Myshka
Off Color Brewing

L: Dark black, looks a lot heavier than it is

S: Roasted malt mostly

T: Biscuity, chocolatey roasted malt with some coffee-like bitterness, not a ton of flavor

F: Almost lager-y feel, thin with a lot of carbonation, maybe a little too much

O: This literally tastes like someone watered down an old school RIS and then re-carbed it. Not in a bad way, for the most part, but it might be a little too light on flavor. This would probably be great at 5%, but 3.5% was just too little flavor. It was better than most "session" beers I've tried, but if I wanted a low alcohol stout, some of the dry Irish stouts are a little better.

 

 

 

 

Taste: smokey earthy, barley oats, malt, chewy, flat finish. Mild barley malt nose. Black/brown hue, semi opaque, delicate head and lace. Medium body. maybe the keg at the end? 25 IBUs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Packs a nicely impressive amount of flavor for a 3.5% beer.

 

 

 

Had on tap. It is like a American Porter and an English mild combined. Interesting concept but ok execution. It looks black and dark and has roast aromas, so more porter. The body is very thin and the finish is dry, more like a mild. Taste is a confused mash of inbetween the two

 

 

 

 

 

Bottled 1/2/18; drank 1/26/18 @ the Yarchives.

Brown/black appearance.

A violent pour yielded a small khaki head; minimal lace.

Burnt black coffee, cream, fresh earth & faint raspberry notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Black coffee, fresh cream & fresh earth flavors up front; mild raspberry notes on the finish.

An interesting experiment that tastes good; a session Russian Imperial Stout. Not amazing, but worth a quaff. I'd have another...

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a somewhat muddy brown/black, not very appealing. Smell is malts and chocolate. When it's cold, the taste is decidedly lacking in a middle range: just chocolate and malt on top, with a bitterness. As it warms, it develops more fully, but is still very light as expected. Deffo more of a brown ale than a stout, but a refreshing break from the ABV arms race.

Has more flavor than expected for a low ABV beer, but I didn't like it much. Would prefer a Murphy's or Guinness for a low ABV beer.

 

 

 

A "Russian Serf Stout" but yea, it tastes like a well done dark mild.

Appearance is a dark but thin brownish black color. Off white head dissipates steadily leaving no lacing or residual head. Smell has notes of malts, nuts, roasted malts, and some light earthy hops. Taste follows the nose - very malt forward with nutty earthy flavors and some bittering earthy hops on the back end. Feel is light and very drinkable. medium carbonation. Overall this is an amusingly named beer, but its actually quite good.

Despite Off Color selling this as a weak stout (named for Russian serfs... and I admit I don't get the joke yet), I'm going with the BA categorization of Myska being an English Dark Mild. While I am hardly an expert of EDMs (so I could be fooled), the use of hops is quite mild and welcome (since I am not a hop-head.) The bill of eight malts also indicates a lot of thought went into making this beer. For my review (and heavy is the responsibility of being the first) ...

Looks pretty much lack much of anything. Smell improves Myshka's chances, but I only get malts.
Taste is the first interesting part of this beer as the chocolatey malts stand out. Feel is smooth; like those oats.
Overall, I give Off Color high marks for bringing back yet another traditional style that other craft brewers largely have ignored by chasing (perhaps shamelessly) after the hop-head market.
As further incentive for you to try Myshka , have it with English cheeses. You will enjoy the sensation.

Tasted in a pint glass from draught at Firkin on March 3, 2017.