradually go through as many of the brands of kvass as possible at Bell's... I have this feeling though that most will taste pretty similar... not quite sure why people would want to drink this stuff - pure refreshment perhaps?... this cannot be what homemade/street-sold kvass tastes like in the old country... gotta say, once I made the Flanders Red connection, this stuff started to grow on me

A: The beer is clear crimson red in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a thin tan head that quickly died down, leaving a thin collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of sweet cola are present in the smell along with notes of bready yeast and hints of rye.
T: Like the smell, the initial taste starts out tasting like a cola but notes of rye bread flavors quickly become noticeable, making this not taste like your average soda.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer tastes much like a soda with some flavors of bread. It's a lot easier to drink compared to the first kvass that I ever experienced and it doesn't have any detracting flavors.