Zhigulevskoye
Pivzavod AO Hamovnikov /Gaven v Khamovnikakh

Poured a hazy medium straw hue with a slight foamy white head. There was little retention and lacing.

The smell featured a sweet cereal grain with some barnyard esters.

The taste was upfront adjunct with a near cloying cereal sweetness. Some sharp spiciness toward the finish. Honey Smack cereal-like aftertaste.

The mouthfeel was thick and flat.

Overall not a good experience. Flat, overly sweet and way too estery for the style.

This was one of my “what the hell” purchases from the beer store. Sometimes it’s a hit, and sometimes not. This was certainly a “not”.
Pours a pale straw color with a fizzy white head. The head is acceptably “clingy”, but it’s a non-descript, average-looking beer beyond that. Aroma is faint and sublte malts, underneath a cooked-vegetable smell. Very little hops in the aroma. Taste is hollow and grainy. Finish is mildly bitter. Mouthfeel is light and airy, bordering on watery. Truly not much going on in this beer. The bottle does have a nice photo of some Russian onion-shaped domes.

Poured with a wussy white head that stays, leaving a little lace. Low carbonation. Pale straw color. Starts semi sweet, finishes hoppy and slighly metallic. This may be a pilsner or pale, most of the label is in Russian. Light bodied. $1.75 for 500ml, found at Colonial Spirits in Acton, Ma.

This beer poured a hazy pale yellow with a mediocre white head and smells like a rusted tin roof and sour cherries. Not Good. After a few sips I had to pour this crap out – which is probably the best thing that could happen to this nightmare. I suspect this could be good when it’s fresh from the tap, but I think it’s been kept too long in the bottle. There was some yeast sediment. Nice bottle though, with pictures of the Kremlin or some shit and some Cyrillic writing that probably means “DRINK AT YOUR OWN RISK!”

16.9 0z bottle, label full of Russian characters and a painting depicting the lovely Moscow architecture. There have been a boatload of East European beers showing up on our shelves, presumably to satisfy the tastes of our large and passionate East European community. Do they like this stuff?
Sickly pale, yellowish color, tiny, tiny head, and an aroma of absolutely nothing at all. A little fresh and a tiny touch of citrus, I admit. But on the palate, it is strictly punishing!
Sharp and bitter, without a whiff of any flavor. Harsh and horrible, flat and flavorless, lacking anything that one might enjoy in a beer.
I've been told that this is quite the beer of choice in Russia, and again I have to wonder if these hardy folks can actually find pleasure in this sad, foul, sour, and plainly awful beer? Can't the Russian people do better?
Then I walk into my local liquor store and watch the garbage Americans take home with them.
It's a small world after all.

Cyrillic lettering for 'Zhigulevskoye' appears on the front label with 'Beer Zhiguli' underneath. It pours a hazy golden body (even in recently received shipments) with a short and creamy bright-white head that drops quickly to a nicely creamy collar and whispy surface covering that leaves some thin and spotty lace throughout the glass. The aroma is quite odd, and almost off-putting with notes of soap, raisins or other dark dried fruits, and something that appears like an old, wet cigar. (I can't imagine where this stale, fruity, and oxidized, aroma is coming from. It's not present in their other beers!) The body is light with a very fine and mild carbonation that leaves it creamy and smooth across the palate; and gives the impression of a slightly bigger body than actually exists. The flavor reflects most of the odd character found in the aroma with a raisin-like note that's entwined in chalky/candyish-sweet malt and accented by a thin cider-like character and some mild smokiness. It finishes soapy and coating in the mouth and throat with some dull, earthy hop flavor and bitterness and a touch of creamed corn before turning chalky. It's not a real pleasant lager, although I drank the whole thing searching through it for flavors. It is surprisingly complex with odd-flavors. The only redeeming factor might be that this is a glimps at what Communist-rule lagers might have tasted like. Given a choice between this or poorly made Vodka, I'd probably take the vodka.