Cardinal Speciale
Feldschlösschen Beverages Group

 

 

 

This one is not all that special.

Smells like a grainier, sweeter version of an American macro lager. Clarity excellent, looks pale but appetizing enough. Well carbonated. Aroma is sweetish and not appealing, almost no hop presence.

Flavour is...not good. Tastes like bitter apple juice, with sweet undertones. Acetaldehyde is something I’ve tasted in my own homebrewed beer, but never in a commercial offering. What a sad brew to drink in Europe. Give it a pass, unless you are already inebriated or it’s 40C outside and just don’t care about flavour.

Also, calling this a Czech Pils is an insult to those masterful Bohemians who actually know how to properly craft a lager. I'm honestly not surprised I'd never heard of Cardinal until visiting the country.

 

 

 

 

 

250ml bottle served in an Weizen glass.

A: Pours a pale and clear golden yellow color forming a medium bubbled and aired white head. Low retention and lots of lingering lacings left in the glass

S: Sweet grains and flowery hops. Quite bready (Lager-like) yeasts, as expected

T: Simple taste. Strong notes of sweet malts. Slightly sweet upfront followed by an sharp and bit citrus hoppy bitterness. A bit metallic. Quite bready yeasts in the mouth too

M: Light body. Good carbonation. Bready and citrus hoppy bitterness in the aftertaste

O: Good drinkability. Much more to a German than to a Czech Pils. Not bad as a session beer

A: A funny yellowy orange, that under flourescents even appears a bit green.

S: Sweet, mild malts, and anything beyond that is too faint for recognition.

T: Yesterday I had this on tap and it tasted much different and better, but sadly I didn't take notes. On tap the flavor was a 3.5 and in a can (poured into a glass) it's 2.5. But the taste from the can, tangy bitter in a somewhat unpleasant way (not like that out of the tap). In second comes the malt, but not too strong.

M: A bit dry but otherwise average.

D: ok. not great but it will go down.

Poured from the can into an 8 oz pilsner glass. Deep gold with a huge creamy head that lasted the entire time. Malty, not sweet up front like the Cardinal Lager. Clean hoppy blast in the middle to balance things out pretty nicely. The finish was mostly the chewy malt, pretty clean with little of that carbonated water taste of the Cardinal Lager.

Order a stange (.3L) with dinner. I'd say for a mass-produced lager this is fairly close to style. The malt is very mellow, but then respectable hops come through at the end to make this a worthy beer. The appearance is a light yellow with a thick white head, lacing, and decent retention. The body is light, and there isn't any aroma going on, but it's pleasant enough to drink. Worth trying I guess.