Astika
Kamenitza AD

AstikaAstika
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From:
Kamenitza AD
 
Bulgaria
Style:
European Pale Lager
ABV:
4.5%
Score:
74
Avg:
2.83 | pDev: 15.55%
Reviews:
9
Ratings:
17
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 11, 2016
Added:
Apr 24, 2009
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  5
No description / notes.
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Ratings by dbrauneis:
Photo of dbrauneis
Reviewed by dbrauneis from North Carolina

2.33/5  rDev -17.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
A: Pours a clear dark golden yellow trending towards orange in color. The beer has a quarter finger tall soapy white head that reduces to a thick ring at the edges of the glass and a patch of the same thickness near the edge of the glass. Light to moderate amounts of lacing is observed.

S: Light to moderate aromas of apple juice, corn adjunct malts, and grain adjunct malts. Quite a sweet smelling beer.

T: Not one of the most pleasant tasting beers that I have consumed. There is some light bitterness and then some musty adjunct malts (corn and grain). Not sweet like I would have expected from the smell.

M: On the lighter side of medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation.

O: I hope this is not the best example of Bulgarian beer ,I was a little disappointed by the taste of this one. Not so easy to drink and not one I would choose to have again.
Jun 12, 2012
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 1.75 by mihael199 from Bulgaria

May 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.23 by The_Kriek_Freak from Pennsylvania

Sep 19, 2015
 
Rated: 2.5 by FZR23 from Romania

Nov 25, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by dcmchew from Romania

Aug 25, 2014
 
Rated: 2.25 by rojavaga from Bulgaria

Jul 12, 2014
Photo of Jugs_McGhee
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

2.84/5  rDev +0.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
50cl aluminum can acquired at a Picadilly supermarket in Sofia, Bulgaria, and served into a Staropramen pilsner glass in Sofia. Reviewed live. Expectations are average. 4.50% ABV.

Served cold. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: Pours a one-finger wide head of white colour. Subpar thickness and creaminess. Decent complexion and consistency. Retention is average - about 2 minutes. Leaves no lacing as it recedes.

BODY: Clear yellow colour. Clean; no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible. Average vibrance.

Appears undercarbonated. Unremarkable for the style. I'm pessimistic.

AROMA: Unremarkable barley. Overly sweet malts. Lacks a balancing hop presence.

No alcohol, off-notes, yeast character, or overt hop character is detectable.

Overall, it's an inoffensive aroma of average strength which suggests an imbalanced brew. I'm not looking forward to the first sip.

TASTE/TEXTURE: Some sweet generic malts, fairly clean barley, and...that's about it? Definitely overly sweet.

No yeast character, hop character, alcohol, or off-notes come through. It's unbalanced, but I wouldn't call it imbalanced. Shallow depth of flavour. Average duration and intensity of flavour.

I can't say I really like it. Lacks intricacy, subtlety, complexity, and nuance. It's just generic and boring.

There's nothing here flavourwise that stands out.

Smooth, wet, fairly clean, medium-bodied, slightly syrupy, overly thick for the style, and unrefreshing. Overcarbonated. This texture doesn't suit the flavour profile or style all that well. But it's not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, or harsh on the palate. Overall presence on the palate is decent.

OVERALL: Downable and unremarkable. A decent budget brew. I like it for what it is, and you could do worse than nabbing a can of this when in Bulgaria.

C
Jun 27, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by Latarnik from New Jersey

May 27, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by Bralis from Israel

May 21, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by BJSmit from Netherlands

May 03, 2014
Photo of metter98
Reviewed by metter98 from New York

2.58/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
A: The beer is clear honey yellow in color and has a light to moderate amount of carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high white head consisting of large bubbles that slowly died down, leaving a thin layer of bubbles on the surface and a thick collar around the edge of the glass.
S: The smell is very sweet and has notes of apple juice and adjunct malts in the nose.
T: Similar to the smell, the taste has flavors of adjunct malts (corn seems to stand out in particular) and apple juice.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and a bit thin on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is not very drinkable. There’s too much sweetness and flavors of adjunct malts. There’s too much sweetness and flavors of adjunct malts, although it tastes a bit better than it smells.
Jun 10, 2012
Photo of tone77
Reviewed by tone77 from Pennsylvania

3.72/5  rDev +31.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Poured from a brown 16.9 oz. bottle. Has a golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of grains, malts, some sweetness. Taste is crisp, refreshing, some grains and malts, easy drinking. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is an enjoyable beer.
Mar 02, 2012
Photo of tvv375ia
Reviewed by tvv375ia from Iowa

2.91/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
poured from 500ml bottle into imperial pint glass

A-poured a golden color with about 2 finger head that faded to s thin film leaving a little lacing

S-a hint of skunk at first gives way to kind of grainy with some slight malt

T-some faint malty presence but not much else

M-carbonation is ok finish is short and neither dry of sweet it is just gone

O-not terrible but I don't think I need to try this one again
Dec 09, 2011
Photo of wl0307
Reviewed by wl0307 from England

3/5  rDev +6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Coming in a 500ml bottle, BB 27/01/11, served chilled in a pint-size weizen glass.

A: dark yellow-ish straw in colour, pillowy white froth, high level of carbonation.
S: lightly sweet grainy, lightly grassy, plus a hint of sour dough. A swirl manages to bring out a bit more of malt sweetness. Understated overall but not unpleasant or "cheap".
T: clean palate, the flavour balance gears towards lager malts plus a little sourness of most lager beer, but the residual grassy taste, "plastic" undertone of dry, Northern German Pilsener, and a lightly dry palate in the aftertaste do ring a bell of hops. Not much unpleasant grainy or cheap-adjunct flavour is left in the end - rather, it's quite clean and neutral in taste.
M&D: quite fizzy but not over the top, the body is light but not really thin, and the overall performance tells the story of an easy-drinking lager beer that is neither attractive nor below quality. An OK beer, I'd say.
Oct 16, 2010
Photo of BucBasil
Reviewed by BucBasil from Rwanda

2.8/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Found this in canned form in a small store in Haskovo, Bulgaria where this is brewed.

A: Poured from the 500mL can into a pint glass. The beer is a nearly gold color with plenty of carbonation and a 2 finger pure white quickly dissipating head (almost cola like head - lasted all of 10 seconds).

S: I could smell this while pouring. Slightly sweet and corny, although this doesn't contain adjucts. Slight vegetal note in there.

T: Mostly grainy with a slight hint of bread. Finishes with again a somewhat rough grainy note and some cooked veggies. Not too much to say about this one.

Notes: This is much better than the bottled version, and I think maybe that has to do with buying it from the source. That being said, there are still better lagers to be had in Bulgaria, including Zagorka. Astika is known around here as being somewhat of a budget brand - the can was 1.50 Bulgarian leva (less than a dollar) and the cheapness shows in the taste. Still, it's somewhat drinkable (especially during the summer when the heat in the region is unbearable, typically over 95 degrees), and very popular in the region.
Sep 26, 2010
Photo of augustgarage
Reviewed by augustgarage from California

3.09/5  rDev +9.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.5
Poured from a 500mL bottle into my pilsner glass. Bottled September 14th, 2009 (?).

Stil de grain body, with superior clarity is crowned by three fingers of dense, ghost white, stiff peaks which reach up out of the glass like soft serve. Good retention, big bubbles spread out evenly to create unique lacing.

Very sweet grainy aroma - smells mildly like freshly baked corn (though there are no adjuncts in this beer). Sugary malt aromatics dominate the nose - clean but lacking hop notes.

Well toasted malt flavors suggest a German pedigree in some ways. Grain-like and slightly sour mid-palate, with very faint spice. A delicate bitternes rounds out the finish. Not bad for the style.

Light-bodied, well carbonated, but a bit slick and tongue-coating.

Surprisingly refreshing and bready. Not the best lager, but not bad for a Euro Pale...
Jun 04, 2010
Photo of JBogan
Reviewed by JBogan from California

2.8/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Pours a light golden color with a small white head which turns into a thin film but leaves a good amount of lacing.

Smells of sweet corn and grains, along with a grassy aroma.

Tastes of sweet malt along with a slightly soapy taste. Surprisingly however it doesn't taste nearly as bad as many euro lagers I've tried. No sign of alcohol.

Mouthfeel was medium for a lager, with an average amount of carbonation.

All in all I was mildly surprised by this beer. I was expecting a skunky overly sweet and thin mess and it turned out to be fairly drinkable. Sure there are many better lagers out there, but this was an inexpensive and somewhat refreshing brew on a hot Vegas afternoon. At less than $2 for a decent sized bottle I might actually pick up this one again sometime.
May 07, 2009
Astika from Kamenitza AD
Beer rating: 74 out of 100 with 17 ratings