Katedros Medaus
Craft and Draft
- From:
- Craft and Draft
- Lithuania
- Style:
- Herb and Spice Beer
- ABV:
- 4.7%
- Score:
- +8 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 2.84 | pDev: 11.27%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Jan 11, 2017
- Added:
- May 25, 2015
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Texas
2.52/5 rDev -11.3%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
2.52/5 rDev -11.3%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
"Katedros Medaus" Prie Katedros Bravoras. Served on-draught at Alynas in Vilnius into an Alynas stem-tulip. Cost was 5.50 lt. Reviewed from July 2014 notes (taken while waiting for the brewery behind the beer to get added to the site). 4.70% ABV. I think the name of this translates loosely to something like "Cathedral of Honey" or "Department of Honey." It's an unpasteurized, unfiltered honigbier/honey beer.
Served cold (worth noting for draught beers in Lithuania, sadly).
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: Pours a two finger wide head which recedes entirely within 3 minutes, leaving spotty inconsistenct lacing on the sides of the glass. Complexion and consistency are average, as is creaminess and thickness. Not real frothy.
BODY: Glowing amber-copper of average vibrance. Clean; no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible. Translucent. Nontransparent.
Appears adequately carbonated. Not unique or special, but generally appealing. There are no obvious egregious flaws here.
AROMA: Genuine honey is there - evocative and appealing as could be. One thing I'm realizing about Baltic honey beers is that unlike the schlock put out by many American breweries (e.g. Dogfish Head), the honey notes never feel artificial or syrupy. Uncanny honey with its trademark sweetness is unmistakeable here. Unlike the honey beers of say, Poland, however, there's more going on in this aroma besides just honey. I pick up on ale-esque esters, neutral malts (likely amber), a buried faint breadiness, and even some hop character - floral and fruity notes, primarily.
Overall, it's a pleasant aroma of moderate strength. I worry about the sweetness/bitterness balance - which seems skewed a bit too far towards the sweet side based on the aromatics - but I'm excited for the first sip.
No yeast character, overt alcohol, or off-notes are detectable - including the diacetyl/DMS so commonly observed in Lithuanian beers.
TASTE: The honey is less prominent and evocative in the taste than it was in the aroma, to the beer's detriment. My concerns about the sweetness turn out to be valid, as even though the honey is less present flavour-wise, its sweetness remains - alongside some complementary but somehow still unwelcome neutral malt sweetness. The breadiness from the aroma is absent here, and the hops are also toned down - a shame, as their bitterness might have helped lend this needed balance. I guess I get some esters and some vague fruity hop character, but there's little else in terms of complexity.
This beer would still be pretty good if it didn't abandon the honey at its core; why brew a honey beer if you're going to shy away from committing to the honey? It ends up tasting as simple as it is unbalanced, and is bereft of intricacy, nuance, and subtlety. The flavours are shallow, of average intensity, and of average duration. The result is a largely unremarkable flavour profile with no stand-out elements.
TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, full-bodied, fairly thick, overcarbonated, and filling. Has a bit too much weight and heft on the palate, likely because of the heavy residual sugars. Maybe a higher attenuated yeast would help this beer?
Overall, the texture feels a bit overbearing given the relative lack of flavour, which reduces drinkability dramatically - especially in the summer heat (and/or in the un-airconditioned pubs of Lithuania).
OVERALL: After a honey beer? Stick to the offerings of better breweries. This doesn't deliver on the premise of the beer, and lacks anything that would interest the discerning drinker. I certainly wouldn't buy it again, and I'll finish the .5 litre glass with some effort.
Low C-
May 25, 2015Served cold (worth noting for draught beers in Lithuania, sadly).
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: Pours a two finger wide head which recedes entirely within 3 minutes, leaving spotty inconsistenct lacing on the sides of the glass. Complexion and consistency are average, as is creaminess and thickness. Not real frothy.
BODY: Glowing amber-copper of average vibrance. Clean; no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible. Translucent. Nontransparent.
Appears adequately carbonated. Not unique or special, but generally appealing. There are no obvious egregious flaws here.
AROMA: Genuine honey is there - evocative and appealing as could be. One thing I'm realizing about Baltic honey beers is that unlike the schlock put out by many American breweries (e.g. Dogfish Head), the honey notes never feel artificial or syrupy. Uncanny honey with its trademark sweetness is unmistakeable here. Unlike the honey beers of say, Poland, however, there's more going on in this aroma besides just honey. I pick up on ale-esque esters, neutral malts (likely amber), a buried faint breadiness, and even some hop character - floral and fruity notes, primarily.
Overall, it's a pleasant aroma of moderate strength. I worry about the sweetness/bitterness balance - which seems skewed a bit too far towards the sweet side based on the aromatics - but I'm excited for the first sip.
No yeast character, overt alcohol, or off-notes are detectable - including the diacetyl/DMS so commonly observed in Lithuanian beers.
TASTE: The honey is less prominent and evocative in the taste than it was in the aroma, to the beer's detriment. My concerns about the sweetness turn out to be valid, as even though the honey is less present flavour-wise, its sweetness remains - alongside some complementary but somehow still unwelcome neutral malt sweetness. The breadiness from the aroma is absent here, and the hops are also toned down - a shame, as their bitterness might have helped lend this needed balance. I guess I get some esters and some vague fruity hop character, but there's little else in terms of complexity.
This beer would still be pretty good if it didn't abandon the honey at its core; why brew a honey beer if you're going to shy away from committing to the honey? It ends up tasting as simple as it is unbalanced, and is bereft of intricacy, nuance, and subtlety. The flavours are shallow, of average intensity, and of average duration. The result is a largely unremarkable flavour profile with no stand-out elements.
TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, full-bodied, fairly thick, overcarbonated, and filling. Has a bit too much weight and heft on the palate, likely because of the heavy residual sugars. Maybe a higher attenuated yeast would help this beer?
Overall, the texture feels a bit overbearing given the relative lack of flavour, which reduces drinkability dramatically - especially in the summer heat (and/or in the un-airconditioned pubs of Lithuania).
OVERALL: After a honey beer? Stick to the offerings of better breweries. This doesn't deliver on the premise of the beer, and lacks anything that would interest the discerning drinker. I certainly wouldn't buy it again, and I'll finish the .5 litre glass with some effort.
Low C-
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