Königsberg Weiss
Pivovariya Ivana Taranova

Stumbled across this new offering in a Moscow grocery store. Standard brown half liter bottle with a gold, red and blue label featuring a full-antlered deer and a coat of arms. The front label claims conformity with the purity law, but the back label lists sugar as an ingredient. Best before St. Patty's Day 2006, I opened it on 2/18/06.

Poured a cloudy straw hue with lots of bubbles under a 1.5 finger snow white head that is fairly thin and fades pretty quickly to thick film. That film lasts well, though, leaving a good quantity of lace drops and a few strings. The nose is mild, with wheat, clove and lots of yeast. The mouth is heavy and fairly prickly, although the syrupy consistency hides the carbonation fairly well. The taste has plenty of yeast and a touch of spice, but there is too much malt masking everything else. Also a surprising amount of hops, which adds a dry edge to the finish, although the yeast reestablishes itself in the aftertaste. I give them credit for trying, but they are not quite there with this style.